Sustainability : Featured Stories
Meleah Maynard Wednesday, July 10, 2013
The rooftops of some prestigious locations are buzzing as local institutions hop aboard the global urban beekeeping bandwagon. The idea is to play a role in restoring declining bee populations, with the help of the U of M and some intrepid honey-oriented entrepreneurs.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, June 05, 2013
Charging stations for electric cars are popping up here and there in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. In fact, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is working to install up to 76 electric car-charging stations throughout the metro area, adding to an already expanding network. Here's our guide (a work in progress) to our towns' car-charging infrastructure.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The onetime marketing professional made a career u-turn when he discovered how gardening--and cooking and eating healthy produce right from the soil--could change lives. Now his nonprofit startup helps inner-city newcomers to gardening make healthy foods part of their lives.
Bill Kelley Wednesday, May 08, 2013
The May Day Parade and Festival is our Mardi Gras--a heartfelt explosion of color, music, art, fun, and earth-friendliness after the weariness of long winters. Bill Kelley caught the parade action last Sunday in the Powderhorn neighborhood as Minneapolitans dressed up and rocked out to say goodbye to the cold.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Architect Daniel Yudchitz decided to design and build a small, sustainable, low-cost, energy-efficient house for himself in Saint Paul's challenged Rondo neighborhood, to demonstrate how architecture could promote urban reinvestment. And then the banks weighed in.
Elizabeth Millard Wednesday, April 10, 2013
What if, instead of you going to a farmers market, the market came to you? That's the vision of an entrepreneurial couple who want to create a fleet of truck-drawn trailers full of food from local farms. They're calling on Kickstarter for help and betting that the market for fresh, local food can only, well, grow.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Consolidating its position as a laboratory for cutting-edge design thinking, the University of Minnesota's College of Design hosted the first Public Interest Design Week. Its climax was an awards show that displayed ingenious design-driven solutions to the dilemmas of poverty and ill health in America and around the world.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, March 20, 2013
It's weathered industry exoduses and foreclosure--but now the proud old East Side Saint Paul neighborhood is home to a hot new bar/restaurant, Ward 6, that's both a sign of, and a force in, a wider renewal.
Camille LeFevre Wednesday, March 06, 2013
When Heather and Brent Fredrickson bought a modernist house in a historic Saint Paul neighborhood that was something of a midcentury architectural showcase, they had one big problem: an awkward bathroom. The remodel they did added a 21st-century environmental ethic to the whole home.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, February 27, 2013
From "road diets" to "advisory bike lanes" to Complete Streets programs, Twin Cities suburbs are beginning to create infrastructure and policy to turn their familiar auto-only paradigm into a new vision of walkable, bikeable streets.
Anna Pratt Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The bars and restaurants in this uber-trendy corner of downtown Minneapolis draw national attention. Meanwhile, developers, community groups, and residents are turning the surrounding neighborhood into a pleasantly dense, lively, and livable urban village.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, January 16, 2013
In A Line or Two, I share some of my enthusiasms and discoveries as I make my way around the Twin Cities. Call it an editor's note as blog entry. This week: Thanks to the cooks-with-a-conscience at Eat for Equity, you've got a chance to share a meal, and a cause, with famed activist (and Green Party vice-presidential candidate) Winona La Duke.
Jon Spayde Wednesday, December 12, 2012
In this first of an occasional series of interviews with young movers and shakers in the Twin Cities, we talk with John Larsen, an architect whose personal giving, and family foundation, support deeply held personal values rooted in personal experiences. For Larsen, philanthropy needs to explore options beyond writing checks--like new partnerships with government.
Holly Dolezalek Wednesday, November 07, 2012
While the concept of the green job is a nice fusion of much-needed employment growth and environmental responsibility, it's been hard to get a handle on the size and even the definition of this part of the job market. But according to Matt Entenza and other experts, the picture in Minnesota is getting clearer as more jobs fit the category. In fact, this small but growing sector may be the IT of the future.
Jay Walljasper Wednesday, November 07, 2012
It's long been known that biking is good for your health, good as a transportation option, good for reducing carbon emissions. But it's becoming clearer and clearer that cities that are bike-friendly are also attracting the kind of talent that builds the businesses of the future.