If there is one thing Minnesotans appreciate, it’s green—the grass, the leaves, the way the Mississippi glistens when the sunlight catches it just so. When sub-zero temperatures freeze the car doors shut yet again and Monday says good morning with a fresh foot in the driveway, we all yearn for that green. But the brutal winters also require us to be more attuned to the environment; recognizing the weather’s impact on daily life in this region, we become more aware of our relationship with the environment. In a sense, the white might actually make us more green. That seems to be the case in Edina at least.
In 2007, the city formed the Energy and Environment Commission (EEC) to promote sustainability and bring environmental issues to the limelight. In January, the city council took things a step farther and committed Edina to becoming a GreenStep City, a voluntary, three-year program started by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
As a GreenStep City, Edina must implement at least 16 of the MPCA’s 28 environmental best practices. Categories include: buildings and lighting, transportation, environmental management, economic and community development, and land use. Fortunately, the city didn’t start from scratch, as it had already begun implementing some of the best practices before the council even made it official.
The EEC is implementing the GreenStep program with the assistance of its various working groups, which have specific focus areas, like air quality, recycling and water quality.
Dianne Plunkett Latham, who serves as the commission’s chair, says that the commission is currently working on more than a dozen initiatives, including installing solar panels on city buildings, increasing commercial recycling and improving air and water quality.
Julie Risser leads the Air Quality Working Group, which is raising awareness on the damage done by engine idling and recreational fires. In fact, they’ve already helped the city pass a resolution that requires buses to turn off their engines rather than idling. She said pollutions levels rise with the temperatures, and the elderly, children, asthma suffers and athletes feel the biggest impact.
“You can really notice it when going for a run on poor days. I see always engines idling when I’m at the grocery store. We need to be weary about what that is doing to the air,” says Risser.
“There are a lot things individuals can do,” Risser adds. “Get outdoors and exercise. Don’t worry about always driving everywhere. The steps people could take are steps that would make them healthier overall.”
Equally essential as clean air to breath is clean water to drink. Clean water is no given, and the EEC’s Water Quality Working Group is committed to promoting the adoption of the best management practices that result in improving the quality of water that drains into lakes and rivers and reducing the flow into the stormwater system.
“Each homeowner plays an important role in determining the quality of our watersheds,” says Susan Sheridan Tucker, the group’s chair and commissioner. “The decisions to use non-organic fertilizers, leaving leaves and debris to fall into the storm drain, using certain tar products on driveways and not sweeping up excess salt or sand…all contribute to poor water quality that eventually drains into our watershed.”
When it comes to recycling, the people of Edina are already far ahead of the curve. According to the EEC, 90 percent of residents participate in the curbside recycling program, and the city picked up 3,774 tons of recyclable material in 2010 alone.
“No matter how you look at it, it boils down to being a responsible citizen,” says Sarah Zarrin, of the Recycling and Solid Waste Working Group. “Each year the environmental benefits of recycling in the Metro area equate to removing 8,000 cars from the road, save the energy equivalent to providing 50,000 homes with natural gas for a year and protect 3,800 acres of forest.”
Latham agrees that living green starts with the individual.
To truly make a difference, Latham repeats the old adage, “[Citizens] should reduce energy and water consumption, as well as be mindful of the three R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.”
