Eco Experience 2017 highlights at Minn. State Fair

For release: July 11, 2017

Contact: Stephen Mikkelson, 218-316-3887

What's new and exciting at #EcoExperience17 at the Minnesota State Fair

We Are Water MN exhibit

We Are Water MN is an exhibition and a collaboration between the Minnesota Humanities Center, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota section of the American Water Works Association, and six greater Minnesota communities. We Are Water MN includes statewide water quality trends, historical information, and personal narratives (Audio interviews, video, and some written stories). (This is interactive and kid-friendly.)

Paul Bunyan Eco Zone

It’s been said that fashion is fleeting, but our wasteful style doesn’t have to be.

At the Eco Experience, 15 ft. tall Paul Bunyan re-fashions his outfit to address Minnesota’s extra-large clothing waste problem. (Photo op) Minnesotan’s throw away nearly 12 grocery carts full of clothing and other textiles every minute. A lot of that material can be repaired, reused, or recycled. Visit the Eco Experience for hands-on activities such as making a reusable shopping bag from an old t-shirt or sewing on a button. You don’t have to be old-fashioned to learn that mending and repairing is always in style. People want to have a voice and be heard, and Paul is no exception. So this year he will have a voice and you can hear him talk about these important issues.

Works Progress Water Bar

Visitors are invited to sample drinking waters from around Minnesota at Water Bar, which will offer tasting flights of three different waters each day. Featured waters will include St. Paul, Duluth and St. Cloud, as well as waters from small towns and rural communities throughout Minnesota. Water professionals, public employees, business owners, and local residents will be serving up their own drinking water and sharing information and stories about the meaning of water to their communities. Water Bar will also be staffed by MPCA and MDH staff, and members of the American Water Works Association. Water Bar is an artist-designed social space. Based in Minneapolis, Water Bar works with communities around the country to serve water and explore the meaning of water to all of our lives and places. This is the first time Water Bar has been featured at the Minnesota State Fair, and we expect to serve over 25,000 people, engaging them in one-to-one conversation about the ways water connects and sustains us.

Repair for Reuse

New reUSERs, Hobbyists, and experienced DIYers can all learn from ReUSE Minnesota's demonstrations of repair techniques and reuse projects set in a Craft/Hobby Room.

Demonstration times are 10 a.m.-noon, 12:30-2:30 p.m., 3:00-5 p.m., and 5:30-7:30 p.m. daily. Each Saturday, Fairgoers can upcycle t-shirts into grocery bags; Sundays offer sample Fix-It clinics with info on common repairs; additional demonstrations include tool identification and simple tool use; using chalk paint to give old items a new look; how to repair your outdoor gear; basic hand sewing; book making; bike repair; and how your old computers can still benefit others. (Schedule posted online, Interactive photo-op)

Pop-Up-Book

Hot off the presses…you can turn the pages on our eight-foot pop-up book. The three-page mega-book features stories on air, land, and water. (Interactive photo op)

Kick Gas Safety Town

The 2017 Kick Gas Safety Town featured in the Kick Gas exhibit will include miniature buildings, vehicles, signals, traffics signs, and sidewalks. The exhibit will teach children basic traffic rules and regulations, potential hazards to traveling and the skills needed to walk effectively, appropriately and safety through their community. Lessons will include:

1.       Traffic and You - To develop an understanding of how to walk safely near traffic.

2.       Visual Barriers and Model Street Crossing - To develop an understanding of how to safely cross the street around barriers.

3.       Crossing Intersections - Develop an understanding of how to safely cross the street using traffic signals and signs at intersections.

Pedal a GIANT bike

Work off those mini donuts when you pedal the “World’s Biggest Bike” hanging from the ceiling with 8 ft. wheels. Biking is a great way to get around while preserving air quality. Try new habits: Not driving a gas car to work one day a week results in 20% less carbon emissions. (Interactive photo-op)

Recycle you old cell phone

The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle area of the building will feature a cell phone recycling display. Thanks to our friends at Tech Dump, you can recycle your old and outdated cell phone, to be either refurbished and donated to a worthy cause, or be recycled for metals reuse. Leave it with us and you won’t need to worry about what to do with that old phone anymore.

Busy Roads and air quality

The Busy Roads exhibit is back this year, but with new and improved features. A new sign will show how road vehicle emissions can affect people that live, work, or recreate near such roadways. Updated text emphasizes the potential role of climate change in increasing health risks due to those vehicle emissions; if expected climate trends continue, hotter Minnesota summers may worsen those risks. It is important for people to realize that even just being near a busy roadway can increase their risk of respiratory or cardiovascular health issues, especially with prolonged exposure.

Air Quality Forecasting Live

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will demonstrate how it creates the daily air quality index (AQI) forecasts with a live and interactive display as air quality meteorologists perform their duties using the latest techniques and technologies. Meteorologists will explain the various pieces of the puzzle that go into air quality forecasting including air quality and weather monitor measurements, satellite and radar imagery, forecast models, and how pollution such as particulate matter and ground-level ozone are impacted by weather. Fair goers will be able to interact, ask questions, and even analyze their own weather/air quality map! NOTE: the meteorologists will be appearing from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., on Thursday, August 24, and Thursday, August 31 only. This display, however, will be available throughout the fair, and AQI magnets will be given away.

