The Central Minnesota Chapter of The Climate Reality Project
Representing Minnesota and surrounding areas
A diverse group of passionate individuals who’ve come together to solve the greatest challenge of our time - Climate Change.
We are activists, cultural leaders, organizers, scientists, storytellers committed to building a sustainable future together.
Featured
July Online Chapter Zoom Meeting
Date: Wednesday July 9, 2025 7pm
Speaker: Maria Jensen
Co-director of Recycling Electronics for Climate Action
Topic: Electronics Recycling
Did you know Minnesota generates 266 million pounds of electronic waste each year, providing a $3.2 billion dollar opportunity to capture critical metals via recycling? Unfortunately, right now, we collect only 20% of our e-waste.
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Our featured speaker for July is Maria Jensen, Co-Director of Recycling Electronics for Climate Action. She will talk about the opportunities for the environment and the economy by increasing our capture of the critical metals we are currently throwing away. She will also talk about the recycling legislation being proposed and what we can do to help.
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To learn more, visit: https://reca-us.org/
To register for this free Zoom event, click below:
HUGE INCENTIVES TO ELECTRIFY
YOUR HOME OR VEHICLE
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Tax credits, rebates and other incentives to reduce carbon emissions, improve comfort, protect health and save you money. Click here to learn more, or select "Incentives" under the Learn menu.
In August of 2022, Congress passed historic legislation which will help our nation address climate change while making our homes more comfortable, healthier, and saving you money over the coming years.
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It incentivizes clean energy, electric cars and electric homes. It invests in green technology to ramp up manufacturing and meet all of the new demand. Coupled with existing policy it has the potential to lower U.S. emissions to 40% below 2005 levels by 2030. While that is below the 50% required to limit average global temperatures to a 1.5 degree Celsius increase, it is a welcome start.
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​​This is your chance to cash in on a once-in-lifetime opportunity to upgrade your home and vehicle, saving you money on routine upgrades and reducing planet-warming greenhouse gases at the same time.
October Chapter Zoom Meeting
Thursday Oct 10 at 6:30pm CT
Topic: EV 101 & EVs in Greater Minnesota
Special Guest Speaker:
Diana McKeown, CERTs Co-Director and the Metro CERT Director at the Great Plains Institute
Posted Oct 1 2024
Fun Fact: Diana was one of the first 1000 “climate messengers” trained by Al Gore in January 2007
Diana shared information about electric vehicles, and Minnesota’s charging infrastructure.
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The types of EVs (battery, plug-in hybrid, plain hybrid)
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EV Adoption in Minnesota
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Types of EV chargers
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Minnesota EV charging infrastructure, including in greater MN
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EV Benefits
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EV Batteries
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EV incentives (very brief) + Utility incentives on chargers
Past Events
Sherco Solar Project
Posted Feb 3 2025
The Sherco solar project, owned by Xcel Energy, is near the existing Sherco coal plant site (the largest in Minnesota). The solar project is being developed in three phases and will be one of the largest solar facilities in the country when it is complete. Phase 1 is operational and phase 2 will open later this year. The project also includes an iron-air long-duration battery storage pilot project.​
Edible Landscapes
Posted Jun 6 2025
Edible landscaping is an alternative to today's prevailing use of turf grasses, favoring easy to grown plants that are much more environmentally conscious but produce tasty food .​ Join us as Jordan and Tim from Edible Landscapes MN tell us about the process and value of edible landscaping in Minnesota, and the varieties and techniques that will lead to success!​
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Climate Priorities for MN
Posted April 4 2025
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Chapter member Veda Kanitz, current legislative co-chair of the MNDFL Environmental Caucus, spoke about DFL priorities for Minnesota. Chapter member J. Drake Hamilton, Managing Director, Science Policy at FreshEnergy, talked about building bi-partisan support for climate and energy policy.
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Reducing Commercial Energy Use
Posted Mar 10 2025
From Minify: "Our Mission is to achieve a more sustainable future by delivering creative and practical high-performance energy efficiency projects on behalf of building owners..."
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About the speaker: Jeremy Davis has been in the sustainability industry for over 15 years.
Solutions
Solutions that are scalable, reliable and proven are the key to fighting climate change - we need both policy and ingenuity to solve the issues of a warming world.
The proposed solutions below lead us in the right direction, and provide hope that we can win the fight against global warming.
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Reducing Commercial Energy Use
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Green Iron and Green Steel on the Iron Range
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Decarbonizing Aviation - Synthetic Fuels
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Members
Every Little Bit
Posted May 27 2025
We're collecting member stories about their own electrification upgrades.
From home improvements, appliance upgrades to electric vehicles, we want you to see the steps taken by our members to make these changes, and how easy it is for you to get started on your electrification journey.
Stay tuned for more info and a detailed look at the process, and check back for further updates from other members.
Presentation Playback
Climate Image Archive
Updated Feb 18 2023
We've been working on a new Climate Image Archive to use in presentations and other materials, and the archive is now live! The images are free to use and distribute with any climate presentation.
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We have created two separate collections of high quality climate photos at Unsplash and Pixabay.
Photo by Raychel Tanner from Unsplash
There are concrete steps that we can take to both prepare for a warming world and fight against the sources of that increasing warmth. Check out these presentations from chapter members that highlight the specific ways you can make a difference.
25% by '25 Climate Action Plan Update (2023)
with Mary Britton
Beyond Recycling and Composting
with Kellie Kish
with Isaac Evans
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with Bill Middlecamp
with Mary Britton
Sustainable Fashion
with Wendi Russo
We Need You!
We need your help to provide content and fight climate change! Submit your ideas for presentations, news, information or other relevant topics to info@climaterealitymsp.com
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We also need your assistance in presenting topics to the chapter. Signup for a short talk and demonstrate your passion in fighting for the future of the planet.
Science
Planetary Dashboard
425 PPM
This is the current concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A principle cause of global warming since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, this reduces the ability of the Earth to radiate generated head into space, trapping more of the heat and leading to increased surface and ocean temperatures.
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