Share the Ride

Metro Transit

Explore your transportation options instead of driving alone. Sharing the ride in a carpool or vanpool can save you money, help the environment and allows you to relax during your commute. To get started, visit http://metrotransit.org/rideshare and use the Rideshare Planner. It will automatically match you with potential rideshare partners. We maintain an online list of more than 6,000 commuters—if there isn’t a match at first check back often since more rideshare partners are added everyday.

Vanpooling is a great option for those that live or work in the Twin Cities area and have a long commute. Vanpools typically carry between five and 15 commuters who commute to work an average of thee or more days per week. The Metropolitan Council sponsors a regional vanpool program, Van-GO!, that helps coordinate the lease of a van and subsidizes a percentage of the vanpooling costs. Visit http://metrotransit.org/rideshare to learn more about the Van-GO! vanpool service.

Meet Charlie Stark

Charlie Stark won the Commuter of the Year Award for his enthusiastic advocacy of vanpooling. He drives a bio-diesel vanpool each day from his Northfield home to Travelers Insurance, Inc., in downtown St. Paul. Stark hosts commuter fairs in Northfield and chairs the Transportation Committee of RENew Northfield. Stark mentions that there are three main benefits to vanpooling; “Vanpooling allows me to reduce my carbon footprint, relax while commuting and it saves me money. Our ten-person vanpool cuts carbon emissions by 95 percent compared to each of us driving alone to work.” Reconsider your commute options and learn more at http://metrotransit.org

Winner of 2008 Commuter Choice Award. Metro Transit

Share the Ride

Green Tips

Learn from Woodbury

Is it possible for one of the fastest growing cities in Minnesota to be sustainable? The City of Woodbury has committed to try. Since adopting its initial Sustainability Resolution in 2006, the City has progressed toward becoming a sustainable community through several initiatives. You can read more about them in here. Can your city follow suit?

Install a Programmable Thermostat

A programable thermostat can save $100 per year. Set it 2 degrees higher in summer and 2 degrees lower in winter for an additional money and energy savings.

Check out the Home Energy Checklist for more great ideas!

Support Strong Towns

The automobile era spurred the expansion of highways and the fragmentation of natural habitats and communities. Now, the suburban American lifestyle had led to an obesity epidemic, high levels of resource consumption, and oil dependency. Strong Towns is a nonprofit that helps cities focus on resiliency instead of growth. Find out more.

Plant a Seed, Grow a Community

Community Gardens are community spaces that are communally cultivated and cared for; these spaces may consist of individually-worked plots, multiple person caretaker areas, sitting areas, and small-scale children play areas. Some say community gardens are the last existing opportunity Americans have to reclaim common spaces. This article offers great information about the many benefits community gardens provide.

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, plus substitutes to harmful substances.

Purchase Low Flow Plumbing Fixtures

Your family can save 13,000 gallons of water per year with a low flush toilet, 2,900 gallons with a low flow shower head and 700 gallons with faucet aerators. Reducing temperature and usage of hot water will also save money and energy.

Find more great water saving tips with our Home Water Audit Checklist!

Start a Recycling Program at Work

If your office doesn’t have a recycling program, consider being a catalyst for big change by starting one yourself. See our full list of tips on how to get started (including identifying a Recycling Coordinator and selecting a Recycling Company) in our article, Green Your Office.

Start a Neighborhood Eco-Parent Group

We all want to do the best for our children, especially when it comes to protecting their health and the environment in which they live. Sometimes, knowing the most effective ways to do this can be confusing and challenging, but you don’t have to figure it out alone. Consider starting an eco-parent group in your neighborhood to learn alongside other parents. This article offers some tips.

Practice Greener Pest Control

Preventive and non-toxic pest control strategies are not only better for the environment and your wallet, but also human health. Before the advent of toxic aerosol sprays and poisons post World War II, many people used passive and more natural means to control pests by deterring and preventing their entry.

Find a list of green pest control ideas in our article on Pest Control, the Old Fashioned Way!

Check Out This Template for Action

Scientists say a global warming “tipping point” in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes. Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second lowest level in about 30 years. These news flashes are just some of our climate’s changes happening daily. You and your kids can help. Read more here, and then check out Climate Generations’s Take Action! Guide, which offers hands-on activities for grades 3-12.

How Our Food Choices Effect the Planet

How Our Food Choices Effect the Planet

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