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Paul Austin
Paul Austin is the director of Conservation Minnesota, a statewide non-profit. In that role, he gets to hear and share Minnesotan’s stories about our lakes, lands and way of life. Paul’s past lives include election as a small town mayor, serving at the US Agency for International Development, and managing a small marketing firm. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife, two small children and one very large dog.
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I was a little bleary eyed this morning as I arrived at my gate at 5:45 am. But even through my morning pre-caffiene fog, one of the MSP Airport recycling efforts managed to catch my attention.
It turns out that the airport is recycling organic food waste from restaurants and food service. Waste from airport kitchens is combined with the unwanted scraps from the plates of thousands of customers. This organic material is then loaded into trucks and delivered to a composting site in Rosemount, MN where it is combined with leaves and yard waste to create a compost blend.
When all is said and done, more than ten tons of food waste is composted by the airport each month. That’s 10 tons of waste put to good use that don't end up wasting space in a landfill or waste to energy facility.
I put this in the all good news category, until I started asking myself one question. If ten tons of food is recycled each month, how many tons are actually eaten by people like me?
By now many who care about the environment have heard tale of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a giant mass of pollution floating in an area between Hawaii and California. Ocean wind and currents circle in the area and create a calm vortex that draws in and then traps floating debris. In the case of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area the size of Texas has started to accumulate floating waste from across the pacific.
And while scientists sound the alarm over this pollution catastrophe, a smaller, and potentially more concentrated version of the garbage patch has recently been discovered a lot closer to home.
Sherri Mason, a chemistry professor at SUNY-Fredonia has recently began testing the Great Lakes for similar pollution levels, and what she has found is alarming. Of the 21 samples she took from Lakes Erie, Huron and Superior, two of them contained 600,000 plastic pieces per kilometer. That works out to nearly twice the concentration found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
While the size of the plastic pieces found in the Great Lakes were smaller than those found in the Pacific, they provide no less potential harm to the aquatic food chain.
And it is findings like this that reaffirm my belief that Minnesota needs a better system for recycling our waste before it ends up polluting our waters. We currently recycle only 35 percent of our plastic bottles. The state set a goal of reaching 80 percent recycling by the end of this year. Quite simply there is no way we will even get halfway there. The beverage industry has been given every opportunity to take the lead on increasing recycling of their products, and their weak efforts have hardly moved the needle an inch.
For the past few years, the legislature has kicked around the idea of implementing a bottle and can recycling refund that would encourage recycling. In Iowa and Michigan where these deposits exist, recycling rates are above 80 percent. In Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas where no deposit exists, the recycling rates remain stalled at around one-third of potential.
It is beyond time for us to take responsibility for our waste, and if the legislature needs any advice on where to start, I would encourage them to revisit the idea of a recycling refund.
Sled Dogs to Saint Paul: The Race for Clean Water
Posted by: Paul Austin Updated: November 9, 2012 - 11:28 AMLast winter, former legislator Frank Moe drew a great deal of attention when he loaded up his dog sled team in his hometown of Grand Marais, and headed 362 miles south for the State Capitol. Along the way, he gathered nearly 13,000 petitions from Minnesotans who were similarly concerned about mining projects that had been proposed for ecologically sensitive areas in Northern Minnesota. And when he arrived at the capitol, he spoke to a crowd of supporters, and then marched into the Governor’s office where he waited until he was finally allowed to personally deliver the petitions to Governor Dayton.
“Sled Dogs To Saint Paul: The Race For Clean Water” is a documentary that was created about his trip. From when he started out in deep snow near his home in Grand Marais through all sorts of weather and trail conditions and right through to his arrival in the governors office, the movie gives a unique perspective to the lengths Frank was willing to go to ensure that the voices of the people he encountered along the way were heard. In addition to the trip footage, the movie interweaves a narrative about sulfide mining and what impact it could potentially have on Northern Minnesota. The crew interviews local property and business owners, legislators, tribal leaders and community activists who would be negatively impacted by the proposed projects.
Moe has been a tireless advocate for the north woods because since retiring from politics, the lakes and streams and woods of Northern Minnesota have become his new office. He guides canoe, kayak and hiking trips in the spring, summer and fall, and then in the winter, he guides sled dog expeditions. He has researched the mining industry and its track record, and he sees their proposed projects as major threats to the way of life he and many Northern Minnesotans currently take for granted. This isn't just a political cause for Frank. This is about huge multi-national corporations swooping in, pillaging the land, and endangering his livelihood.
