Issue 262 - February 25, 2010

Thanks for your continuing interest. We hope that the following timely information will assist you in promoting attitudes and practices in your community that are socially, environmentally, and economically sound. These updates typically include a great deal of material sent in by members; send suggestions to nextstep@state.mn.us. We also encourage you to forward this update to others and to reprint material from the update.

February 25, 2010, Newsletter #262

In this issue:

Updated: Model Sustainable Development Ordinances

Rural Active Living Assessment Tools

Sustainability classics: Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative

Community Resilience Toolkit

New Environmental Lesson Plans

National Smart Growth Award

MN Design Team seeks members for visit to Cuyuna Iron Range

Money Available

Jobs Available

Upcoming Events

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Updated Model Sustainability Ordinances!

http://www.crplanning.com/susdo.htm

Following a directive from the Minnesota Legislature, the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (then part of Minnesota Planning, and now part of the Minnesota Department of Administration) published a 313-page guide From Policy to Reality: Model Ordinances for Sustainable Development in September 2000 (see http://www.mnplan.state.mn.us/pdf/2000/eqb/ModelOrdWhole.pdf ). This guide offers legal tools to help local government steer changes in their communities that reflect the aspirations of their comprehensive and other plans. Communities can adapt these model ordinances to their own special circumstances.

During 2008 and 2009, the MPCA funded the development and updating of these model sustainability ordinances through a grant to CR Planning (www.crplanning.com).

The following updated model sustainability ordinances can now be accessed at the web site above, each in PDF format:

- Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance

- Agriculture and Forest Protection District

- Model Community Conservation Subdivision District

- Downtown Mixed-Use District

- Energy Efficiency Ordinance

- Highway Commercial District

- Landscaping and Maintenance of Vegetation

- Local Food Networks

- Natural Resources Performance Standards

- Design Standards for Pedestrian-Oriented Districts and Corridors

- Planned Unit Development Ordinance

- Solar Energy Standards

- Stormwater and Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance

- Travel Demand Management Performance Standard

- Transit-Oriented Development

- Village Mixed Use District

- Model Wind Energy

Tools for Rural Communities for Active Living

http://www.activelivingresearch.org/node/11947

Active Living can be defined as a way of life that integrates physical activity into daily routines, like walking to the store or biking to work (according to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Living ) The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has been supporting research in this area over a period of several years, and has supported the development of Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) Tools to help assess the physical environment features and amenities, town characteristics, community programs, and policies that could potentially influence levels of physical activity among residents in rural communities.

The web site above describes these tools, which are each downloadable at the site, as follows:

The RALA tools include three separate components: Town-Wide (18 town characteristic questions, and inventory of 15 recreational amenities, Program and Policy (20 questions), and Street Segment (28 questions) Assessments. These three assessment instruments are designed to be used together and provide a comprehensive measure addressing many of the unique factors believed to be important to active living in rural communities.

Interestingly, according to a policy brief at the site (Active Living for Rural Youth - http://www.activelivingresearch.org/files/ActiveLiving_Rural.Youth_Brief.pdf), childhood obesity and inactivity are significant and growing problems in many rural areas where the prevalence of obesity and overweight has been shown to be 25 percent higher than urban rates, even after controlling for income, race, physical activity and other known risk factors. This points to the relevance of active living efforts in rural areas, which have not received the focus that urban and suburban areas have.

Sustainability classics: Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative

http://www.eqb.state.mn.us/program.html?Id=18149/

The Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative (SDI) was based on the common-sense belief that if Minnesota's prosperity is to be sustained over time, what is good for business, the environment and communities must eventually become one and the same. This is the essential challenge of sustainable development.

The SDI was a collaboration of business, government and civic interests to promote policies, institutions and actions that ensure Minnesota's long-term environmental, economic and social well-being. It was administered by the Environmental Quality Board, now part of the Minnesota Department of Administration.

