By YES! Coordinator Jim DeVries A blustery day in January is not the ideal time to tour farms to learn about local food production, but with the right combination of people and places it can be an awe inspiring event. On the 22nd of January, five students from Carlton High School's YES! team and two adults did just that. We started the day at the Food Farm in Wrenshall, MN. The Food Farm is an 18
Minnesota a Leader in LEED
By YES! Coordinator Sarah Gainey In February, YES teams from Central Minnesota will visit Blattner Energy in Avon, a LEED platinum certified building, and the McKeown Center on the campus of Saint John’s University, a LEED gold certified building, to learn more about energy efficiency and LEED certification in the community. The United States Green Building Council, USGBC, is doing its best to
How to Grow a Green Thumb
By YES! Coordinator Kory Klebe On Jan. 27th the Greenhouse Winter Workshop took place in Spicer, MN. This was a small workshop that the New London-Spicer (NLS) YES! team hosted for the Lac qui Parle Valley YES! team. The two teams both have greenhouses at their schools. The day started with harvesting lettuce greens together for their opening ice breaker. While harvesting, there where short
‘Tis the season for holiday light recycling
By YES! Coordinator Kory Klebe 'Tis the season….or maybe it should be 'twas the season. Now that the holiday season is behind us most people have taken their holiday decorations down and packed them away for the year. Before, during, and after the holiday season several YES! teams where actively doing some re-gifting. Well, it was actually recycling (which is like re-gifting to the planet)…..of
Congratulations McKnight Foundation Project Funding Winners!
We are pleased to announce the 2015-16 recipients for the McKnight Foundation Project Funding, facilitated through YES!. The project funding is a result of a larger grant received by the YES! Program from The McKnight Foundation in the fall of 2015 to bring climate literacy to YES! students across greater Minnesota. YES! offered $7,000 to YES! teams whose projects engage and empower youth to make
Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Sustainable
By YES! Coordinator Jim DeVries With the onset of 2016 most of us probably made a New Year’s resolution to eat less, lose weight or perform some other task designed to make us a better person. Unfortunately by the end of January most of these resolutions will be long forgotten. This year I want to challenge you to make a resolution that will not only make you feel good, but also one that will be