Green Visions

Brook trout like cool water.

Trees that overhang their rivers and streams provide shade and cool the water.  Without them, the water can get warm enough to harm or even kill the fish.

So "river maintenance" for groups like Gitche Gumee Trout Unlimited is more than just cleaning up litter; it means replanting native trees on riverbanks where they might have been cut back decades ago.

It all started with a donated box of river guide books.  While working at Ski Hut a few years ago, Jared Munch met an elderly couple who told him their paddling days were over, and handed him a cardboard box. Looking through the books, Munch discovered the Missinaibi River, an historic fur trade route used to travel between Lake Superior and James Bay.  The goal to paddle the route grew to starting in Duluth, and became a fundraiser for Neighborhood Youth Services in an effort to help kids get out into nature.

This week, Duluth mayor Emily Larson, the Duluth City Council, and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Administration Board (CSB) 

Tone Lanzillo re-thought pretty much his whole life over the last three years or so ...

The former mental health worker decided to downsize and relocate his life so he could find a community in which he could make a difference.

But no one was as surprised as he to see his two-week stay in Duluth turn into a permanent gig.

They're not letting Riley near the woodcock chicks.

But Riley probably doesn't care; he's doing what he's been trained (or is that re-trained?) to do: find woodcocks, point 'em out, and leave the rest to the humans.

The solar panels will go up before year's end at the northeastern entrance to the Lincoln Park neighborhood.

Prior to 2013, three million gallons of storm water runoff was pouring into Lake Nokomis in south Minneapolis every year, along with over two tons of soil-suspended solids and more than 15 pounds of phosphorus. 

Living a zero-waste lifestyle can be labor-intensive -- and a little intimidating.

A "low-waste" lifestyle, on the other hand, is just a series of baby steps.

More information about Zero Waste Duluth is available here.

The last time we checked in with Tone Lanzillo, the environmental activist was walking from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.

His walk, to raise awareness about climate change and what he calls "The Duluth Agreement," is over but it's leading right into his next project, "Making It Personal."

If you'd to take part in Tone Lanzillo's "Making It Personal" project, you can email him here.

If Minnesota is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% in the next 30 years, we need to take a hard look at transportation.  Our gas-powered vehicles are responsible for most of it.

Next week, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will host a public meeting at AICHO to look at some possible solutions and get ideas and feedback on a program called Pathways to Decarbonizing Transportation.

Last week the US Bureau of Land Management renewed mineral exploration leases for Twin Metals, a crucial step in the Chilean-owned mining company’s bid to develop a large copper-nickel mine adjacent to the Boundary Waters. On Green Visions this week we are joined by Tom Landwehr, Executive Director of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters and former Minnesota DNR commissioner who shares his concerns on how this project will impact America's most popular wilderness area.

Ecolibrium3 likes to say they sit at the nexus of energy, equity and economic vitality.

The new Lincoln Park Solar Garden, however, will sit behind the M&H gas station along I-35 and Michigan Street.

And the project will not only generate energy, it will help folks suffering with "energy poverty" and veterans, too.

More information about the Lincoln Park Solar Garden is here.

Most cash registers are ready for it.

Most retailers know it's coming.

Over two thousand people in Duluth have signed a pledge to support it.

Even the ordinance has basically been written.

So why hasn't the Duluth City Council moved ahead with the proposed initiative to place a nominal charge on single use carryout bags, eliminate non-compostable plastic straws (and offer alternatives only on demand) and phase out Styrofoam™ to-go containers?

Honor The Earth’s Winona LaDuke in a wide-ranging conversation about the Green New Deal, the Husky Energy refinery explosion a year later, Line 3 and the work Native communities are doing to move toward clean, sustainable energy.