The Initiative produced a wide range of over 20 documents between 1994 and 2002, many of which are timely and useful today. These can be accessed at the web site above (scroll down to Full Program Document List) or directly at http://tinyurl.com/ycunnbh

Some documents of particular note are:

From policy to reality: Model ordinances for sustainable development: Offers a package of model ordinances that Minnesota communities can use in charting their futures, September 1, 2000. (313 p.): http://www.gda.state.mn.us/pdf/2000/eqb/ModelOrdWhole.pdf (see also the article above for updated version)

Sustainable development: the very idea: A common-sense primer explaining the background and significance of the concept of sustainable development, April 1, 1998. (27 p.): http://www.gda.state.mn.us/pdf/sdiprim3.pdf

Smart signals: economics for lasting progress: Examines the economic signals sent by selected state policies, December 1, 1999. (87 p.): http://www.gda.state.mn.us/pdf/1999/SmartSignals.pdf

Under construction: tools and techniques for local planning: Planning guide for people interested in shaping their community's future, September 12, 2002. (212 p.): http://www.gda.state.mn.us/pdf/2002/UnderConstruction.pdf

For more information on the Minnesota Sustainable Development Initiative, contact John Wells, Stategic Planning Director at the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board, at john.wells@state.mn.us or 651/201-2475. John is also the NextStep topic guide for the Statewide/Global area http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/section.cfm?topic=27

Community Resilience Toolkit

http://www.baylocalize.org/toolkit

This 112-page toolkit from the California-based nonprofit Bay Localize is designed for neighborhood associations, faith-based communities, city planning offices, or community-based organizations that are seeking to build a more resilient community. It consists of various activities, notes, handouts, and suggested steps that can be used in a community workshop on the topic of resilience.

Community resilience is defined in the toolkit as a community's ability to withstand and recover from hard times, and it provides resources to evaluate a community's relative strengths and vulnerabilities and to take action to build resilience. It uses the following criteria to evaluate how a community meets its basic needs:

Equity: All members of a community can adequately meet all basic needs regardless of race, gender, income, immigration status, and other factors

Quality: The basic goods and services we rely on are of good quality, for example healthy food, clean water, comprehensive health care, and convenient transportation.

Sustainability: Goods and services we use are produced in ways that increase the earth's ability to keep producing them into the future. This means conserving resources, minimizing fossil fuel use, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ownership: The community collectively and securely owns rights to essential resouces.

The toolkit is designed to help guide groups in thinking about questions of resilience in ways that will offer new prespectives on challenges and opportunities, and then to help them chose actions that will work for the community and the groups' interests and resources.

Recognizing that the workshook is targeted at California communities, the following link offers suggestions for how this toolkit can be adapted to other locations: http://www.baylocalize.org/resources/Adapting_the_Toolkit_Locally

Five New Environmental Lesson Plans Available

http://www.seek.state.mn.us/article.cfm?id=4825

Do you teach about the environment or health? If so, you can now access five new lesson plans developed by state agencies and business for grades 3 through 12 on various environmental topics. Lesson plans contain connections to Minnesota state science standards and the environmental literacy scope and sequence, along with links to additional related resources. Titles include Water Habitat Site Study, grade 5; Growing Germs in a Petri Dish, Grade 7; Ladybugs to the Rescue, Grade 3; The Business of Recycling, Grades 8-12 and Electricity and Energy Conservation, Grade 6.

These lesson plans were developed as part of the We3 (We Learn, We Save, We Win) Education Initiative through the Minnesota Environmental Education Advisory Board as a pilot project to determine educator interest, use and future need. The goal of the project is to engage students with relevant and authentic investigative learning that begins at the classroom level, and expands outward from there to the school, school grounds, students' homes, and community. These lessons will help teachers and students use their classroom and local environment as a "laboratory for systems thinking." Through applying the grade-appropriate concepts and skills across disciplines (with a special focus on science), students will look to their own classroom and local environment in terms of how it impacts, and is impacted by, natural and social systems.

Contributing groups include the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Department of Health, and Xcel Energy.

These lesson plans can be accessed from the MPCA's SEEK Environmental Web site at http://www.seek.state.mn.us/classrm_f.cfm SEEK (Sharing Environmental Education Knowledge), NextStep's sister web site, also has many additional great resources for educators and others interested in environmental education. Visit the SEEK home page at www.seek.state.mn.us to learn more!

