Category Archives: Events

St. Anthony Sustainability Fair

Events
The Sustainability Fair

Citizens for Sustainability presents:

Saturday, November 17, 2018, 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
St. Anthony Village City Hall, 3301 Silver Lake Rd, St. Anthony, MN 55418

Being sustainable doesn’t have to be hard! Learn about:

  • Energy Efficiency
  • Green Transportation
  • Waste Reduction and Recycling
  • Clean Water
  • Eco-Friendly Yards
  • Local Food
  • And More!

This open-house style event is family friendly and will include a number of organizations and the City of St. Anthony hosting stations on all topic areas. Presentations and films will be scheduled throughout the event.

All are welcome!

Questions? Contact us at info@citizensforsustainability.org.

Host: Citizens for Sustainability with support of the City of St. Anthony and local groups (Kiwanis Club, CFS affiliates, churches, etc.)
Sponsors: Eastside Food Co-op and City of St. Anthony

Presenters

Presentations will be in Council Chambers. Schedule forthcoming.

2:30 – Ben Knudson

Recycling and Organics – What do you need to know?
Recycling has struggled to cope with contamination and changes in China’s import policies. How can you help? Organics recycling is an easy way to reduce your trash, but it’s new and not widely available. What is organics recycling and how can you participate?

Ben grew up in Nebraska and went to Macalester College in St. Paul. He works on waste reduction and recycling for Hennepin County.

1:30 – Jukka Kukkonen

Electric Vehicles and Charging Infrastructure
According to the latest survey from AAA, one in five Americans say they are likely to buy an electric car for their next new vehicle and this year over 45% of vehicles sold in Norway are electric. A few years ago we had to choose from just half a dozen PEV models, but now we have 25 PEV models available in the Midwest and Tesla Model 3 is breaking sales records. Public charging infrastructure networks are growing fast and utility companies are getting involved. So transportation electrification is really happening. In this presentation I will talk about how the EV revolution is happening here in Minnesota, how people are charging their cars and you get to ask anything about EVs.

Jukka is from PlugInConnect is an EV market and business solutions consultant. Jukka has deep knowledge of the electric vehicle market and he specializes in market dynamics and real-life user perspectives. He has built programs for utility companies, condominium and apartment building charging, workplace charging, DC fast charging, outreach and education and smart grid integration. This fall he will be teaching the “EV Market and Technologies” graduate course at the University of Saint Thomas. You can find out more about his work by visiting www.PlugInConnect.com.

2:00 & 4:00 – Minette Saulog

Empowering St. Anthony for Energy Efficiency
Learn how to make your home energy-efficient so that you can:

  • Make your house healthier to live in
  • Save on your energy bills
  • Be an environmentally-conscious citizen

In this talk, you’ll learn about and consider simple behavior changes, small and large-scale retrofit projects, and home renovation techniques that can set you on the path to a more sustainable way of living.

Minette is St. Anthony’s Minnesota GreenCorps/AmeriCorps member for the 2018-19 year. She recently graduated from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities this past May, majoring in Sustainable Systems Management and double-minoring in Environmental Science and Business Management. Until next August, she will be helping the City work towards energy conservation for both public facilities and residential homes, as well as other projects promoting biking, walking and public transportation utilization and conducting energy assessments for different City buildings. Learn more about St. Anthony Village sustainability initiatives.

Guests

View Vendor/Guest Information. Other questions? Contact us at info@citizensforsustainability.org.

Transitioning Ahead, July 27-30 – SEF News-Views Digest

Events, Sustainability Education Forum


SEF News-Views Digest No. 176 (7-26-17)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher

This issue marks a return to the weekly delivery of yore. The every-other week publishing schedule worked well for the past three months, but two issues ago I began reducing the descriptions of articles to about half of the wording used previously. This approach has resulted in a reduced time commitment, so, for now, we’ll return to weekly issues—except for occasional timeout breaks.

Another reason for publishing this issue is to reemphasize and highlight the very special, first-time Transition US National Gathering, which will be held at Macalester College July 27-31.  Continue reading Transitioning Ahead, July 27-30 – SEF News-Views Digest →

CFS July Meeting Notes

Events

Village Fest (4th parade, 5th for booth)

  • Parade: Ask if walkers are interested
    • Candy
  • 3 messages: Organics, city council, electric cars
    • Tent (Kristin)
    • Which electric cars
    • Lona will get spots for cars and
  • Organics
    • Hauling it
    • Compost bin
      • Lona will bring examples of home compost
  • Questions for city council survey below
    • table-sized paper with markers
      • “What questions do you have for the city about your environmental concerns?”
    • Suggestion box
    • Clipboards with questions
    • Display city email address
  • Transportation Multi-modal
    • Bike (electric)–Mary and Clif talking to bike shops
    • Walk
    • Electric Vehicles

Surveying city council candidates

  • what questions could we ask of a city council/school board candidate?
    • We’re a citizen committee, you’re welcome to come to our September meeting, but we have some questions
    • Use Village Fest to generate questions
  • are there any folks in CFS interested?
    • Dan will write up a blurb about local engagement being a good way to get policy change
      • http://www.savmn.com/256/Elections Get involved in Two city council positions are up in the fall, applications are ___
  • Ask city to make city council commitment clearer
    • Mary will check in with

