 
Results in Minnesota:
In Minnesota, the Power 2 Change campaign hit the ground running on March 26 with a press conference with Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and State Senator Tarryl Clark. Campaign representatives reached out to college and high school student groups and built relationships with local business owners. In the process, we collected more than 5,600 signatures, and more than 200 volunteers called their neighbors, wrote letters to the editor, distributed efficient CFL light bulbs and put lawn signs in their yards promoting clean energy. Highlights included the Campus Energy Future Tour, spotlighting sustainability initiatives at Macalester College, Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota, and an Earth Day Concert and Green Car Showcase, co-sponsored with YEA MN. The campaign ended with Earth Day parties around the state where attendees took light bulbs to distribute to their co-workers and neighbors, and spread the word about Minnesota's Power 2 Change.
Below: good and bad energy actions in this state, as profiled in our report.
 
On the banks of Red Lake in cold northwestern Minnesota, houses are being weatherized, solar panels beings installed, and wind turbines planned. The White Earth Land Recovery Project, which serves the 10,000 residents of the White Earth Reservation, is taking global warming head on while also training youth in valuable skills.
Organizers are training the reservation's youth in weatherization and solar panel installations. The White Earth Land Recovery Project is now weatherizing homes on the reservation. The group also plans to generate energy through biodiesel, solar panels, and wind turbines.
"By working together, we are building a future where we solve global warming, empower people by cutting their heating bills, and train our community's youth for the clean energy economy," said Winona LaDuke, Executive Director for the White Earth Land Recovery Project.
The White Earth Land Recovery Project, local farmers and the White Earth Tribal Council chose clean energy solutions when faced with continuing to get their power from coal or revitalizing their rural economy and fighting global warming.
Bridget Ulrich, a sophomore Chemical Engineering student at the University of Minnesota, plans to make a career out of
engineering global warming solutions by developing more energy efficient chemical processes while conducting research on sustainable energy practices. Unable to wait until graduation to have a significant impact on these pressing issues, Ulrich
began working with several environmental groups to organize around public policy issues on campus, at the state level, and out in Washington D.C.
She knows that global warming solutions will not come about just through science and technology, saying, "I was inspired to become an organizer when I recognized a sense of disconnect between advocates for sustainable solutions and those developing the
technologies for these solutions."
Ulrich started her advocacy work by organizing fellow students, staff, and administrators to demand carbon reductions at the University of Minnesota. They convinced university president Robert Bruininks, to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. The University of Minnesota was the first Big Ten university to sign the commitment, which pledges the university to leadership on cutting carbon dioxide.
Ulrich is now promoting collaboration between students and the administration on initiatives on campus and in surrounding communities, and she hopes that the solutions they create will "serve as an illustration of success to the rest of society."
Metro Transit in Minnesota's Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul recently made headlines by breaking records in ridership.
Metro Transit officials announced that the agency provides 211,000 trips per day — an increase of 10% in just two years.
Public transportation popularity also showed on Metro Transit's Hiawatha Light Rail line — where 2007 ridership surpassed 2020 projections. To meet demand and interest, two new light rail lines are planned — including the 40-mile-long Northstar Commuter Rail and the Central Corridor Light Rail, expected to open in 2009 and 2014, respectively. To compliment the new rail lines, Metro Transit has also begun an aggressive program of replacing diesel buses with hybrids.
Since its beginning in 1933, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 has been the driving force for Transit Workers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Area, and currently represents about 2250 employees. According to President Michelle Sommers, transit
workers are doing their part to fight global warming. "The more people we can get out of their cars and onto the light rail system and into buses, the better for the environment. With gas prices going up, it also saves them money."
The Cost and Impact of Coal
Just across the Minnesota border in South Dakota, near Big Stone Lake and Big Stone Park, Otter Tail Power wants to build a
large coal-fired plant. The proposed plant, called Big Stone II, is primarily funded by the Minnesota-based company. The energy produced would serve customers in Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota — an area that is one of the planet's most
fertile grounds for developing wind energy.
Rich Femling has been actively working to stop Big Stone II, and is also president of Rose Creek Anglers, Inc., a small company that manufactures fly fishing accessories. "My customers are fly shops that rely on a core group of anglers that seek cold water species, and climatologists predict that our coldwater fisheries will suffer habitat loss because of global warming," said Femling. "Coal burning power plants have greatly harmed our fisheries with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide (acid rain) and mercury emissions."
Big Stone Lake, near the proposed plant site, is known for fishing, recreation, and lakeside camping but is also under a fish consumption mercury advisory. Minnesotans need to know what the real cost of the proposed coal plant will be: harm to human
health and harm to the environment. Investing in a clean energy future will stimulate the Midwest economy, protect public health, and preserve the environment.
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