National Award for Smart Growth Achievement: Applications due April 5, 2010

The US EPA is now accepting applications for the 2010 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement. This competition is open to public- and private-sector entities that have successfully used smart growth principles to improve communities environmentally, socially, and economically. Up to five awards will be given in the following categories:

- Programs, Policies, and Regulations

- Smart Growth and Green Building

- Civic Places

- Rural Smart Growth

- Overall Excellence

For more information about the award program and to learn how to apply, go to http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/awards.htm

Minnesota Design Team seeks members for April visit to Crosby-Cuyuna Iron Range Region!

The Minnesota Design Team (www.minnesotadesignteam.org) is seeking architects, landscape architects, planners, economic developmenters, experts in parks and trails, people with drawing skills, and people with historic preservation expertise for the Team's visit to Crosby and other Cuyuna Iron Range Communities April 22 - 24, 2010.

(The Minnesota Design Team is an all-volunteer organization that was born of ideals and dreams in the early 1980s. Originally conceived by a small group of architecture and landscape architecture students interested in town planning and design, the MDT today is a well established and respected group of over 300 volunteer professionals. The MDT assists communities in planning and designing a viable, appropriate future. The MDT works not only with design issues like main street improvements, but also with the fundamental planning process that allows communities to take the initiative in continuing to plan a future that reflects their dreams and interests.)

This visit focuses on Crosby but also includes the surrounding cities of Ironton, Deerwood, Cuyuna and others, working to create a regional vision.

Some of the issues include:

1. Creating a regional framework to better connect the cities in the Cuyuna Lakes Region.

2. Rebranding and marketing the area to draw more tourists interested in outdoor activities, particularly mountain biking.

3. Preserving and revitalizing Crosby's historic downtown.

4. Creating infrastructure to attract more employees to the regional hospital, in particular creating more affordable housing near the hospital.

5. Preparing for an aging community.

The activities will start the evening of Thursday, April 22, and will end the evening of Sunday, the 24th, although many will stay for breakfast on Sunday, the 25th. There will be one team meeting prior to the visit.

Contact Josh Tolkan for more information on becoming a team member at josh.tolkan@gmail.com

Money Available

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants for local governments - application deadline extended until March 3, 2010!

http://www.commerce.state.mn.us/EnergyRFP/EECBG.html

The Minnesota Department of Commerce Office of Energy Security (OES) requests proposals from Minnesota local units of government for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program (EECBG) funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA). Minnesota cities, counties and townships that were not eligible to apply directly to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for EECBG funding are eligible to apply for these competitive grants. Up to $6,386,480 is available for these grants.

The purpose of this grant program is to provide funding for Minnesota local governments to:

1. Reduce Energy Use

2. Create or Retain Jobs

3. Reduce Emissions of Greenhouse Gases (GHG)

Eligible activities are divided into two application categories: projects and programs. Projects are specific activities, such as building energy efficiency retrofits, which result in direct, quantifiable reductions in energy use. Programs are activities, such as energy audits or financing programs, that do not directly provide energy savings, but that support or enable a subsequent activity that provides energy savings.

On February, 11, 2010, OES amended its Request for Proposals (RFP) for the EECBG competitive grant program to accept new and modified proposals until 4:00 p.m., Central Standard Time (CST) March 3, 2010.

Detailed instructions for submitting proposals are detailed in the RFP. Contact Natalie Buys, OES, at energy.contracts@state.mn.us with any questions.

Residential Solar Rebates (Electric, and Hot Water) available from MN Office of Energy Security

http://tinyurl.com/ya9v9a3

Also from OES, rebates up to $10,000 per home are now available to Minnesota homeowners who install qualifying solar electric and solar hot water systems. Rebate reservations are available on a first-come, first-served basis for solar systems that are installed at an applicant's primary residence by a licensed contractor that meets program participation criteria.

Download detailed application materials for either the Residential Solar Electric Rebate Application or the Residential Solar Hot Water Rebate Application from the web site above.

2010 Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program: Letters of interest due April 9, 2010

http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/2010_0128_rfli.html

EPA is now accepting letters of interest for the 2010 round of the Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) Program. EPA, with the assistance of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation, is offering direct technical assistance from national experts to communities, tribes, regions, and states that want to incorporate smart growth techniques in their development. EPA is also interested in identifying and documenting innovative solutions to complex problems faced by communities as they seek to incorporate smart growth practices. EPA expects to select up to 4 applicants for assistance this year.

