Articles

Global Warming Solutions for Minnesota

Global warming is one of the most serious threats to our environment, our health, and our economy. The earth’s climate is changing rapidly, and these changes are driven in large part by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil. A thickening layer of carbon dioxide and other pollutants from power plants, cars, trucks, rail, and air transport, and buildings trap heat in the atmosphere.
Category: Energy

On the (Budget) Road

When you're traveling on a budget, sometimes it seems like you can't get anywhere. For the resourceful and cash-strapped hobo/wanderer, however, there is always a way. Getting out of Minneapolis and most other cities isn't so hard. There isn't one way that is perfectly safe, and thus none of the following suggestions can be officially recommended. That said, here are a few options.
Category: Recreation Transportation

Bees Come Home

Honeybees are gentle and important pollinators, and their hives are practically invisible unless you are standing a few feet from them.
Category: Food

The Myths and Facts of Eco-Tourism

Ecotours, adventure tours, sustainable tours, reality tours - if you are seeking a vacation alternative to Disneyland or Club Med, there are certainly plenty of options. However, how do you decide what is right for you, and what kind of vacation matches your values? Do you have to leave your social, political or environmental consciousness at home just to have a good time?
Category: Recreation

We are Living in Individual Ecosystems

A home is made up of many things: foundation, structure, function, and of greatest importance, the people within its walls. A healthy home is a beautiful thing, for it implies a clean, life-supporting environment. Your home may include a whole household, or your dwelling may be a small apartment.
Category: House & Home

Buying Green Power

For a few years now, all Minnesota residents and businesses have had the opportunity to buy green power through their electric utility. What exactly does it mean to buy green power?
Category: Energy

Energy Saving Appliances

Energy runs appliances. Saving energy helps the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions given off by energy plants. One kilowatt hour of electricity generates two pounds of CO2, our biggest global warming gas. Refrigerators consume 7% of the nation's total electricity. Saving energy also saves money; appliances, heating and cooling cost an average household more than $1,000 per year.
Category: House & Home

Where Do Do It Green!ers Eat?

Here's a list of some of the Do It Green! Team's favorite places to eat!
Category: Food

Sources of Seeds

There is a frightening loss of seed and plant diversity worldwide. It is up to us to practice and encourage others to conserve.
Category: Gardening

Where Does Our Garbage Go?

"Solid waste" is defined as garbage, refuse and/or other discarded materials resulting from human activities. The average Minnesotan generates 6 lbs. of solid waste per day, or over 2,000 lbs. annually. Most of us don't realize that we have a solid waste problem in Minnesota. However, companies are producing more goods than ever before, and we are consuming these goods at a faster rate than ever.
Category: House & Home

Finding and Sealing Air Leaks in Your Home

A home is like a tent, where the parts of the exterior shell—walls, windows, doors, siding, foundation, and roofing—are designed to protect against the elements. By and large these construction features are very effective against cold, heat, wind, and moisture. There's a big difference, though, between a tent and a house.
Category: Energy

Your Home's Building Envelope

Improving your home's building envelope is a worthwhile investment as it will save time, money, and energy. Four components of a building envelope ensure maximum control of heat and moisture.
Category: Energy

Bike2Benefits

Bike2Benefits is a free online program for Twin Cities bicycle commuters-from the aspiring to the accomplished.
Category: Transportation

Recycling: The Nuts and Bolts

Includes Listing of Recycling Drop-Off Centers
Category: House & Home

Top 30 Environmentally Friendly Vehicles

A research firm J.D. Power and Associates from California has released its inaugural Automotive Environmental Index (AEI) study, which lists the top 30 environmentally friendly vehicles listed in alphabetical order below:

Category: Transportation

How to Talk to your Kids about Climate Change

Many researchers and educators argue that young children are not mature enough to handle the reality of climate change, and parents are often understandably overwhelmed by the task of translating the technicalities of climate change to so young an audience. Yet young people are asking about climate change because they hear about it every day. It is an issue that not
Category: Family

