Attend Green Events
- September 18, 2024 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Toy Lending Event - October 2, 2024 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Toy Lending Event - October 16, 2024 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Toy Lending Event
See more events on our calendar, or submit your own event.
Green Tips
Host an Art Night
Looking for a new way to connect with your neighbors, get free life advice, and spark your creative juices? Consider hosting an art night at your house, complete with paints, modeling clay, colored pencils and art smocks. Get messy, be creative, and let the conversation flow. For inspiration and resources,…
Choose Safe Art Supplies
Arts and crafts materials can be hazardous to your health and the environment. Even though the Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act of 1988 requires stringent labeling of hazardous materials in art supplies, many materials are out of compliance. This article offers tips to help you choose safe art supplies,…
Support a Local Business
Did you know that roughly 73 cents of every dollar spent at a local business stays within the community, compared to 43 cents for non-local chain stores? When you buy from local businesses, you help that business employ community workers, support other local businesses, and contribute to the community’s overall…
Buy Green Office Supplies
“Green” doesn’t necessarily mean “good” when it comes to so-called green office supplies. To help your office green up, consider durability, natural resource and energy use, recycled content and recyclability, toxicity, biodegradability and packaging before you purchase supplies. You can also set up a reuse system for the supplies you…
Think Twice About Bottled Water
If you live in an area with clean drinking water, fill a reusable bottle with tap water and bring it with you wherever you go to avoid buying bottled water. The U.S. sends 2 million tons of plastic water bottles to landfills each year—and producing those bottles requires oil and…
Contact Your State Legislator
As a constituent, you are your local legislators’ highest priority. Why not share your views with them and ask them to support your position? It may seem like your letters and emails will get lost in a deep, dark political hole, but don’t despair. Whether you call, fax, email or…
Get Engaged!
Individuals’ actions are important in setting sound policy, so become an engaged citizen. Whether you call your legislator’s office, testify in a legislative hearing or attend a rally, you can make your voice heard. Still doubt that you can make a difference? This article addresses couple common concerns about whether…
Take the Energy Challenge
The fastest, cheapest, easiest way to reduce your carbon footprint is through energy efficiency and conservation. Plus, you’ll save yourself money in the process! Need a little boost to get started? Join the Minnesota Energy Challenge and learn from thousands of Minnesotans who have pledged to reduce their energy use—and…
Blog
How Our Food Choices Effect the Planet
By Heidi Meyer
There are many ways to be a conscious consumer and to leave a smaller footprint on our planet. One thing we all buy a lot of is food. We all have to eat! With seemingly endless trips to the grocery store week after week, we vote with our dollars as we choose which foods to fuel our bodies. These choices affect not just what is produced and what we see on the store shelves, they also directly impact the environment. I started my green journey by focusing on buying organic whenever available after learning about this option while earning my…
The Best Way to Begin Your Zero Waste Journey
By Kate Marnach from Tare Market
Have you heard the phrase “zero waste” before? If not, you’re not alone, but this trash-free movement is quickly gaining traction around the world, thanks to the realization that we are steadily drowning the planet in trash. Over the past few decades, we have all heard talk about switching to green energy sources, reduction of water use, and ceasing the use of harmful chemicals and pesticides–but what about our trash production? Until a few years ago, I had never heard of zero waste and never really thought a whole lot about the trash my family was producing, though I considered…
Going Solar: Our New Love for the Sun
By the Kabat Family
In early Spring, 2016, our family began the process of going solar! It wasn’t until October of that year, however, that our 28 solar panels were in place on our roof and turned on. The wait for our panels was excruciating at times; a very slow but steady process. But now the end result amazes us almost every day! To say we have a new appreciation for the sun is a big understatement. Our panels have an almost complete southern view and zero shade. They provide all of our energy, plus extra energy that we sell to Xcel, for eight…
Read Up!
Native Prairie Plant List
Here is a list of native prairie plants that would be appropriate for most urban gardens in the Minneapolis area. The key is to buy plants that are gathered from local seed sources. You can get a prairie in a can at Menard’s that includes little bluestem, or an aster at Bachman’s, but these plants are from another part of…
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