The movie will be premiering tonight in Grand Marais at the Betsy Bowen's What's Upstairs? Theater at 6:30 and 8:00. Then show Thursday the 15th at Duluth's Red Star Lounge in the Fitger's Complex. Finally the documentary will appear in the Twin Cities at 6 p.m. on November 17 in the Cowles Auditorium in the University of Minnesota Humphrey Center. The showing is scheduled as part of the Midwest Mountaineering Outdoor Adventure Expo that runs all that weekend. More information about the documentary and showings is available at www.sleddogstosaintpaul.com.
Who knew that learning from experts could be so much fun? This Thursday night you can be part of an entirely unique experience as the Theatre of Public Policy takes aim at one of the most important issues facing our lakes and rivers. Its part expert interview and part improv comedy.
We’ve all heard the horror stories or seen the YouTube videos; giant fish leap from otherwise placid waters to attack unsuspecting boaters. But other than a few bumps to the head, what danger do Asian Carp really pose to Minnesota’s waters? Is it even possible to halt their invasion? What secret weapons are scientists cooking up to combat these silvery villains?
Finding out will be fun this Thursday @ 7pm.
Attack of the Asian Carp
HUGE Theater
HUGE Theater
Controversial Swiss commodities giant Glencore has acquired significantly more of a financial stake in the PolyMet sulfide mine proposal in northern Minnesota. The company has purchased 5 million shares of PolyMet – putting its ownership of the proposed mine at approximately 25 percent. This latest acquisition is in addition to a relationship formed between the two companies in 2008 that will give Glencore first priority on PolyMet's production of concentrates, metal or intermediate products at prevailing market rates for a minimum of five years.
PolyMet’s continued existence depends on regular infusions of cash from Glencore. In addition, Glencore has the exclusive right to market all materials mined and processed at the PolyMet mine. Although PolyMet characterizes Glencore as merely an investor, PolyMet’s dependency on Glencore’s financing and Glencore’s control over all minerals PolyMet produces gives the company tremendous control over the future of the proposed mine. Glencore will be in a position to deeply influence decisions about how the mine is operated, what types of environmental mitigation is performed, and conditions for workers.
Most Minnesotans are not familiar with Glencore. The company was founded by Marc Rich, the international commodities trader who was indicted by the United States government on charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran. From human rights violations, to dealings with rogue governments and dictators, to causing costly environmental catastrophes, Glencore has left in its wake numerous devastated communities that regret the day they came to town.
Examples of Glencore’s troubling record include:
- The CIA named Glencore as having paid over $3 million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein to obtain oil during the United Nations’ embargo on Iraq.
- In 2011, Grant Thornton, an internationally renowned accounting consortium, unveiled Glencore’s scheme of inflating costs and diverting profits to overseas tax havens, costing the Zambian government hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue
- In 2012, a BBC investigation uncovered evidence that Glencore funded paramilitary operations in Columbia to conduct a massacre of a local Indian tribe so Glencore could acquire the land and expand its mining operation.
- According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Glencore has the highest employee fatality rate amongst its closest peers.
Minnesotans expect our corporate partners to behave honestly and ethically. The question for Governor Dayton is, how exactly will it benefit Minnesota to have Glencore doing business here?
Every year right around now, falling leaves and the final lawn mowing of the year send a tidal wave of organic materials into the storm sewer system. While it may seem as natural as the changing of the seasons, it is a growing threat for our lakes and rivers.
As they reach the watershed, the leaves and grass clippings break down, releasing the chemical remnants of the fertilizers and herbicides into the watershed. Phosphorous from yard waste can cause increased algae growth that, in turn, reduces the oxygen level in the water. With less oxygen, native plants and animals are negatively impacted, as are recreational uses for the water.
Working with friends at the Freshwater Society, the Girl Scouts have decided to attack the issue head on by making it the focus of their Centennial Day of Service. On this coming Saturday, nearly 20,000 Girl Scouts, leaders, and community volunteers are already registered to fan out across the state and work on this important issue.
The day will include not only collection of leaves and grass clippings that otherwise would have ended up in the storm sewer, but also some groups will be marking storm sewers to remind people to prevent organic materials from being dumped there. And there will be public education going on in communities sharing the message about the importance of keeping potentially harmful waste out of the water.
Volunteers are still needed, and you need not be a current or former Girl Scout to join the cause. For more information on the project, or to see how you can help, check out the event’s website at: http://www.gsrv100.org/centennial_day_of_service/
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