Backyard Composting

Composting is the microbial process whereby organic yard wastes are converted into to a highly desirable, organic, soil-like material. Gardeners have used compost for centuries to increase soil organic matter, improve soil physical properties, and supply some of the essential nutrients for plant growth. Compost also makes an excellent mulch for use in shrub borders, and flower and vegetable...
Category: Gardening

Urban Renewal with Renewables

How does an urban community connect to renewable energy? This article explores options for urban dwellers who want to support and create renewable energy that they can use at home, for their cars, and in their neighborhoods.
Category: Energy

Environmental Illness

According to the American Environmental Health Foundation (AEHF), "there are many chemicals, toxins and microorganisms in the outside air that effect our homes, our food, and water supplies." This has major ramifications on our health. Erin Brokovich created much publicity for water contamination issues and, more recently, household mold toxin contamination problems. The burning of fossil fuels,...
Category: Health

The Quick and Dirty of Shopping “Green”

Every choice consumers make, regardless of scale, impacts the environment. However, the buying process can be overwhelming, and it is best to start with the basics.
Category: Goods & Services

Restaurants: Eating without Waste

Estimates are that one fourth of all food produced for human consumption goes to waste. This wasted food costs $31 billion annually. The restaurant business, one of the fastest growing industries in the world, is a major contributor to food waste.
Category: Food

Twin Cities Businesses Make Dirt, Not Waste

There is a new movement underway in the Twin Cities... a movement to make dirt, not waste... and you can be a part of it! In addition to helping you compost at home in your backyard or with a worm bin, local waste-reduction nonprofit Eureka Recycling has launched a program to work with local restaurants, co-ops, farmers' markets, and their customers to compost food scraps instead of wasting them.
Category: Business

Spiritual Progress: Congregations Going Green

Congregations Caring for Creation (C3) is an interfaith network of more than 80 congregations that are making the active care of Creation integral to spiritual life and social justice in their congregation. C3/MNIPL is the Minnesota chapter of a national movement called Interfaith Power and Light (IPL).
Category: Community

Tips: How to Begin Eating a Vegan Diet

Cook vegan at home. This is a pretty easy task with a wide variety of tasty vegan recipes available over the internet such as vegweb.com and the spread of vegan cookbooks, such as Veganomicon, available at most bookstores.
Category: Food

Factors of Cooling

When cooling a house, it is helpful to first understand the science of heating and cooling. Here are some variables that affect the heating and cooling of our homes during the summer months:
Category: Energy

Keeping Community During the Frigid Months

Springtime in Minnesota means waiting for the snow to melt, analyzing when the last thaw will happen and slowly emerging from hibernation. It can also often mean “re-meeting” the neighbors… the ones you saw raking leaves in October and, after the first snowfall, wondered if they relocated to warmer weather.
Category: Community

Minnesota, Nice or Not?

Veiled African women wrapped in long gowns on their way to work, Mexican youths playing basketball, a Russian couple strolling in a mall, a Hmoung family buying groceries. These are Minnesota's newcomers, a second wave of immigration that has significantly increased our foreign-born population.
Category: Community

Eating Low: Back to Basics

Eat food, not too much, mostly plants." So begins Micheal Pollan's recent manifesto, In Defense of Food. It sounds ridiculously simple, and actually, it is. But, we have reached a place and time in our culture where we need to re-learn these simple actions that were once just a way of life.
Category: Food

Sustainable Community Development

According to the Office of Environmental Assistance, "a sustainable community can persist over generations, enjoying a healthy environment, prosperous economy and vibrant civic life. It does not undermine its social or physical systems of support.
Category: Community

The Power of Writing in  Community

How do I tell you about the power of writing in community? Of being vulnerable and honest with other humans using the most basic tools: paper and pen. Of being part of a group where we allow each other to see our guts – the pretty and the hard stuff – all that is hidden under sometimes thick skin? The best I can do is to try to tell you about my experience with writing groups.
Category: Community
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