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Green Partners provides updates about environmental education resources, tools, programs, grants and events to our environmental education partners.
Hennepin County has the following free environmental education resources available to partners.
Hennepin County Environmental Education & Outreach Team
Angie Timmons
Angela Ziobro
Alisa Reckinger
Christina Schmitt
Jessica Arika
Mary Karius
Patience Caso
Please forward this email to interested individuals and encourage them to sign up.
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Funding is available for projects that engage residents in learning about environmental issues and empower them to take action. Green Partners environmental education grants support projects that reduce waste, increase recycling, reduce hazardous waste, decrease greenhouse gas emissions, protect and restore natural areas, and improve air and water quality. Non-profit organizations, park districts, and private and public schools are eligible to apply. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on November 6. |
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Information meetings
Learn
more about Green Partners environmental education grants and get feedback on
project ideas at an upcoming information meeting:
- Tuesday,
October 13 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the North Regional Library in Minneapolis (grant
program information and time to talk to program staff will be provided from 4 -
5 p.m. after the Green Partners Networking meeting)
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Tuesday, October 20 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at
the Nokomis Library in Minneapolis
- Tuesday, October 20, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Walker Library
in Minneapolis
For more information,
contact Patience Caso at patience.caso@hennepin.us
or 612-348-9352.
 Funding is available for projects that preserve and restore natural resources in Hennepin County. The goal of the grants is to support projects that implement best management practices that preserve and restore critical habitats, reduce erosion and reduce the amount of nutrients and sediment going into the county’s lakes, streams and rivers. Government agencies, organizations and landowners are eligible to apply. Applications are due by 5 p.m. on November 6. Learn more and apply.
For more information, contact Jim Kujawa at james.kujawa@hennepin.us or 612-348-7338.
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 Yard waste, mattresses, paint or fluorescent light bulbs — some stuff just needs to go. But fall clean up can be frustrating if you don’t know how to get rid of your unwanted stuff.
Hennepin County has done the heavy lifting with the new online resource, the Green Disposal Guide. The Green Disposal Guide offers a range of disposal options, from recycling to donation to disposal, while also providing tips on shopping smarter, living greener and creating less waste.
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Promote the Green Disposal Guide
Resources are available for partners to promote the new Green Disposal Guide through their communication channels. Promotional materials include:
Learn more about promotional materials for the new Green Disposal Guide.
Fifth graders participate in the first-ever
NatureFest
 More than 200 fifth graders learned about nature and actions they can take to protect the environment on September 23 and 24 at NatureFest, an environmental education field day hosted by Hennepin County and the Three Rivers Park District at the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park. Students waded into the Mississippi River to collect small organisms that helped them determine the health of the river, learned how to fish, caught insects in sweep nets and decorated reusable bags with their pledge to protect the environment. For many students, it was their visit to the Coon Rapids Dam, and it was the first field trip ever for some students. One teacher said the field trip hit on many standards that they don’t get to spend enough time on while also being a lot of fun.
Hennepin County and the Three Rivers Park District are assessing plans to hold future NatureFest events.
For more information, contact Stacey Lijewski at Stacey.lijewski@hennepin.us or 612-348-9938.
More than 1,300 fourth grade
students attend the annual Children’s Water Festival
 On September 30, more than 1,300 fourth graders from 11 metro counties
attended the 18th annual Children’s Water Festival where they learned
first-hand the importance of water. Students explored a variety of
water-related topics through stations and presentations on basic water science,
the importance of wetlands and aquatic ecosystems, how to measure water quality
and other water-related environmental issues.
The Children’s Water Festival is organized by 11 counties
and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Hennepin staff provides planning,
volunteers and materials for presenters.
For more information, email Stacey Lijewski at Stacey.Lijewski@hennepin.us or
call 612-348-9938.
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 Hennepin County’s Recycling VIP Sweepstakes winner Kelly, a Master Recycler/Composter volunteer from Minneapolis, and three friends toured Target Field’s sustainability features and recycling facilities and met Torii Hunter before the Twins game on Saturday, October 3. The county has partnered with the Twins since Target Field opened to collect recycling and organics for composting throughout the ballpark, and this promotion was a part of the 2015 Recycle Everywhere campaign.
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Recycle Everywhere supplies still available
Free supplies are still available to expand your recycling habits. Supplies available include recycling labels, a bag for collecting recyclables and a recycling guide. Resources can be ordered online. Order enough for your household or a larger quantity to distribute at events, at work or in your other community.
We also have a newsletter article, social media posts, logo, images and recycling tips factsheet available to help you spread the word through your communication channels. Learn more about Recycle Everywhere promotional materials.
Hennepin County has partnered with 50 reuse retailers to offer Choose to Reuse coupons with discounts through October, just in time for Halloween. Check out what Choose to Reuse retailers offer instead of buying new this Halloween:
Learn more and order a Choose to Reuse coupon book before it’s too late!
 Metro Clean Energy Resources Team, CERT, has funding available for community-based energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Project funding can support technical assistance services in all seven Minnesota CERT regions: Central, Metro, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest and West Central. Learn more and apply.
