Stewards
Forests and Wildlife
The Stewards submitted recommendations to the Governor's DRAFT MN Climate Action Framework for Goal 2: "Climate-Smart Natural and Working Lands".
One of our most important recommendations emphasized the fact that "over 95% of Forest carbon is stored in forest ecosystem pools vs. harvested wood products. This is why it is critical to protect these important carbon reservoirs." A related recommendation was our imperative that "healthy forests should be left alone to become older or stay old to continue sequestering carbon."
The Stewards also stated, "We recommend deletion of biofuels from this action step because burning biofuels doesn't actually significantly decrease CO2 emissions compared to burning fossil fuels."
They recommended Minnesota "eliminate pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, fertilizers, to the greatest extent possible", and "modify riverine riparian strips in state forests to serve as the backbone of a complete system of climate emergency corridors and microclimates to preserve biodiversity."
In their June 16th meeting, the Governor's Climate Change Subcabinet said they incorporated "a ton of great feedback through the work processes, through the public, and then our stakeholders ... and through [the Governor's Advisory Council]". The final framework is due in September. The team will continue to participate in the process to protect forests for climate action, wildlife habitat protections, and other public needs.
Campaign Teams
Clean Energy
Due to stalling in the legislature, the team is partnering with Fresh Energy to call on the governor to immediately call a special session, get the legislature back to work, and make sure Minnesota receives its full entitlement of infrastructure funding. Take action here.
The team is working with the Climate Justice Program and Youth N’Power, and recently decided to partner with CEE to support home audit days in mid-August to sign people up for free home energy audits.
Negotiations between the City of Minneapolis and the East Phillips neighborhood over a proposed urban farm site have reached a critical phase. The city has offered the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) 3 acres of land for a dollar. The catch is that the city is asking for an answer before June 30th without providing sufficient information about its plans. EPNI needs to know whether the city will demolish the existing Roof Depot building without releasing arsenic, and how many additional polluting vehicles the plan would bring into the neighborhood. In other words, the neighborhood needs to know that the city's offer would be a net positive from an environmental justice perspective before EPNI says yes.
You can help by calling Mayor Frey at 612-673-2100 and demanding that he give EPNI all the time and information that it needs before pressuring them into a decision about the city's offer.
Land Use and Transportation
Now that the days have finally warmed up and the plants have bloomed, the Land Use and Transportation team has biking top-of-mind and is excitedly beginning to plan the return of the Sierra Club Bike Tour after a two-year hiatus. Stay tuned for more information to come later this summer! The team has also been advocating for support from elected officials for the Midtown Greenway extension across the Mississippi River, which will bring vastly improved bicycle connections to Minneapolis and St. Paul.
With the summer weather giving us more time to enjoy the outdoors, it’s the perfect time to advocate for car-free parkways to allow walkers and rollers to have more space while out in the parks. Tell the Minneapolis Park Board to support temporary closures to cars on West River Parkway by sending an email here. The Land Use and Transportation team meeting for next month has been moved to July 11th to accommodate the July 4th holiday; we hope to see you there!
Zero Waste Task Force
With the beautiful summer weather, the team is planning more trash pickup events and a Happy Hour in June and July (dates TBD).
Unfortunately none of the legislation to ban PFAS in consumer products passed this year but they will continue to work on it again next year. The team is also continuing to work on legislation for Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging to reduce plastic waste. Watch this short (2 ½ min) video to learn more about reasons to switch out plastic: Exposing Problems from Toxic Chemicals in Plastic.
Join the team at one of their upcoming events (see Volunteers Needed, above) or come to the next meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. Contact Lori Olinger for more information.