The Climate Chaser - Backyard Phenology and Climate Change

Backyard Phenology: Tracking Nature’s Cycles in a Changing Climate demonstrates how art, science, and place-based observations can come together to catalyze awareness of and action on seasonal events and climate change. Information on the timing of these seasonal events is critical to many aspects of human life, including agriculture, gardening, health, cultural events, and recreation, and nearly all ecological relationships and processes, such as plant–pollinator and predator–prey relationships, competition, and carbon and water cycling.

The Climate Chaser is a mobile trailer where visitors record their observations of the cycles, rhythms, and changes of plants and animals, as well as their own theories about change. With the help of their phenology passport, everyday phenologists can enter their data into a collective website and meet other backyard phenologists at events. People who enter the Climate Chaser are invited to share their stories and theories of climate change with the Backyard Phenology Team.  These audio recordings will be curated and exhibited in multiple forms including sound collages and a podcast. Last year the Climate Chaser was at the Fair for only one day but, by popular request, it be around for all twelve days of this year’s fair. The only difference between a phenologist and a naturalist is that the phenologist writes it down.

Solar Power your Electric Vehicle

Are you thinking about driving an electric vehicle? Take the next step in greening your transportation by powering your car with the sun. The MN Department of Commerce will help you learn about rooftop solar options, community solar opportunities, and green power purchasing from your local electric utility.

The New World of LED Lighting

How we light our world has been transformed by the wide range of efficient LED lighting options. New products—from standard screw-in bulbs to integrated LED fixtures—now offer a variety of color and brightness options. A short interactive demonstration by MN Department of Commerce will help show you the latest generation of LED fixtures that combine beautiful design with controllability, long-life, and energy efficiency.

Organic Foods and Agriculture – Renewing the Countryside cooking demonstrations

From buying organic to minimizing waste, learn simple actions you can take to preserve the environment, eat delicious, healthy food, and support local farmers. Taste samples of locally grown, organic produce. And wash it down with samples of Peace Coffee, Minnesota’s premier local roastery, serving organic fair-trade coffee. Kid activities include racing vegetables at the Veggie Grand Prix, playing healthy food trivia, and winning fun prizes. Local chefs and foodmakers will demonstrate cooking with local, organic foods at the food stage, three times daily.

Planting for Clean Water – Creating a resilient yard

Blue Thumb will feature an expanded display on turf alternatives, including examples of different approaches to replacing or supplementing regular turf grass, and new information on the what/why/how of establishing and maintaining alternative turf and bee lawns.

Nature Play Area: New- Pretend play, Pop-Up Adventure Play, and the magic world of Hammocks

Give your kids a little free-range play to rejuvenate. The Eco Experience Nature Play Are in front of the building has a ton of new elements. We have added a pretend play area with a Sand Café, Dead Log Ship, Tee-Pees, and Fairies. Returning this year will be the pop-up adventure playground. Children are free to build their own structures, tear them down, climb, and create. They are encouraged to take calculated risks in order to learn resilience, grit, and problem-solving skills. They become engineers, scientists, planners, architects and more. Young children need to explore movement and gravity—including swinging—for healthy brain development.  Older children and adults are encouraged to spend more time outside if there are comfortable spaces to gather and socialize. Hammocks are an easy way to add quiet places for reflection and relaxation.

I am a Water Steward

Governor Dayton’s office has declared this the “Year of Water Action” in Minnesota. With this in mind, The Blake School environmental science and photography classes have decided to join forces to design and build informational artworks for use in the Minnesota State Fair’s Eco Experience. These artworks aim to educate the public on key water issues and empower them to become better stewards of water in their daily lives.

Ready and Resilient – climate change and flooding

Climate change is bringing heavy rain and more flash floods to Minnesota. We can be ready for these changes and resilient to their impacts if we work together.  Visitors are invited to stand on a large platform scale. The weight of each person sends the scale reading higher up a lighted column. If enough people work together, they can get the lights to the top and hear applause.

Climate Bingo

Kids and adults can all play Climate Bingo at the Eco Experience!  Collect daubs on your bingo card as you explore the exhibits. Once you have a B-I-N-G-O, go to the Information Booth for a cool prize – a multipurpose buff to wear on your head, neck, or wrist, with and exclusive Eco Experience design.

About the Eco Experience: A partnership between the Minnesota State Fair, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and more than 150 organizations and businesses across the state, the Eco Experience has become the second most visited exhibit at the fair. The Eco Experience is the largest environmental event of its kind, nationally, in the last two decades. In 2013 the Eco Experience won the People’s Choice Award voted on by the fair goers at the Minnesota State Fair. Since 2006, more than 3.2 million visitors have attended the 25,000-square-foot exhibit to learn more about clean air and water, saving energy, climate change, recycling, healthy local food, gardening, transportation, green building and remodeling, and other ways to lead more eco-friendly lives.

All schedules, story ideas and press releases will be posted on the www.ecoexperience.org website under Story ideas/News Media tab or email questions to stephen.mikkelson@state.mn.us, or call Stephen at 218-232-4767.

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