Central Minnesota Political

Properly managed regenerative grazing of beef cattle can result in more carbon stored in the soil than the cattle release into the environment, according to a Life Cycle Assessment Commissioned by General Mills and conducted by researchers at Quantis International. The study was conducted in 2017 at White Oaks Pastures in Bluffton Georgia.  White Oak Pastures regeneratively grazes cattle, sheep, and poultry on three thousand acres of land in southwest Georgia. They call their methods radical traditional farming.   The  White Oak study points out that conventionally raised beef justifiably has a bad reputation because of its large carbon footprint. However, the net carbon dioxide emissions at White Oak was a negative 3.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of fresh meat produced. This compares to thirty-three kilograms of carbon dioxide emitted per kilogram of meat produced in conventional U.S. beef production. White Oak Pasture’s grazing system, which integr...

In June I  set up a table at the Todd County Fair to promote a conversion to 100% renewable electricity. I received some help from my friends and family staffing the booth for three days. Three friends, and MN350 activists, came from the Twin Cities to help also. The Todd County Farmers Union also had a table at the Fair. They were the table next door to ours. I chatted a little with one of the guys staffing the table. Then I asked him if he’d support Minnesota transitioning to 100% renewable electricity. “No. Definitely not,” he said. “Maybe fifty percent but not one-hundred percent.” I asked him why not. He explained that he was a member of the board of directors of one of the rural electric cooperatives - Stearns Electric, I believe. He said that his co-operative did not support a transition to 100% renewables because it was not possible to get 100% of our electricity from renewables. To support this claim he said that wind and solar electric had failed to produce a...

Last Saturday students and adults in Willmar, in Central Minnesota, joined together in a city park to discuss how climate change was affecting their lives and what they could do about it. They discussed the importance of taking personal responsibility for their carbon foot print by consuming less, driving less, flying less, and eating a bit lower on the food chain. They also acknowledged that their personal actions won't be enough and that governments at all levels need to adapt policies to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. The Willmar event, initiated by the high school group known as Voice, was mirrored by similar events across Central Minnesota in places like Morris, St. Joseph, and St. Cloud. Meanwhile, in Minneapolis and there abouts, a group of people have been gathering in strategic locations to hold Cargill accountable for its role in trashing the Amazon forest for soy bean production. Last Thursday, September 26th, a group of about 30 gathered in front of the Hyatt R...

A team of Morris youth is organizing a West Central MN Climate Strike! For two days, we invite people to strike from school or work and gather at Green River park to demand transformative action on the climate crisis. This event will take place on Thursday, September 19th and Friday, September 20th, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Strike day one, Thursday, will be focused on learning about how the climate crisis is affecting West Central MN and what steps the Morris Model is taking to combat this. Strike day two, Friday, will be action focused and together as a group we will write letters to representatives, county commissioners, and community leaders voicing our support of transformative climate action. (see update below) RSVP Facebook!  https://www.facebook.com/events/506810056553217/ Green River Park• Green River Park, Morris, MN 56267 Host Contact Info: syd.r.bauer@gmail.com Thanks Wikipedia Folks, Friends, Supporters & Strike Attendees,  With the str...

GLOBAL CLIMATE STRIKE SOLIDARITY EVENT FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 TH DESCRIPTION : The Global Climate Strike is an international movement to publicly call on world leaders and, here in the US, elected officials to take the action needed to save our futures. On September 20, three days before the UN Climate Summit in NYC, young people and adults will strike all across the US and world to demand transformative action be taken to address the climate crisis. We welcome members of the CSB/SJU community to join young people around the world in this global action for the climate crisis. Students and faculty are invited to: participate in small-group discussions on urgent topics related to the climate crisis, wear green or yellow attire and accessories in solidarity with the action, share perspectives and stories via an open-mic platform, and join us in co-creating a vision of our community’s perceptions of the climate crisis through visual art. This strike is our opportunity to grow the cli...

Do you want to estimate the cost of Hurricane Dorian? Putting aside the awful, and immeasurable toll of raw and long lasting suffering, how many billions has, and will, Dorian cost? Not all of the storm's havoc is attributable to climate disruption but a substantial portion is. Thanks to Wikipedia When a politician such as Bernie Sanders, Jay Inslee, or Elizabeth Warren steps forward with a plan to address the crisis their plan is always evaluated and measured by how much it will cost. Rarely is the price of inaction, or insipid action, measured. Four years ago the Economist took a shot at analyzing the potential cost of inaction to investors. They published a scholarly peer reviewed paper on the subject. Here's the first paragraph from the executive summary of that report: "The asset management industry—and thus the wider community of investors of all sizes— is facing the prospect of significant losses from the effects of climate change. Assets can  be directly...