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Events
Join us today at the Green Partners Networking Meeting to learn about organics recycling.
Organics recycling programs are becoming more widely available to residents and at schools, organizations and businesses. The meeting will be an opportunity to hear about organics recycling programs from Hennepin County and City of Minneapolis staff, learn about the materials accepted in organics recycling programs, and discuss outreach strategies with fellow environmental educators.
The meeting will be held today, Tuesday, October 13 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the North Regional Library in Minneapolis. Optional networking to learn more about Green Partners environmental education grants and get feedback on project ideas from 4 to 5 p.m.
Networking meetings are open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided.
 Fix-It Clinics provide an opportunity to receive free, guided assistance from handy volunteers on disassembling, troubleshooting and repairing small household appliances, clothing, electronics, mobile devices and more.
Upcoming Fix-It Clinics are scheduled for the following dates and locations:
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- Saturday, November 14 from noon to 4 p.m. at Folwell Park Rec Center in Minneapolis
- Saturday, December 12 from noon to 4 p.m. at Maple Grove Community Center
Promote the Fix-It Clinics by downloading a flyer or article and social media posts.
Volunteer fixers who have skills in electrical, mechanical or electronics repair, wood working, sewing or general tinkering are essential to making the clinics successful.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Nancy Lo at nancy.lo@hennepin.us or 612-348-9195.
The emerald ash borer is a destructive tree pest that attacks and kills ash trees. Learn more about emerald ash borer at the next Hennepin Natural Resources Partnership meeting on Tuesday, December 1, 2015.
The Hennepin Natural Resources Partnership provides a forum for a more holistic and collaborative approach to managing and protecting our land and water. Everyone is welcome to attend, especially those from cities, watersheds, agencies and organizations involved with or interested in natural resources management and protection.
RSVP to Stacey Lijewski at stacey.lijewski@hennepin.us or 612-348-9938.
Join Metro Clean Energy Resource
Team (CERT) for their annual event and provide input into the MN 2025 Energy
Action Plan. You will also be able to vote on priorities for the 2025 Minnesota
Energy Plan and Metro CERT’s priorities for the next two years and learn about
highlights from this year’s Metro CERT projects.
- Thursday, October 22 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Science Museum of
Minnesota
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Save your spot by registering online.
Contact Diana at dmckeown@gpisd.net
or call 612-278-7158 for more information.
 Kick off the holiday season with Do It Green! Minnesota’s 10th Annual Green Gifts Fair on Saturday, November 21 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.
Shop more than 80 local, eco-friendly artists and businesses, catch the eco fashion show, and enjoy holiday food samples, kids’ activities, education displays and demos. You can also pick up a free copy of the 2015 Do It Green! Directory, the only green business directory in Minnesota. Be sure to stop by the Hennepin County Environment and Energy booth while you're there!
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Interactive map helps students understand
water quality data
 Students involved in Hennepin County’s River Watch program can now compare the data they collect to historical data for their stream and learn about how land cover may impact water quality in the recently launched Hennepin County River Watch interactive map. River Watch is a hands-on environmental education program in which teams of youth assess the health of local streams by identifying and quantifying the stream's biological community. There are currently 18 sites being monitored in the county.
For more information, contact Mary Karius at mary.karius@hennepin.us or 612-596-9129.
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Rethink Recycling’s
monthly recycling topic
Rethink Recycling has created a 2015 calendar matrix to illustrate planned monthly communications topics for residential messaging. October’s monthly topic is “Recycling from Home to the Facility” and explains the recycling process including which items can and can’t be recycled. Each monthly topic includes an article and social media posts that can be shared through your own communication channels.
The following projects are being funded through the Green Partners Environmental Education Program. These groups have been busy engaging their audiences in taking action to protect the environment. For more information about Green Partners grants, contact Patience Caso at patience.caso@hennepin.us or 612-348-9352.
Project for Pride in Living engages 75 residents in Hawthorne Eco-Village Neighborhood
 Project for Pride in Living engaged 75 residents of the Hawthorne Eco-Village Neighborhood in recycling and waste reduction activities. At events in their neighborhood, residents talked with educators about composting, solar power, recycling and reuse. The group partnered with Master Recycler/Composters to educate residents about recycling and composting and the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization to help residents make their own green cleaners. Residents of all ages were invited to participate in art activities that created ownership over recycling and compost bins.
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Spark Y empowers youth at new Roosevelt High School Sustainability Center
 Spark-Y recently created a Sustainability Center at Roosevelt High School with a large aquaponics system to engage youth. The vision for the Sustainability Center is to cultivate learning, growth and empowerment around a more sustainability future for Roosevelt, a Minneapolis Public School.
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Climate Generation’s composting competition provides youth lessons in outreach planning
Students from South High School and Southwest High School involved in Youth Environmental Activists Minnesota (YEA! MN) challenged each other to a waste reduction competition in their schools. The students developed strategies to inform students about waste reduction in hope that the effects of the project would go beyond the two-week competition window. Although the results of the competition were not as significant as the students hoped, one student explains, “my experience has inspired me to continue educating me peers and making a difference in my community”.
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