There are over 850 different authors’ voices in the articles posted here discussing sustainability issues from food to transportation to family to business. Most of the authors are Minnesotans who wanted to share the information they feel is important for you to know to keep Minnesota healthy and sustainable. Many of the articles were written for Do It Green! Magazine, while others are from outside publications or web sites.
Material created for or by Do It Green! Minneosta is not copyrighted and is meant to be widely distributed and used for educational purposes. Articles can be printed and distributed, or inserted into educational newsletters or other educational materials in its original form. If you use our content, please email us at info@doitgreen.org and add the following credit line to your material: Reprinted from Do It Green! Minnesota www.doitgreen.org.
Thoughts on Buying an E-Book Reader (and Tips for Buying Gadgets)
Nate Dobbins Lately I’ve been considering buying an e-ink tablet for reading books and my RSS feed. I wasn’t exactly excited by the prospect of an e-reader until a friend said this to me in an email conversation: “It comes down to this – authors are putting words out there and everyone is doing it exactly the same way for every book ever made. You hardly even get any size variation – paperbacks are this big. Hardcovers are that big. Uniformity. Inanity. Forever and ever amen. So when you talk about the “physicality” and “individual nature” of the book, I…
Tips for Reducing Waste While Traveling
Do It Green! Minnesota Parts excerpted from www.reduce.org “The less we take with us into the mountains, deserts, forests or waters, the more their spirit informs and enlivens us. We should be as reliant on our wits as much as possible and on “things” as little as possible. This means we should wear and carry as little as we can get away with while being in, and moving through, the natural world.” — Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia The U.S. Travel Data Center estimates that 43 million U.S. travelers are “ecologically concerned.” It is important that we think about our actions when…
Public Financing of Political Candidates & Parties
Eric Makela Green Party of Minnesota Public financing is a system where a government provides candidates or political parties with money to help fund their campaigns or operations. It’s designed to help eliminate the negative impact that comes along with private contributions and special interests. It also levels the playing field by giving regular citizens and smaller third parties an opportunity to compete with their more experienced and wealthy counterparts. Minnesota, which has had such a system since the 1970s, enjoys some of the most progressive and successful public-financing laws in the country. There are two primary sources for public…
Birdseed & Peanut Butter Feeders
How 2 Zine Learn to make pine cone/birdseed/peanut butter animal feeders! Make friends with the local wildlife by attracting birds and squirrels from miles around with these tasty, fat-packed treats. What you need: a few large, untreated pine cones sugar-free/salt-free peanut butter birdseed nontoxic ribbon or string What to do: First, tie the string onto each pine cone. You’ll be sorry if you don’t have this to hang on to before you’re finished. Next, spread the peanut butter into all the crevasses of the pine cones. You want to coat the outside of them as well, so you can achieve…
Who is the Greenest Generation?
Leah Deziel and Aaron Vehling Try talking about “green living” with your parents, children, or grandparents and you will learn that the concept carries different meanings. The “Greatest Generation” saved cooking fat, drove less, and grew Victory Gardens to support the war effort. Their children, the Boomers, created communal living and “free stores,” while circumnavigating the continent on cheap gas. In the outbreak of the energy crisis of the late 1970s, the Boomers joined their parents in experiencing forced conservation. For Generation Xers and the Millennials, green living is not thrust upon them so much as it is a lifestyle…
Has Our Environment Become Toxic?
Sara Grochowski Do It Green! Minnesota What ever happened to stepping outside for a “breath of fresh air?” It is often said that the air inside a home could be more toxic than outside. However, it seems our environment is becoming contaminated, and scientists continually are finding links to the impact on human health. Air quality is not the only concern; the water we drink, food we eat, grass or gardens we cultivate, even the furniture on which we rest can affect our health. Toxins are generally defined as anything that we contact that is poisonous, whether by touch, ingestion…
Saint Cloud: Green and Sustainable Living Resources
Do It Green! Minnesota Saint Cloud, Minnesota is a medium sized city with a growing economy, an abundance of parks, and a state university. The city has a population of approximately 67,000 people and resides 70 miles from Minneapolis-just a quick trip on Highway 94. Its location in Minnesota puts it in close proximity to many farms and thus local food sources, and the booming university is expanding environmental activism on campus. COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS Environmental and Technological Studies Student Club Contact Person: Damian Olson Email: olda0402@stcloudstate.edu The Environmental and Technological Studies Student Club is a group available for students…
Standards, Certifications, and Options for Green Homes
MICHAEL ANSCHEL Verified Green, Inc. Owning a home can be one of the great joys and challenges of life. Understanding the myriad systems that combined to make up your home can be mind boggling even for those of us who spend our lives studying, building, renovating, and repairing them. Until recently, few were aware of the role that their home played in contributing to climate change. Homes and buildings are, in fact, the primary consumers of both energy (43%) and electricity (76%). Our lifestyle choices are having a tremendous impact on our world, and perhaps most importantly, they are habits…
Tips to Reduce Particle Exposure
Check the Air Quality Index and sign up to receive free e-mail notices when air advisories or alerts are called by the MPCA. Go to: aqi.pca.state.mn.us/hourly Drive fewer miles. Bus, bike, carpool or walk more often. Reduce exposure to idling vehicles. Cars need only 30 seconds to warm up, even in winter. Limit wood smoke. Indoors: consider a new fireplace insert or converting to natural gas, replace woodstoves built before 1992. Outdoors: make only small recreational fires. Never burn leaves, green branches, wet wood or treated wood. Reduce electricity use. Turn lights and appliances off when you leave the room….
Alcohol – Mixing Ethics and Pleasure
Keith Pille Imagine having a frosty tumbler of pale ale before you on a hot, humid day. Beer – what’s not to love? One of the most pleasant surprises about adopting a “greener” lifestyle is that it’s surprisingly easy to drink beer and be socially responsible about it. The same goes for wine. The crafts of beer and wine making are among humanity’s oldest arts (the oldest known text in the world is an ancient beer recipe), so it makes sense that they should be ecologically sound.When looking for environmentally friendly beer options, your best bet is to patronize your…
