Will Steger Foundation is actively engaging Minnesota youth in critical Clean Air Act defense. High school students representing Youth Environmental Activists of Minnesota (YEA! MN), a joint program of the WSF and the Alliance for Sustainability, joined a coalition of MN youth from across the state, to address US Senator Klobuchar on the issue. Read a reflection on the meeting from youth organizers at the MN Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG).

What is clear and everywhere you go? Need another hint? Its molecular mass is 28.97 grams. The answer is Clean Air! Recently, Minnesota youth representing eight different student organizations met together to speak with Greg Bohrer, Energy and Environmental Legislative Aide to US Senator Amy Klobuchar, regarding our Senator’s action to preserve the integrity of the Clean Air Act. The Congressional Review Act (CRA) Challenge has been introduced into Congress, and would formally retract the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate cross-state pollution. People who enjoy clean air are worried.

With such varied youth organizations represented, we recognized many different implications the CRA Challenge would have. Cole Norgaarden and I, members of Youth Environmental Activists of Minnesota (YEA! MN) highlighted that today’s youth are the “green generation”, and as 22% of potential voters in the next election, we want our Senator to stand up for the environment and Minnesotans. The other collegiate youth identified public health, the value of science, the green economy and the importance of regulating greenhouse gases as reasons to support the Clean Air Act. As a group, we asked if Senator Klobuchar would commit to defending Clean Air Act safeguards from future attacks in Congress and if she would help stop attacks on Clean Air by voting against the CRA Challenge resolution on the Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

The word “vague” simplifies the outcome of the meeting. A definitive answer was never given; Bohrer portrayed the Senator’s agenda as one that could support the Clean Air Act, but would not actively work to voice opposition to the CRA Challenge. As youth activists, passion and initiative are threaded throughout our lives, making it difficult to have a leader who is less impassioned than we are. This meeting has reminded me that youth and adults alike need to continue standing up against environmental degradation. Voicing our opinions is necessary to see the action we would like, and I promise, I’ll be doing a lot of voicing in the future.

Leah Norman, MN High School Senior, YEA! MN Steering Committee Member

Since the fall of 2009, Campus Beyond Coal (CBC) has been leading a student run, grassroots campaign to move the University of Minnesota beyond coal power. With the mission of “To bring about, through active engagement and awareness-raising measures, the phase out of coal-fired power on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus” we have built a grassroots campaign to address coal use on our campus. Our grassroots campaign initiated with a group of dedicated students who were concerned about the carbon emissions of the University Of Minnesota, the institution’s sustainability initiatives, and the fact that the U was burning 38,000 tons of coal in Minneapolis!

In 2010 Campus Beyond Coal gained the support of over 5,000 students, faculty, and community members via petitions asking the University’ s Sustainability Committee “to move beyond coal as soon as feasibly possible.” Furthermore, Campus Beyond Coal received resolutions from the surrounding Minneapolis neighborhoods, such as Como, Seward and Marcy Holmes in addition to a resolution signed by the Minneapolis City Council.

Over the past year CBC worked with Sustainability Committee as they formulated the Climate Action Plan for the University. The Climate Action Plan is the plan for the U to become carbon neutral by 2050 as called for by the President’s Climate Commitment, signed by the U in 2008. In order to become carbon neutral, the Sustainability Committee had to address the coal burned at the Southeast Steam Plant, so Campus Beyond Coal asked that the Climate Action Plan eliminate the use of coal at the steam plant within the next five years.

Last spring the Sustainability Committee presented its proposed Climate Action Plan which calls for an 85% reduction of coal use at the Southeast Steam Plant effective this fall! In addition, the University has committed to cut CO2 emissions by 50% in 2020! Campus Beyond Coal considers these proposals victories for the campaign, students and community members of the U of M. We are very proud of all the hard work students have put into this campaign and are very thankful for the support we have gained in our efforts. This reduction in coal use is a giant step towards carbon neutrality and sustainability at the U; a step we have been awaiting to see happen for some time and an achievement for the entire University community.

It has been a whirlwind couple of years in this awesome campaign; we have grown from a small group of students to a network of support at the U of M, and now we have a victory under our belt! But…we are not slowing down. With all this momentum our goal this year is to address U of M coal use at the next level and look at Xcel Energy. Since Xcel provides power for the University of Minnesota, we are asking Xcel to increase its commitments to renewable energy and energy efficiency. Xcel’s positions on the forefront of renewable energy and energy efficiency should be applauded, but to maintain this position, we ask Xcel to commit in its Integrated Resource Plan to retiring Sherburne County (Sherco) Coal Generating Station, build 5,000 MW of new wind generation, 1,000MW of solar generation, and achieve as 2 percent annual energy efficiency standard.

Courtney Dowell - Co-Chair Campus Beyond Coal

Campus Beyond Coal Fall 2011. Kicking off a brand new semester!

By Cecelia Watkins

The Twin Cities Summer of Solutions program is and initiative of Grand Aspirations and focused on working in low income neighborhoods to build a green economy where it is most needed. The program is entirely youth run and committed to the principles of social entrepreneurship and anti-oppression in the course of building the green economy. There are sixteen Summer of Solutions programs currently underway across the US.

