The Minnesota Environmental Initiative is a nonprofit organization that builds partnerships to develop solutions to Minnesota's environmental problems.
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Spring 2005 | |
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The Minnesota Environmental Initiative is a nonprofit organization that builds partnerships to develop solutions to Minnesota's environmental problems.
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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: MEI RETHINKS ITS WORK ON ENERGY About two months ago, MEI was faced with a difficult decision. As 2004 came to a close, our eleven-year-old Energy Alley program had reached a crossroads. Over the previous two years, it had become increasingly clear that many of the program’s major projects were struggling to achieve their intended environmental outcomes. At the same time, Energy Alley was focusing on an ever-narrower niche and the circle of the program’s partners was shrinking over time. It was increasingly hard to foresee the kind of broad-reaching environmental outcomes resulting from Energy Alley that MEI has strived to accomplish in its most ambitious work. In the end, MEI has chosen a difficult, but hopefully rewarding, path
- fundamentally rethinking our work on energy and the environment. Our
decision was rooted in a conviction that while Energy Alley was engaged
in a variety of valuable activities, MEI’s potential to address
energy issues lay beyond the reach of the current program. Further, no
other environmental issue demands our state’s attention more than
those associated with the generation and use of energy, and it is imperative
that MEI contribute to the effort to These convictions notwithstanding, it was not an easy thing for MEI to make such a decision. There is always security in continuing to do something that has been done for so long. There is always risk in setting aside such security to seek the potential of better opportunities. However, the reward associated with the risk began to be realized almost immediately and we have found nearly unanimous support for the path we have chosen. The circle of our conversation has expanded quickly to re-engage many of the partners that had drifted away in past years. Doors have started to open where none existed just a few months ago. We are still early in our exploration of new opportunities, but inspiring and exciting potential directions are already beginning to emerge. MEI has brought together sixteen of the organization’s friends, board members and Energy Alley partners to form a strategy team to explore our options on future energy work. Staff will work with this group to design a series of interviews with the key players on energy issues, and to prepare a recommended course of action to the Board of Directors. We carry no assumptions into this conversation, except that the many valuable relationships forged within Energy Alley will provide a strong basis for what comes next. We also have no assumptions about what will come out of this effort, whether it be a strategy to integrate energy issues throughout the organization’s other programs or a plan for a renewed energy program. Such an opportunity to suspend assumptions comes only rarely in the life of an organization, and we are excited to make the most of this one. If you are interested in learning more about this effort, or if you would like to be involved in some way, please contact me at mharley@mn-ei.org. Otherwise, watch future editions of this newsletter for updates on our exploration. -- Mike Harley, Executive Director
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MPCA AIR ALERTS REACH THOUSANDS THANKS TO CAM PARTNERS The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s air pollution alert system played a critical public health role in February. Alerts were emailed out to the more than 2,000 listserv members announcing that, for the first time ever, our air was unhealthy for everyone. But do such alerts reach as many people as they could? Clean Air Minnesota (CAM) set out to explore that in 2004. The results of its efforts have been a drastic increase in those receiving – and passing on to others – the air pollution alerts. Alerts have been issued about eight to 10 times a year since the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) first beganmaintaining a listserv of contacts in 2002. The alerts instruct people to take certain actions to protect their own health (like avoiding strenuous exercise) and the environment on poor air quality days. For a while, only a few hundred people were on the air pollution alert listserv, and the alerts were sparsely covered in the media. Now the MPCA has garnered alert coverage on most of the major news outlets and, following two years of concerted outreach by both the MPCA and CAM, the listserv has grown. Many of the newer subscribers work for large companies that CAM recruited as partners, since receiving and distributing the alerts is a partnership requirement. Today, CAM partners report that by passing alerts along to their employees and contacts, they reach more than 110,000 individuals around the state. ALERTS IN ACTION "Rather than signifying an increase in emissions, the alerts were triggered by a combination of factors, including weather patterns and a temperature inversion that trapped our own emissions close to the ground. Added to that was a large mass of fine particle pollution covering several Midwestern states including Minnesota," says Rebecca Helgesen, MPCA public information officer. "The alerts attracted a great deal of media attention, and we believe they increased the public’s awareness of air pollution issues." The MPCA, the Minnesota Department of Health, CAM and other partners will soon be working together to make the alerts even more effective. The groups plan to better coordinate air pollution alert outreach and develop new language that tells people more about the specific actions they should take to protect themselves on "Unhealthy for All" alert days. --Colleen Coyne, CAM Outreach Manager
