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February 16, 2021
Minnesota’s lakes, rivers, and streams provide year-round recreation opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts. Many Minnesotans connect with nature through fishing, and anglers play an important role in the fight to protect wildlife habitat. The nonprofit organization Minnesota Trout Unlimited provides anglers with a unique perspective on the link between water quality and fish populations.
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February 16, 2021
After repeatedly hearing about the dangers and environmental costs of using excess salt and deicers on streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and driveways, people are looking for safer alternatives. It’s natural to seek an easy, alternative product that does the same thing as salt but that is also safe for pets, water, soil, and vegetation. But here’s the unpleasant truth that exposes this trick question: there is no deicer that is proven to be “safe” for our pets. The silver bullet is excellent “mechanical control,” generally referred to by us common folk as “shoveling.” Plain and Simple.
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January 4, 2021
At the start of each new year, people tend to take stock of their lives and figure out what’s worth keeping and what needs to be purged. 2020 was such a bad year in so many ways—too obvious and too numerous to recount here. But since it was such a bad year, wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t learn anything from its hardships, pain, and losses? What were the lessons learned? Have we figured out what’s really important? Have we changed any of our priorities? Personally? Professionally? As a nation? Do we have a better dream for this coming year?
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November 20, 2020
I fondly remember teaching first graders about plant and animal winter survival adaptations, such as hibernation and dormancy. This year in Minnesota, people will be more or less hibernating right along with those plants and animals. To beat COVID, we know it’s best to limit our physical contact with each other, so a lot of us will be home for the holidays, whether we like it or not.
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November 2, 2020
Leaving the leaves on-site avoids unintentionally hauling off hibernating insects, giving insects a chance to emerge in the spring.
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October 1, 2020
The climate of a region has big impacts on water resources like lakes and streams. So, it’s no wonder watershed managers are keeping a close eye on how our climate is changing. At last year’s 50th-anniversary event for the Bassett Creek Watershed Management Commission, keynote speaker climatologist/meteorologist Dr. Mark Seeley clearly showed how our region is already feeling the effects of a changing climate. Dr. Seeley presented copious data and analyses that show how the climate in our region is getting warmer and wetter and discussed the implications on our water resources. (Seeley's presentation is available at www.bassettcreekwmo.org/learn-participate)
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August 31, 2020
COVID-19 and the uprising after the death of George Floyd has affected almost everything about Masjid An-Nur and its North Minneapolis neighborhood. Before all the unexpected changes of 2020, this mosque was already planning its transformation into an ‘Eco-Mosque.’ This summer, a major landscape renovation will affirm their commitment to sustainability and environmental justice.
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June 12, 2020
​To our community, On June 10th, more than 6,000 scientists participated in a one-day strike to acknowledge the ways that systemic racism and white supremacy have shaped the scientific community. Their statement read, in part: “We recognize that our academic institutions and research collaborations — despite big talk about diversity, equity and inclusion — have ultimately failed black people…. The enterprise of science has been — and remains — complicit in systemic racism, and it must strive harder to correct those injustices and amplify marginalized voices.”
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May 19, 2020
​What if you had the power to protect and conserve water, provide food and habitat for wildlife and pollinators, reduce your carbon footprint, feed the hungry, and reduce obesity and diabetes just by doing one thing differently? Would you do it? Well, the good news is that we all have that power—and the answer lies in our own backyards!
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April 28, 2020
A sure sign of the changing seasons is a procession of sweeper trucks combing the metro for their annual spring street sweep. Street Maintenance Manager Matt Morreim, who has worked for the City of Saint Paul for nearly a decade, manages the multiple crews who criss-cross the city, clearing the curb of gravel, grit, and leaves. In a single year, they pick-up approximately 15,000 cubic yards of debris, one truckload at a time.
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