MN2020 - FREE MARKET SUSTAINABILITY: ENVIRONMENTALLY The NorthStar Initiative for Sustainable Enterprise (NISE) was created by the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in July 2009 with a goal to bring together academics, non-profits, and corporations to identify and solve sustainability issues. Issues include: how to make consumers aware of the difference their MN2020 - RURAL MENTAL HEALTH IN CRISIS We who live in more urban areas too often subscribe to the stereotype of rural life as peaceful and idyllic. We assume that, far away from the pollution and stress of city life, people live easily and free

from worry.

MN2020 - FALSE CHOICES: THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT AGAINST In moving Minnesota back toward a proven educational path, our latest report makes the following recommendations: There is a place in education for efficiency, incentives, and innovation; however, policymakers must stop trying to achieve these competitive goals with

a

MN2020 - SMALL VS. LARGE FARMS IN MINNESOTA’S CORN-FED Sales of $10,000 to $250,000 received a “small commercial” farms designation. Farms with $250,000 to $1 million were considered “large.”. More than $1 million in gross cash farm income qualified operations as “very large.”. The two smaller categories account for 91 percent of all farms in the U.S. but only 23 percent of

agricultural

MN2020 - ATVS ON THE ROAD: A LEGALIZED RISK Minnesota DNR reports that have specified the locations of ATV fatalities since 2006 placed 86 out of 142 on roads, just over 60 percent. Minnesota-based Polaris Industries, a major maker of ATVs, places this warning on its Sportsman 570 model: "Operating an ATV on paved surfaces (including sidewalks, paths, parking lots and

driveways) may

MN2020 - STEVE FLETCHER Before joining Minnesota 2020, Steve Fletcher was the founding Executive Director of MN Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, where he ran winning campaigns in housing and schools, while building that organization from the ground up into a thriving, 300 member organization. For his work there, he was named Grassroots Solutions Organizer of the Year in 2011. MN2020 - IRRIGATING MINNESOTA'S FOOD DESERTS Researchers now blame some of the state's challenge with obesity on food deserts. Since 1995, Minnesota's rate of obesity has increased from 15 percent to 25 percent, bringing the total to roughly 1.3 million Minnesotans. From a White House campaign to end childhood obesity to small-scale community programs, groups are working hard to

reduce

MN2020 - NORTH CENTRAL REFORESTATION Minnesota 2020: Made in Minnesota Gift Guide North Central Reforestation, Evansville. Web: www.ncrtrees.com Phone: 218-747-2622 Email: info@ncrtrees.com Address: 10466 405th Ave About: North Central Reforestation grows containerized tree seedlings for reforestation and conservation purposes in west central Minnesota. They also offer individually bagged seedlings for wedding favors, MN2020 - WHY MINNESOTA'S ROADS ARE LITERALLY FALLING APART Roads across the United States are getting better, or at least less bad. Not in Minnesota. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, pavement in poor or mediocre condition nationwide declined by 2.4 percent proportionally between 2002 and 2007.

MINNESOTA 2020

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