The sustainability fair in Grand Forks pulled amazing community members out of the woodwork. From the start, an electric car pulled up to join us, hanging out for the majority of the day. Members from the local food co-op, the student body president from NDSU, Mayor Brown and Pete Haga all attended. Pete was really excited about the prospect of a glass crusher in the city of Grand Forks to offset a bit of the landfill issues. Amoung the attendees, an employee of a local biofuels magazine called BBI stoped by, and Will Kusler from The Dakota Foundation who works in funding renewable energy projects in North Dakota came to join us on both days.
Lynn Wolf, an organizer for the Dakota Resource Council (DRC) was introduced to lots of folks talking about the land fill issue in Grand Forks, which is what DRC has recently worked around in the Grand Forks Area. The local non-profit group organizing around local issues is the Grand Forks Citizens Council Coalition - GFC3, and they are currently looking for a site for a new landfill. Beyond the landfill, Lynn talked with community members and realized that there are many people wanting to organize around local foods, creating a community garden and a CSA. To fit right in with that, the mayor's Green Grand Forks council doesn't currently have a local foods component in their layout for a greener city. . . that could be a perfect spot to get a local foods campaign running.
Another conversation worth mentioning is one of a small wind turbine(s) on the roof of one or more of the UND buildings to suplement their power usage. Tyrone, the student body president at UND, is looking into the possibility and is in contact with Will Kusler, who may be able to stear him in the right direction. Some exciting things are budding in Grand Forks, ND.
We had donations from the Dakota Harvest Bakery, Amazing Grains, Pourpoura and Waste Management for a drawing from the names of those who had signed our Call to Action for a Renewable Energy Future.
No comments:
Post a Comment