Review of Transition Forum event

  • Lona and Dan provided a summary of the event
    • Meeting in people’s homes
    • Having guest speakers
    • Reach out to elder neighbors
    • Go to transition town national: http://www.transitionus.org

Updates from projects/sub-committees

  • Ecology Club will happen at Elementary and Middle
    • Jay and Erin met about water conservation campaign
    • Laura (school board)
  • Parks Commission presentation (Lona)
    • Propose a Parks Commission name change
    • Should we become part of the Parks Commission?
      • No, but we should attend every Parks Commission meeting
    • Propose a regular environmental update
    • Sustainability Fair
      • Make it a city thing

Village Fest booth: Michael will do early shift.

Registration for Parade/Booth

City Council candidates

  • https://www.nancyforthevillage.com
  • http://davecolling.com/

Transition To a Sustainable Future – SEF News-Views Digest

Events, Sustainability Education Forum

SEF News-Views Digest No. 174 (7-5-17)
Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher


Citizens for Sustainability Transition Forum

Helping Our Community Transition To A Sustainable Future

Sat., July 8, 3-4:30 p.m.
St. Anthony Village City Hall Council Chambers,  3301 Silver Lake Rd.

Leslie McKenzie, presenter
Assisted by Tim Jordan and Michael Russelle

FREE!

Leslie Mackenzie, a writer-editor, serves as Community Organizer with Transition Twin Cities (https://transitiontwincities.org/tcgroups/). She is a active leader in Transition Longfellow, a community in  south Minneapolis. She as also been active with the Tapestry Folkdance Center and  FindLaw, a Thomson Reuters Business. Leslie leads transition workshops, and serves as the Twin Cities coordinator for the first Transition US National Gathering, which will be held at Macalester College in St. Paul, July 27-31.

Continue reading Transition To a Sustainable Future – SEF News-Views Digest →

June CFS Meeting Notes

Events

Other Notes

  • Wilshire Park and Community Center water conservation poster contest in the Fall
  • Ecology Club will return for 4th & 5th graders at Wilshire in Fall
  • Alan Anderson
  • Future idea: city ordinance
    • no styrofoam
    • compostables?
  • Middle/High School has recycling in lunchroom and ordering recyclable plastics
  • Spring Lake Park schools have a relationship with the local EMS–perhaps integrate in SAVNB
    • Reach out to the school board about some vocational training or at least some curriculum about autonomous vehicles/car programs.
  • “Beyond Earth Day: Fulfilling the Promise” – Gaylord Nelson
    • Written 30-some years after the beginning of Earth Day
    • “You show me pollution and I will show you people who are not paying their own way, people who are stealing from the public, people who are getting the public to pay their costs of production. All environmental pollution is a subsidy.”
      — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
  • Parks Commission meeting to suggest renaming Parks and Sustainability Commission
  • Goodwill: Bring in your own bag, get 25% off

A4S meeting

  • Two meetings, one for staff and one for citizens
    • No SAV staff went to the staff one (AGENDA ITEM WITH JAY AND MARK?)
  • Ramsey County Commissioner is ready to get organics collection across Ramsey County
  • Ramsey County will pay for city drop off locations
    • ACTION ITEM: Try to find a Ramsey county location in SAV
  • Met Council is on board and WSB is in the know given the number of cities they work with being on board
  • U of M researcher on autonomous vehicles
    • rolling out in 10 years
    • autonomous cars won’t need to park
    • do not build any more parking ramps
    • will be electric
    • will need a sort of port so there’s no person needed
    • rather than parking lots, drop off lanes
    • incentive will be that insurance rates will go up for non-autonomous
  • Osseo was present despite being 1 sq mi

Village Fest

  • Have we signed up? Do we have two booths? Can we suggest an environment-themed section (with bees)? Solar non-profits (Ask Paul White)? Solar-powered wind turbine display? Solar thing?
  • Lona is point person
  • What should we do at the booth?
    • Something for kids
    • Seed packets
  • Put environmental related theme booths together
  • Electric car show
  • Parade
  • Free bike work by Recovery Bikes (William)
    • Electric-assist bike raffle

Upcoming Events

  • Transition Towns meeting 7/8/17 – 3pm
    • Tim Jordon (NE Transition Town), Michael R.
    • Council chambers. CFS Transition Forum
    • Invite: Connie Bernardy, A4S, papers, SAV display, etc.
    • Be ready with questions
  • Free screening of “From the Ashes”
  • DFL Senate District 41 Advocacy Fair in Fridley: 8/19
    • CFS could have a booth
  • Northern Spark Festival along the Green Line tonight

Friends of Parks update

  • See May notes–maybe start in the fall
  • Pollinator Pathway maintenance?
  • Future grants?

Scheduling a meeting with Mark/Jay

  • Two Tuesdays before next Parks meeting August 22. 7:30 or 8.
    • In advance of Sept 5

Social media discussion

  • Focus on Facebook.
  • Fix Facebook email tie-in