Human Uses of the Environment

Human Uses of the Environment Kari Dunphy

Sustainability in Minnesota MINNEAPOLIS GREENPRINT A Road Map for Environmental Sustainability

What is Minneapolis GreenPrint? • The Minneapolis GreenPrint is a map, compass, and guide for sustainable development and ecologically-friendly practices. • An Annual GreenPrint Report is presented to the City Council by Earth Day of each year. • The report is developed through the Environmental Coordinating Team and focuses on the previous year’s activities, and progress.

Pollution in Minnesota • Minnesota’s air quality is generally good and has been improving for most pollutants • Minnesota has been in compliance with all national ambient air quality standards since 2002

How to Reduce Air Pollution from Cars and Trucks • Purchase the most fuel efficient car that meets your daily needs. • Keep your vehicle well tuned and tires inflated properly to reduce exhaust emissions. • Accelerate gradually-a smooth start uses less fuel. • Telecommute if possible.

Four guidelines for developing more sustainable societies and lifestyles • Our lives, lifestyles, and economies are totally dependent on the sun and the earth. We are ultimately vulnerable to population control and extinction, like all species. • Everything is connected to, and interdependent with, everything else. Everything we do effects something else in nature and vice versa. • We can never do just one thing. When we alter nature, we need to ask, “Now what will happen?” • Only societies that live off the biological income provided by the earth’s natural capital can be indefinitely sustained. Using these guidelines to implement the four principles of sustainability could result in an environmental revolution.

Energy Quality in Minnesota • Since 1998, Minnesota has been a leader in promoting ethanol use by serving as the national pilot market. The project has resulted in the largest ethanol-based fueling network in the U.S., multiple production plants, and thousands of flexible fuel vehicles on Minnesota roads. Minnesota is also home to two nuclear power plants which provide 25% of the state's electricity.

Food Chains in Minnesota • Minnesota’s farmers, processors and retailers can provide high quality, fresh local food to Minnesotans in city and countryside alike.

Minnesota Soil Types

Animal Extinction in Minnesota • The best known extinct Minnesota species is the passenger pigeon. Lesser known extinct Minnesota species are the eastern elk, blackfin cisco (a Great Lakes fish), and the crescent stripetail stonefly (an aquatic insect of cold water streams). • In addition to the federal Endangered Species Act, Minnesota has a state law protecting endangered and threatened species. The Minnesota Endangered Species Statute and associated rules are implemented by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR).

Effects of Extinction • Disruption of the “Web of Life”. • Loss of future medicine and crops. • Decreased quality of life. Passenger Pigeon

Farm Biodiversity in MinnesotaTwo ways farmers can improve their farm biodiversity • Mob Grazing • The mob grazing approach uses large concentrations of animals to graze in small paddocks for very short periods of time, sometimes only for a few hours or a day. The results are better nutrient distribution, weed control, soil health and condition, pasture composition, and forage utilization. • Native Pollinators • More than 30 percent of the food in the American diet depends on pollination services provided by insects, according to the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). This includes not only fruits and vegetables, but even products like milk and meat as insects produce the seed for alfalfa and clovers, which are part of most livestock diets. While the modern agricultural landscape in the Upper Midwest provides few food sources for pollinators,

Minnesota Biomes Prairie Grassland Coniferous Forests Deciduous Forest Tallgrass

Impact Humans have on Minnesota Forests • In early years, deforestation has occurred in Minnesota forests and it still does today. But now there are people trying to help our forests recover and rebuild a more beautiful Minnesota. Today Minnesota has 20 million more larger trees (more than 19" in diameter) than it did 50 years ago.

Parasites in Minnesota Lakes • Because they are the easy to see, "grubs” are the most commonly reported parasite living on fish. The most common flukes in Minnesota fish are: • Yellow Grub • White Grub • Black Grub

Fish Diseases Myofibrogranuloma Bass Tapeworm Neascus Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Dermal Sarcoma Heterosporis Lymphosarcoma Lymphocystis

Population Growth in Minnesota • Population, 2009 estimate 5,266,214 • Between 1990 and 2020, the population over age 45 will increase substantially, while the under-45 population will decline. • After 2010, the number of people over age 65 will grow dramatically as baby boomers reach this age bracket. • The very old population, those age 85 and older, will rise rapidly until 2010, after which its growth will slow, reflecting the low birth rates during the Depression of the 1930s.

