What an honor it was to be invited to participate in Expedition Copenhagen of the Will Steger Foundation! In 10 days, often running 18 hours--even 21 on occasion--I had the chance of a lifetime to join the convergence of humanity that was Copenhagen. While the negotiators, the heads of state will get 90% of the press, for me the real story of Copenhagen was the coming together of youth, who built cross cultural networks, soberly asking the negotiators in a sea of orange T-shirts, "How Old Will YOU be in 2050?" Our team of youth delegates was a diverse and wicked-smart bunch who came from 7 states across the Midwest--MI, WI, MN, IA, IL, ND and SD.
Yesterday I drove 1.5 hours north to attend the groundbreaking for the Upper Midwest's largest PV solar facility. The facility, on four acres of Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN, will produce 575 megawatt hours annually and will offset about 20 percent of Saint John's peak energy needs during the summer months and approximately 4 percent of the campus's overall energy needs on an annual basis. The farm will consist of approximately 1,800 solar modules and is 4 times larger than the largest current PV solar farm in Minnesota. The project is a partnership of Mortenson Construction, Westwood Renewables, Saint John's University, the Abbey, and Xcel Energy. Abbot John and the owner of Westwood Renewables, Mario Monesterio, both spoke at the ceremonial groundbreaking and blessing of the solar farm site. Construction is expected to be complete and the farm operational by Thanksgiving.
This past weekend, I was fortunate to attend an inspiring day-long event,
Climate Justice: A Retreat to Explore a New Way Forward, which was sponsored by the
Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Held at the
Wilder Forest International Retreat Center, we spent the day delving into the potential impacts of global warming on our communities and the ramifications of various forms of federal climate legislation. Most importantly, we also explored the many different paths we can take to tackle many of the root issues--societal, health, food, political and others--that have set the stage for our expansive call to action to solve global warming.
Along with presenters and facilitators from the Institute as well as two doctoral candidates from the University of Delaware's Center for Energy and Environmental Policy, the keynote presenter for the day was Bill Gallegos, Executive Director of Communities for a Better Environment, based in Oakland, California. Bill brought over 30 years of experience in social and environmental justice organizing, along with profound insight to the discussions, and equally moving was the diverse group of attendees and multi-cultural aspects of the conversations.
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