Committee Minutes

ACTION LIST
*underlined events are already scheduled to take place
Community Events
1) Energy Expo- contact organizers of Living Green Expo in Twin Cities to see how this is done
a) Upfront costs may be an issue if renting a facility for event
2) “Greenwalk”
a) have maps distributed at Farmer’s Market - people can walk around to different green businesses, sites, demonstration areas (ie. Raingarden, prairie garden, wind energy site of EERC)
b) Highlight businesses that have sustainable agenda/social component, “green tech”
c) Need for recycling containers to be part of event
d) Local organizations/businesses to sponsor demonstration areas or sites through food or other support
3) Fall Public Works day – offer community tours of the facilites to showcase sustainable efforts (ie, sewage plant)
4) 2 day sustainability seminar at UND – films, etc
5) Green Living festival – see City of Evanston (Mandy has info)– car sharing, spotlighting environmentally friendly cars, bikes
6) Summer outdoor movie festival (in town square) highlighting films about environmental issues
7) Home and Garden expo – GF, yearly
a) This year’s show to have rain barrels – what else could we incorporate?
8) Light bulb swap day at Farmer’s Market (see also demonstration sites – city bulb swap)
a) need to seek source for bulbs
b) Distribute stickers that indicate how much CO2 emissions are being reduced by the person using one fluorescent light bulb instead of incandescent
9) Theatre groups - (not sure what was mentioned about this)
10) Chataqua – book the empire theater, have a bunch of speakers.
11) Earth day tree planting festival -sponsored by the city with Fund’s from the city and Xcel -– city wide , schools involved – City applied for a grant with xcel energy (judy paukert) $20,000 from xcel with city $10, 000 matching – xcel and community to supply human power to plant trees - school kids to plant?
12) Earth Week block party at UND- block off University Avenue?

Media
13) Weekly column in the GF Herald newspaper – need to have someone approach Pete or Have Melanie PB talk to the Mayor to get this going. Herald contacts: Suzette Biere (?) or Ann Bailey (?)
a) Need to prepare an example article to show what column would consist of
14) Weekly spot - Channel 8- Talk to Cassie Walder (in charge of content). Perhaps do in conjunction with Terry Dullum? WCCO in the Twin Cities has already been doing this – see for example
15) Terry Dullum showcase an energy audit or follow someone around in the duration of a day to document what affects their carbon footprint
16) Human interest stories – TV - about people living green (ie composting, using bicycles for transportation)
17) Mayor’s outlet – could we have the Mayor do a weekly update in a local newspaper, or on TV, or a radio station on ‘What’s Going on with Green in Grand Forks?’ (or some other catchy title)
18) Website- through city
a) Green Resource Center
b) Simple tips for homeowners
19) Green directory for Grand Forks – through website or for distribution at local businesses
20) Green living pamphlets – distributed at Post Office, GF Welcome Center?

Higher Ed
21) Business strategies for environmental sustainability class – seminar at Stanford – could we do the same at UND?
a) Seek grants from community partners project

Local classrooms – (non-higher ed)
22) Globe – program on hydrology and soil studies
23) Green challenge- for local school to do or to create a video about sustainability
24) Family fun activity day – families come in to learn about sustainability – hand out bumper stickers, have games for kids
25) Targeted activity – over the course of a few days, tackle a topic such as wind power and learn all about it + incorporate fun activities such as flying a kite

Informal education
26) Community education classes to teach people about sustainable living (composting, cooking, solar energy, etc)

City and County Wellness Program
27) Fitness Fridays – ride bike to work or walk to work – walk breaks
28) National public health week – already scheduled for April – “Climate change, our life in the balance”
i) sponsor pedometer giveaway

Policies (these to be forwarded on to the appropriate subcommittees)
29) Stormwater Credits for homeowners who install raingardens- Land use subcommittee
30) City special events mandatory use of recycling containers - Recycling committee

Demonstration sites (these to be forwarded on to the appropriate subcommittees)
31) Pilot bar recycling program - contact local bar to volunteer for (Bonzer’s) to test out recycling feasibility of bottles and cardboard– pilot sites to get publicity out of the effort - Recycling committee
32) City Compact Fluorescent bulb retrofit - city to retrofit one of their buildings with compact fluorescent bulbs – then have open house (possibly during earth week?) featuring energy savings due to lighting improvements as well as having a public bulb swap - Municipal Buildings and Facilities subcommittee

General awareness
33) “Certified Grand Forks Green”- Buildings in GF and surrounding area to have sticker/sign in window indicating the establishment is a green/sustainable Grand Forks business
34) Green room/shelf in the Public Library
35) Sustainable lifestyle campaign – incorporate aspects of lifestyles project
36) Sign project – comprehensive project that places signage in select areas throughout the City to inform people of green issues (ie – stormwater filtration basins get info on sign about why they improve stormwater quality)

Non- categorizable
37) Local foods movement – this is probably a part of many other efforts

*IMPORTANT: NEXT MEETING –Large Group on Thursday December 20th, 6:00pm, City Hall
Submitted by Tina Jenson