Citizen Action

Author

SEAN GOSIEWSKI

Alliance for Sustainability

Work with your neighborhood organization, congregation, school, workplace, or club to start a green campaign. Here are some campaign ideas to get you started. Many of these campaigns already have materials preprinted and other tools to make it easy for you to take it and run with it!

Minnesota Energy Challenge mnenergychallenge.org

Change a Light Change the World (October) energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=change_light.pledge_drive_kit

Author

AMI VOELTZ

Do It Green! Minnesota

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."  -Margaret Mead

 

Author

AMANDA LUKER

Arise! Bookstore

Our Way or the Highway: Inside the Minnehaha Free State by Mary Losure

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Minnehaha Free State, the longest urban occupation in US history. On the coldest night of the year in 1998, over 600 police brutalized and arrested over 35 residents of the camp on sacred land in south Minneapolis. This book chronicles the encampment from beginning to end.

Listen: The Story of the People at Taku Wakan Tipi and the Reroute of Highway 55 by Elli King (editor)

Author

JESSIE HOULIHAN

Do It Green! Minnesota

Each year development continues to encroach upon open spaces in Minnesota. Regardless of where you live, you can probably think of a development nearby that was constructed on land that was degraded by the construction, such as wetlands or special animal habitat. In order to build, the developer must submit documentation of the plan and, if necessary, conduct an environmental assessment that must be approved before construction.

Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

Citizen Petition Process,
www.eqb.state.mn.us
/documents/PetitionProcess.pdf

EAW Guidelines,
www.mnplan.state.mn.us
/pdf/2000/eqb/eawrules.pdf

Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental Assessment Worksheets,
www.pca.state.mn.us/news/eaw

Author

BETH BENNETT

Center for Energy and Environment

In 2007, the city of Minneapolis became the first city in the country to fund small grants for its residents to prevent climate change. The grants garnered tremendous success; Minneapolis residents pledged to prevent over 8.2 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually and save over $650,000 on their energy use in the year following the grant period. This year's 25 diverse grant recipients have almost $100,000 to make a difference in the attitudes and actions of Minneapolis residents.

Footnotes/Endnotes

ON THE WEB!

City of Minneapolis Grants,
www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/news
/20080411ClimateChangeGrants.asp

Minnesota Energy Challenge,
www.mnenergychallenge.org

Phillips Community Energy Cooperative,
www.phillipsenergycoop.com

Minnesota Energy Challenge Table at a local community event.

Author

By Sara Grochowski

Do It Green! Minnesota

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (“PIRG”) is on a mission. Among their work in twenty-six states including Minnesota, they uncover threats to public health and well-being and fight to end them. They also create what they call a congressional scorecard. This scorecard reviews the most important public interest votes, which determine the direction of federal policy on critical issues ranging from environmental preservation to health care to consumer protection.

Footnotes/Endnotes

National Public Interest Research Group, uspirg.org

Colorado Public Interest Research Group, copirg.org

Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, mpirg.org

Minnesota League of Women Voters lwvmpls.org

Minnesota Secretary of State
St. Paul, MN, 651-215-1440
sos.state.mn.us

Minnesota State Senate
St. Paul, MN, 651-296-0504
senate.leg.state.mn.us

Minnesota State Representatives
St. Paul, MN, 651-296-2146
house.leg.state.mn.us

League of Women Voters Minnesota
St. Paul, MN, 651-224-5445
lwvmn.org

Author

By Cesia Kearns

Conservation Organizer, Sierra Club North Star Chapter

"If you believe that
one person cannot
make a difference,
try sleeping with a
mosquito in the room."

-South African Proverb

 

Author

Representative Paul Gardner

Minnesota House of Representative (District 53A)

With electronic communications readily available at the State Capitol, it is easier than ever to share your views with your legislator. Constituents—not lobbyists, not legislative leadership, not the parties—are the highest priority to a legislator. But what’s the best way to get them to listen and support your position?

Footnotes/Endnotes

MN Council for Nonprofits: Contacting Elected Officials
www.mncn.org/govcontact.htm

 

Minnesota State Legislature
651-296-0504 (Senate)
651-296-2146 (House)
www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/Districtfinder.asp

Author

By Ginger Duiven

Urban Ecology Center

History: Riverside Park, a Frederick Law Olmsted-designed park located one mile from Lake Michigan and downtown Milwaukee, was the place for swimming, canoeing, skating and curling in 1906. Over time, the growing city’s industrial use and rural runoff so polluted the Milwaukee River that recreation was no longer safe or desirable.

Footnotes/Endnotes

Great Lakes Earth Institute, glei.org

 

Milwaukee River Workgroup, protectmilwaukeeriver.org

 

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, Richard Louv, Algonquin Books, 2005.

 

Urban Ecology Center
Milwaukee, WI
414-964-8508
urbanecologycenter.org