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As you may have experienced, the traditional bike shop model goes like this: you, the melancholy owner of a sticky geared, no shifting, wheel-missing, untrue, spoke popped, flat tire, screechy brake broken mess of metal (or who knows, maybe you just want a tune up), enter the shop and drop off your bicycle with the shop mechanics. You wait, maybe leave to take a stroll or run some errands. You come back and voila! Magically, your bike is fixed. You pay up for the services and walk out of the store. Your bike is fixed, yes, but beyond that all you’ve gained is a lighter wallet.

This is how it works at Sibley Bike Depot: You enter the building and roll your bike down a sweet-smelling hallway between a donut shop and a fabric store. Ten feet in you’ve passed these window front stores, and suddenly a colorful world of bikes opens before you. To your right is the sales floor, where Sibley sells used bikes and parts at affordable prices. To your left is the shop floor. You wheel your bike in, sign up on the list, and sit down for a short wait - Sibley is often throbbing with community members eager to work on their bikes—but luckily there are nice couches and stools made of tree stumps for you to wait on. While you wait you chat with the other people there, maybe about bikes, maybe about donuts, maybe about something totally unrelated. Eventually your name is called, and you bring your bike over to a stand. Here an experienced volunteer or staff person helps you figure out what’s wrong with your bike and walks you through the steps in fixing it. Unless you need a replacement part, this service is entirely free (and even the replacement parts are wonderfully cheap). When you leave the shop you’ve gained so much more than a working bike: you’ve gained new knowledge of bike repairs and along with it a sense of personal empowerment. And your wallet feels about the same as when you entered.

Sibley Bike Depot is a community run, non-profit bike shop whose mission is to make biking accessible and fun for everyone. On Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday Sibley holds Open Shop, as described above, and Tuesday nights are a special open shop time only for people identifying as women or transgendered. Every Monday night at Sibley volunteers of all ability levels come together to repair donated and abandoned bikes, many of which are then given at no charge to participants in the Earn-A-Bike program, where anyone can volunteer for 20 hours to get their own working bike. Sibley also runs many other programs including many free classes for youth and adults, and a 6-month bike rental program.

But why is biking important? If you’re reading this blog you may already have a sense, but I’ll spout my thoughts anyway, just in case you aren’t yet sold. Biking allows us to move ourselves and whatever we can hook up to our bikes (panniers, backpacks, milk crates full of groceries, furniture or kids or whatever else in a trailer) in a way that is faster than walking but also not reliant on rapidly disappearing fossil fuels. It promotes healthy bodies and healthy spirits, combating obesity and a vast array of other health problems. It promotes connection to and interaction with the neighborhoods one bikes through, thus supporting local business and building community. It provides us with the independence of mobility without the ever-more-expensive costs of gas, car insurance, pollution and environmental degradation.

Why is Sibley’s model of inclusion, empowerment and accessibility important? Because for cycling to be a viable solution to our nation’s massive transportation problems, it needs to be exciting and accessible for every single person, regardless of their background. For me to truly trust my bicycle as a method of transportation in addition to recreation, I needed to have a basic knowledge of how my bike works and a baseline faith that I can flip it and fix it on the side of the road if something goes wrong.

Okay, so what you’ve been waiting for: an update of what Summer of Solutions Twin Cities is doing with Sibley. This summer we have two groups working with Sibley Bike Depot. One group is focused on figuring out how to both improve the volunteer experience at Sibley and better coordinate volunteers. We have compiled a list of almost 400 volunteer emails and phone numbers and have reached out to them to gain their feedback via an online survey. The responses have already been pouring in and we are working to tabulate the data to present recommendations for improvement to the Sibley staff and board of directors. We are also working to completely re-vamp the volunteer interest and hour tracking system to make it functional and useful. In addition to this, our efforts are leading to the first-ever volunteer newsletter which will highlight upcoming volunteer opportunities, events, and feature a Volunteer of the Month.

The other Sibley group is working on outreach and visibility. In this group, we are promoting and staffing the Sibley booth at community events such as the Rondo Days celebration and the Como Park Bike Tour. At these events we talked to people about Sibley and bicycling in general, networked with other cycling organizations, taught people how to fix flat tires, and generated excitement by holding speed-based Change-a-Tire competitions. We’ve also worked on a number of new fliers for Sibley and have re-decorated the entry space with better signage. We’ve also been doing community outreach by going door-to-door in the nearby Frogtown neighborhood in St Paul, talking with community members about bicycling and letting them know about all the great opportunities Sibley offers.

In recent weeks we have also worked to promote group bike rides with the Major Taylor Bicycling Club of Minnesota, the premier African-American cycling group in the Twin Cities. Last weekend we went on a great ride with them before the Rondo Days Celebration, and then we rode next to them and the Sibley youth apprentices in the Rondo Days Parade!

So what are you waiting for? Get on your bike and ride!