Birth Rates in Minnesota • In 2006, Minnesota births were at their highest level since 1964. • Between 2005 and 2006, fertility rates rose in most age groups, with the highest rate of growth among teenagers. • Birth rates increased in all major racial and ethnic groups. • The number of births in Minnesota rose from 70,920 in 2005 to 73,515 in 2006, an increase of 3.7 percent. • Minnesota Center for Health Statistics figures show that the 2006 number was the highest since 1964, when • there were 76,895 births. The year-to-year increase in births, 2,595, was the largest single-year gain since 1979.

Minnesota Births Are Rising inthe 2000sMinnesota births rise after decline in first part of 1990s

Urban Sprawl In Minnesota • The amount of land taken up by a city, town, or any urbanized area is the simple product of the number of residents times the amount of land consumed per resident, as shown in the following equation: • A = P x a • Where: A = Area of urbanized/developed land in acres or square miles • P = Population of the urban/suburban area • a = urbanized land per person

Poverty Rates in Minnesota • With a poverty rate of 8.1%, Minnesota has the second-lowest poverty rate in the United States. • Most of the critical poverty rates in Minnesota (50% or more above the state average) occur in major cities across Minnesota. • The major cities (25,000 or more people) in Minnesota with a critical poverty rate are the following: • Duluth (15.5%) • Mankato (19.0%) • Minneapolis (16.9%) • Moorhead (16.3%) • St. Cloud (13.1%) • St. Paul (15.6%) • Winona (17.3%)

Critical Poverty in Minnesota

What is being done about Minnesota Poverty??? • Since Minnesota already has such a low poverty rate, it is apparent that many people and organizations have worked to keep the poverty rate low in the state already. • Groups that tackle different aspects of poverty in MN: • University of Minnesota Institute on Race & Poverty (IRP) • Emergency Food Shelf Network • Second Harvest Heartland • North Country Food Bank • Channel One Food Bank

Biodiversity in Minnesota • The state's population density is 53 people per square mile. The overall risk to ecosystems is high. Population density has increased 8 percent since 1982. The amount of developed land increased 11 percent between 1982 and 1992. Minnesota has lost nearly all of its original tallgrass prairie and oak savanna. Half of Minnesota's wetlands have been lost since 1780. • Minnesota does not have a formal biodiversity policy. However, the Department of Natural Resources has a strategic plan with the goal of maintaining, enhancing and restoring ecosystems. The goal is to be achieved through an ecosystem-based management approach.

Types of Forests in Minnesota • Old Growth Forests • Black Ash • Oak • Red and White Pine • White Spruce • White Cedar • Minnesota Trees and Shrubs • Coniferous • Deciduous • Eastern Broadleaf Forest • Laurentian Mixed Forest

Types and Locations of Minnesota Forests Coniferous Cone-bearing trees that have thin needlelike leaves. Deciduous Broadleaf Forests Trees that drop their leaves each autumn. Laurentian Mixed Forest

Harvesting Timber • In Minnesota, independent loggers do most timber harvesting. • Selling timber is much more complicated than tacking a "wood for sale" sign to a tree. Trees grow and die, so the amount of timber on a site changes constantly. Also, the value of the timber varies depending on how much there is, how easy it is to get to, the species of trees, and how far it is from market. • The job of administering timber sales on state lands is carried out by DNR foresters in this way: • First, the amount of timber that can be sustainably harvested on state lands each year is determined. • Next, sites that should be harvested are selected. • Then, the amount of timber on a sale site is estimated and offered for sale at public auction.

Minnesota National Park • The biggest threats to Minnesota’s National Parks is underfunding. • Even with the number of visitors rising each year, the parks could see less funding for maintenance, upkeep and stewardship.

