The legislative session has gone into extra innings more often than not recently. Is this the new norm? This time the game was called with bases loaded and only a couple of runs on the scoreboard. Runners left on base and the pitcher were playing chicken when the lights went off.
While Adopt a River is a new program for Freshwater, it’s been around and making an impact for 33 years! More than 90,000 volunteers have organized 32,000 cleanups and removed a whopping 6,500,000 pounds of trash from the land and water.
This year is ushering a number of changes for Jen Kader. Beginning Jan. 1, 2022, she started in a new role at Freshwater as our director for engagement and systems change. Later that same month, her peers on the state’s Clean Water Council—all of whom are appointed by the governor to serve on the council—unanimously elected her council vice chair.
Freshwater recently renewed our organizational commitment to embrace our mission—to empower people to value and conserve fresh water—by thoughtfully considering the details and meaning of “people.” Whom do we mean when we say empowering people? Our board and staff realize, of course, that our mission is for all people, knowing that individually and collectively, all people need to share in protecting and conserving water.
Freshwater and the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences are cohosting a free online lecture open to the public on Wednesday, April 13, from 12–1:30 pm. This event focuses on microplastic waste.
Freshwater’s new Adopt a River program is up and running and already processing registrations for shoreline cleanups! Whether it’s a one-time cleanup or an adoption (a commitment to clean multiple times), a stretch of the Mississippi or your neighborhood pond, participating in Adopt a River could be a unique experience for you and your group.
It’s that time of year again! The days are getting longer and helping us eke out daytime temps above zero (and even above freezing!), the snow is looking grungy, and the legislative session is in full swing … kind of.
There’s a film premiering on Feb. 19 that Freshwater just couldn’t ignore. The setting? Lake Superior. The title? “Freshwater.”
Minnesota GreenCorps member Karyna Kloude joined Freshwater in September to support our newest program, Adopt a River. The focus of her service year is increasing the program’s sustainability, creating and revamping educational tools, and reaching new audiences.
At Freshwater, we have the privilege of reading public input from Minnesotans all over the state in our people-driven systems change work (like the One Watershed, One Plan efforts). Increasingly, we are reading public comments where people are noting that they have seen their weather change over the last decade, and these changes impact the health of their groundwater, surface waters, ecosystems, and wildlife.