For more information about the SGIA program, go to http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/sgia.htm

NOTE: Those interested in exploring collaboration with the MPCA in their application to EPA for the SGIA program are invited to contact Philipp Muessig, MPCA, at philipp.muessig@state.mn.us or 651/757-2594

Jobs Available and Jobs Wanted at www.nextstep.state.mn.us/jobs.cfm

See the NextStep job board for a variety of organizational postings including these below, talented people offering their skills, and other job listings that post jobs in the field of sustainability.

Current postings include, among others:

- Anoka Conservation District: Landscape Restoration Specialist

- Washington Conservation District: Natural Resource and Water Monitoring Technicians (2)

- Applied Ecological Services, Inc.: Staff Ecologist

- Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy: Event Coordination and Outreach Intern (unpaid)

- Do it Green! Minnesota: Interns (3) - unpaid

Here are other job listings and resources:

- SEEK (environmental education): http://www.seek.state.mn.us/jobs.cfm

- MEP: http://www.mepartnership.org/mep_jobs.asp

- MN Council of Nonprofits: http://www.mncn.org/jobs/default.asp

- Idealist: http://www.idealist.org

- National Green Collar Jobs Board: http://www.sustainlane.com/green-jobs

- MinnesotaWorks.net: https://www.minnesotaworks.net/

- Discover Green Jobs http://www.positivelyminnesota.com/JobSeekers/Discover_Green_Jobs/index.aspx

Upcoming Events at www.nextstep.state.mn.us/calendar.cfm

Featured events include:

* MN Association for Environmental Education Conference: Strong Roots for a Strong Future http://www.seek.state.mn.us/calendar_detail.cfm?ID=5970 - $145 for full conference, in Grand Rapids, MN, March 12 - 13

* Twin Cities Sustainability Conference (2 events): Local Government Sustainability Workshop, and Neighborhood Sustainability Conference http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/calendar_detail.cfm?eventid=4481 - free, in Minneapolis, March 12 - 13 (Local Government Sustainability Workshop - March 12, and Neighborhood Sustainability Conference - March 13)

* MN Erosion Control Association Annual Erosion Control and Stormwater Management Conference and Trade Show: Delivering Erosion Control and Stormwater Quality During Tight Economic Conditions http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/calendar_detail.cfm?eventid=4425 - $300 for full conference, St. Cloud, March 11 - 12

* Midwest Real Food Summit: Real Food through a Wider Lens (for high school and college students and allies) http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/calendar_detail.cfm?eventid=4482 - $25/$45, St. Paul, March 12 - 14

* Community Garden Spring Resource Fair http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/calendar_detail.cfm?eventid=4500 - $5 suggested, Minneapolis, March 27

See these and many other upcoming events at the NextStep Calendar, onto which anyone can post events, for:

- Other future and past events

- Links to other web-based calendars for:

o Sustainable Agriculture

o Environmental Education

o Minnesota River Events

o Renewable Energy & Sustainable Living

o Transportation

o Green Buildings

If you are receiving this e-mail and have not registered as an MnSCN member (i.e., given us your mailing address which puts you on the postal mail list for a member directory, a yearly Digest of new publications, tools and case studies, and yearly MnSCN meetings), please join by sending an e-mail to nextstep@state.mn.us with your name, organizational affiliation (if any), address, phone (optional) and FAX. Also note if you would not like to have your name shared with others in the MnSCN member directory published each year.

This list does not offer members the ability to post information directly to it.

For further information and questions about the MPCA or the MnSCN, please feel free to contact Philipp Muessig or Paul Moss at 651/296-6300 or 800/657-3864, or see www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/sc/

We encourage submissions of local examples of sustainable community activities, guidebooks and other tools, studies, speakers, conferences, workshops, meetings, grant and loan funds, and courses that might be of interest to MnSCN members. Please e-mail us: nextstep@state.mn.us. Your response will not be posted directly to this list, but will be considered for inclusion in a future update to MnSCN members.