How to help protect Minnesota’s National Forests • The generosity of our citizens through their tax dollars and their donations helps to sustain America's national parks. • In the park…Get out of your car – many parks offer bus and other alternative transportation systems so that you can reduce the miles you drive and your carbon footprint, not to mention get a better view! • Recycle what you can and conserve energy and water when possible. Little things like adjusting the heat or air conditioning when you leave your hotel room or the water faucet when you are brushing your teeth or using a reusable water bottle go a long way in making your parks even greener.

Minnesota Endangered Species Law • Minnesota's Endangered Species Statute and the associated Rules impose a variety of restrictions, a permit program, and several exemptions pertaining to species designated as endangered or threatened. • A person may not take, import, transport, or sell any portion of an endangered or threatened species. However, these acts may be allowed by permit issued by the DNR; plants on certain agricultural lands and plants destroyed in consequence of certain agricultural practices are exempt; and the accidental, unknowing destruction of designated plants is exempt. The Western prairie fringed orchid, a threatened Midwestern prairie plant.

Member of the Endangered Species Act that is no longer protected • The bald eagle was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1972., but was delisted on August 9, 2007. Bald eagles and their nests are still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protect Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act In Minnesota, bald eagles are found primarily in the central part of the state and, in winter, along the Mississippi River.

The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota providesquality medical care and rehabilitation for all injured,sick and orphaned wildlife, and shares its knowledgewith the people who care about them

Wildlife Sanctuaries in Minnesota • Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary located in Orr, MN. • Operated by the American Bear Association. • Described as the best place to see wild black bears in their natural habitat.

Soil Erosion in Minnesota When the natural landscape is disturbed by activities of humans such as tillage, timber harvesting, urban development, road construction, or overgrazing, erosion can become accelerated and destructive.

Methods for Reducing Soil Erosion • One method of reducing soil erosion on cropland is conservation tillage. • Conservation tillage is generally well suited to southeastern Minnesota. • Conservation tillage is any method of soil cultivation that leaves the previous year's crop residue on fields before and after planting the next crop, to reduce soil erosion and runoff.

Use of Organic Fertilizers Suståne products are manufactured in Minnesota (U.S.A.), are used locally, regionally and internationally. Suståne is the world’s leading manufacturer of granulated, organic and natural base slow release nitrogen fertilizers. Suståne is a natural, biological recycling process made from renewable, agricultural resources that in the end optimizes new plant growth with the least possible inputs, the most savings in labor, time and money and the most favorable impact on the environment.

Fish Farms in Minnesota Spruce Creek Fish Farm is located in Miltona, MN. The currently supply: WalleyeBluegillHybrid BluegillBlack CrappieNorthern PikeLarge Mouth Bass They raise top quality fish fry and fingerlings for the stocking of ponds and bodies of water across the Midwest United States.

Flooding in Minnesota • Several factors are pointing toward flooding in Spring 2011 for many of Minnesota’s rivers and streams. • Spring thaw begins at the southern section of the Red River and works its way northward, as runoff flows toward the newly melted snow. Ice jams can then pose problems as the water flows toward colder regions and encounters ice. These chunks of ice build upon each other, slowing and even damming the water flow. • Making matters worse is the fact that the Red River is fairly young, geologically speaking. Because of this, the river has not carved a significant valley-floodplain system, and is surrounded by a large expanse of some of the flattest terrain in the world. This can lead to coverage of large area by floodwaters. • Finally, there is the slope of the river, which averages 5 inches per mile in the Fargo region, but lessens to 1.5 inches per mile as the river moves north to the Canadian border. During floods, the water pools, turning the region into one massive lake.

Coon Rapids Dam The dam was originally built for hydro power but was abandoned in 1966 when the demand for hydro power dropped. It was taken over by the county parks and is currently used as a recreation area. It is also used to maintain a constant pool depth. • Located on the Mississippi River • The Coon Rapids Dam is the largest dam in the world to use these inflatable rubber bladder gates.

