If you really want to understand an environmental or water quality issue, it’s no secret that you have to get out from behind the computer screen once in a while and into the field. After years of editing technical reports, and writing factsheets and news releases for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, I decided to follow that advice.
As 2021 ends, I am sincerely grateful for the actions you, as Freshwater supporters, empowered this year. Whether you donated to one of our campaigns like our internship program, told your elected officials how important protecting and restoring clean and safe water is for our future, or shared your passion for water with friends and family, you made a real difference.
Today we’re featuring Lila Franklin, who joined Freshwater in December 2019 as a program intern. Her internship continued until January 2021, when she became a program associate.
Today we’re featuring Olivia Forsheé, a Freshwater intern and Macalester student. Olivia is majoring in environmental studies and minoring in psychology, and is in her final year of college. She began interning with Freshwater in September, and she’s another fully remote Freshwater intern.
Julia Weimer is another current intern at Freshwater, helping with communications projects. Julia went to high school in Woodbury and split her college time between the universities of Colorado and … Read more
Freshwater’s latest and youngest interns, high schoolers Winner Soe and Lala Vang, spent the summer of 2021 learning all about Minnesota groundwater with Freshwater Research and Policy Director Carrie Jennings. The Minnesota Groundwater Association funded this internship to give young, diverse students an opportunity to explore the field of groundwater research and conservation and to increase awareness of potential career paths.
Freshwater and the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences are cohosting a free online lecture open to the public on Wednesday, Nov. 17, from 12–1:30 pm. St. Paul, Minnesota (Oct. 25, 2021)—The public is invited the Moos Family Speaker Series on Water Resources for an event of influential experts presenting the latest research on timely and important issues.
Today, Freshwater is participating in the national Imagine a Day without Water, sponsored by the U.S. Water Alliance. From a shower to morning coffee or tea, watering our plants and gardens to flushing our toilets, water is essential to our daily life. Our bodies are mostly water—78% as infants and 60% in adults. Safe and reliable water is essential to every one of us.
St. Paul, MN—Freshwater’s eighth annual Big Island & Back! 10K Paddle will take place on Saturday, August 7, 2021 starting at 9 am. Tune up your canoe, kayak, or paddleboard and head on over to Excelsior on Saturday, Aug. 7, for a friendly race out around Big Island and back.
Freshwater’s online training materials and weekly classes were a lively blend of disciplines—ecological networks, hydrological cycle, city management of stormwater and wastewater, agricultural practices contributing to excess stormwater and pollution, community organizing techniques, and so much more.