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R4R HELPS AFFORDABLE HOUSING NONPROFITS REUSE URBAN LAND After a 2004 marked by the completion of innovative greenspace-rehabilitation
projects, MEI’s Resources for R4R’s partnership with Metropolitan Council and Twin Cities Habitat
for Humanity - funded by the Environmental Protection Agency's brownfields
demonstration pilot program - gives Twin Cities Habitat and other area
nonprofits technical, financial and project-management resources to redevelop
brownfields properties for productive, community-building reuses. Launched
in earnest in 2000, the initial burst of activity This spring, though, redevelopment will be completed at several more
sites, starting with a single-family home on Construction of two Habitat homes will get under way at a corner property on Stinson Boulevard in Northeast Minneapolis this spring, in the wake of a cleanup that proceeded in December and January despite bitter temperatures, uncooperative equipment and holiday vacation schedules. The property was formerly home to two shabby buildings riddled with lead paint and asbestos; both were secured and demolished prior to starting cleanup of underlying soil. Beyond the support from the EPA pilot, environmental work at Stinson is being covered with resources from the Hennepin County Environmental Response Fund and the state Petrofund program. The project, which has enjoyed strong support from Minneapolis City Council President Paul Ostrow, represents a major inroad for affordable housing in an area of the Twin Cities that has to date lacked such opportunities. In addition to the work with Twin Cities Habitat, R4R is celebrating
the revitalization of the Crane-Ordway building Finally, R4R staff worked last fall with staff from Project for Pride in Living on the assessment of and creation of a construction contingency plan for a large parcel on Boone Avenue in New Hope. This allowed PPL to proceed with development of 35 apartments and 41 condominiums (a mixture of market-rate and affordable units) in two buildings. Coupled with the major greenspace-redevelopment efforts R4R has been part of at the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary and El Colegio Charter School, the program’s continuing work on housing and nonprofit facility projects represents the foundation upon which bolder, broader sustainable redevelopment work will be built in the near future. -- Michael Welch, Resources for Redevelopment Director
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ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY PROGRAM TACKLES HEALTH AND AIR QUALITY MEI has been tracking the issue of health and air quality since we first tackled the topic at a policy forum in early 2004. As we have followed the issue over the past year, it has become evident that while many groups and individuals are working on the issue in Minnesota, there is little communication and coordination amongst them. MEI’s Environmental Policy program is trying to overcome this barrier by bringing together diverse interests to engage in a big picture conversation on the issue of human health and outdoor air quality. To do this, MEI staff brought together individuals from state and local
government, academia, the private sector, As the next step, a broader group of MEI partners will be able to engage
in a conversation about human health and outdoor air quality at MEI’s
April 13 Air Quality and Our Health policy forum. At the forum, environmental
and public health leaders will discuss the recent air quality alerts issued
by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency that declared the air unhealthy
for everyone in early February. Speakers and participants will seek ways
to incorporate public health considerations into broader conversations
on issues such as transportation and energy, discuss ways to better communicate
health concerns related to air quality problems, and explore ways to bring
the environmental and public health communities together to develop creative The approach of linking a series of investigative dialogues to a policy forum on a single environmental issue is proving to be a powerful approach to deepening engagement on new issues and forging new partnerships. MEI plans to seek such opportunities in the formation of future policy forums. To register for Air Quality and Our Health, please visit MEI’s web site at www.mn-ei.org. -- Katherine Anderson, Environmental Policy Coordinator
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JOB OPENING: RESOURCES FOR REDEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR MEI is seeking to fill the position of its Resources for Redevelopment director early this summer. R4R builds models of sustainable urban redevelopment by integrating principles of sustainable land use, green building, energy efficiency and environmentally responsible landscaping through on-the-ground projects. You can view the job posting on MEI's website. For more information, contact Mike Harley, Executive Director, at mharley@mn-ei.org or 612-334-3388 ext. 110. Applications will be accepted through April 20. MICHAEL WELCH ACCEPTS POSITION AT MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT The R4R director position will open when Michael Welch leaves MEI this summer. Over the past seven years, Michael Welch has been a remarkable leader in our organization. He served first as our communications manager, and has been director of the Resources for Redevelopment program since 2000. After receiving his J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law, Michael will be taking a clerkship with Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Helen Meyer in early summer. Michael will be missed, but will leave a strong legacy in the R4R program. |
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THANKS, MEMBERS MEI’s work is supported by the generous contributions of its members. Thank you to the individuals and organizations listed below for their recent membership contributions. 3M |
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