Water Pollution in Minnesota • Water is one of Minnesota's most abundant and precious resources. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) helps protect our water by monitoring its quality, setting standards and controlling what may go into it • MPCA regulates the collection, transportation, storage, processing and disposal of animal manure and livestock processing activities, and provides assistance to counties and the livestock industry.

Feedlots • Proper livestock feeding practices on pasture and crop residue are necessary to avoid adverse environmental impact. • Sufficient vegetative cover will reduce soil erosion and manure-contaminated runoff.

Solar energy can be used to generate electricity, to provide hot water, and to heat, cool, and light buildings. • The Buffalo House, a Northern Minnesota Resort just 10 minutes south of Duluth, is now the proud owner of the states larges solar thermal evacuated tube installation.

Reducing Energy WasteWhat can you do? • Anoka County and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency gathered ideas from many sources to help you reduce the amount of waste you generate during the holiday season. By implementing these ideas, you can also reduce holiday costs. • Try using alternatives to gift wrap such as, fabric, bandanas, scarves, or blankets. • Gifts to avoid: • Over-packaged, resource-consuming gifts. • Plastic or electric gadgets with limited use. • Disposable products. • Anything in aerosol containers (ask for non-aerosol alternatives).

Infectious diseases, from flu to smallpox, affect all of us at one time or another. Through the Infectious Disease Division (IDEPC), we monitor the occurrence of infectious diseases, develop strategies for preventing and controlling disease, and work to put those strategies into action. • Some people call them immunizations. Others call them vaccinations or shots. Whatever you call them, immunizations are one of the best weapons we have against a number of serious diseases. GET YOUR SHOTS!

Climate in Minnesota • The climate in Minnesota can sometimes be extreme, with bitterly cold winter temperatures (particularly in the north of the state) and much warmer summer temperatures. January is usually the coldest month, with average temperatures around 12°F (-11.5°C), while July can see temperatures of 73°F (23°C). The south of the state tends to be warmer than the north. Minnesota is situated at the top of 'tornado alley', and there are usually several tornadoes occurring in the late summer, around July and August.

Sources of Minnesota Air Pollution • The Minnesota air toxics emission inventory includes emissions from three principal source categories: • Point Sources: typically large stationary sources with relatively high emissions; for example, power plants and refineries. • Nonpoint Sources: typically stationary sources, but are generally smaller sources of emissions. Examples include dry cleaners, gasoline service stations, and residential wood combustion. • Mobile Sources: segregated into onroad and nonroad sources. Onroad mobile sources are vehicles operated on highways, streets and roads. Nonroad mobile sources include lawn and garden equipment, construction equipment, aircraft and locomotives.

Sources of Air Toxics in Minnesota

Waste Management Twin Cities is your local choice for all of your collection and disposal needs; from collection and recycling, to state-of-the art landfill operations. At Waste Management, Think Green® is a way of life. It means commitment to customer satisfaction and long-term relationships. It means cleaner, safer communities. And it means you receive high quality service second to none. • Residential Service • Commercial Service • Industrial Service • Medical Waste • Landfills

Landfill Sites in Minnesota(Waste Management Owned) • Twin City Area Landfills are located at: • Burnsville Sanitary Landfill & Drop Off 2650 W. Cliff Rd Burnsville, MN 55337(off Hwy 13 and Washburn Ave) Monday - Friday: 7am - 5pm Saturday: 7am- 1pm Sunday: Closed Tel. (952) 890-3248 • Spruce Ridge Landfill & Drop Off 12755 137 th St Glencoe, MN 55336Monday - Friday: 7am - 5pm Saturday: Closed Sunday: Closed Tel. (320) 864-5503 • Elk River Landfill & Drop Off 22460 Hwy 169 NW Elk River, MN 55330Monday - Friday: 7am - 5pmSaturday: 7am- 12pmSunday: ClosedTel. (763)441-2464 • As part of one of the largest network of landfills in the industry, Waste Management’s Elk River Landfill utilizes state-of-the-art liners, leachate collection, ground water monitoring and gas control systems, along with highly effective operational procedures, to ensure a pristine environment.

Human Uses of the Environment