MINNESOTA STUDENT ENERGY PROJECT

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BLOG POST OF THE WEEK:

HELLO FROM THE NEW MNSEP.ORG!

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Educarbon

What is Educarbon?

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Schools

LIVE SOLAR PANEL DATA

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The next generation of activism

The Minnesota Student Energy Project is a non-profit led by students. Our mission is education: to provide knowledge, resources, and momentum to student communities wishing to initiate a shift away from consumption and toward sustainability. It is our hope that our work will help to foster a generation of students that is prepared to confront the environmental challenges of both today and of years to come. We are the next generation taking the first step. Join us.
About No Frame

MNSEP: the next generation taking the first step

MNSEP's mission is embodied in a simple combination of two words: EduCarbon. Education plus Carbon, or EduCarbon, is our effort to increase awareness of environmental conditions on both local and global scales. The elements of EduCarbon, education and carbon, represent the dimensions of our approach. Education is comprised of our formal work to provide students with the knowledge they need to make environmentally conscious lifestyle decisions. Whether these lessons are taught in a school classroom or outdoors as a part of a MNSEP-sponsored seminar at a nature center, all material is centered on learning how to live more sustainably. Carbon, the second element, represents our efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of high schools.
High school buildings are massive consumers, and their use of solar energy is not only testimony to a student body's environmental efforts, is but also a learning tool. Contextual examples and resources are essential to the comprehensive effect MNSEPs programs desire, so we help high schools fund their own solar installations. The data from these systems is used in our classes, showcasing the gains that result from investing in alternative energy sources. EduCarbon captures what MNSEP stands for and is working toward: a generation prepared for the environmental challenges that lie ahead.
Blog

We're Back

Hello! September 20, 2011

We are happy to be back online. After the second reconstruction of our web presence in the last year, MNSEP is confident that we have established the best possible way to share our mission with all of you. It is from this blog that we expect to post weekly, sharing the most relevant stories, videos, discussions, and links, all pertaining to what we focus on here at MNSEP: education and sustainability. It's not our intention to assail readers with radical environmentalism. We just want to contribute to discussion and to share from the perspective of a student-led nonprofit organization from Minnesota. Until next time!MNSEP

MNSEP's Premise add-page03

Check back next week!

Here in Rochester, Minnesota, our environment is relatively well off. Our city is growing, so we’'re slowly being consumed by parking ramps, but we do have several things for which to be thankful: well forested public areas, a healthy aquifer, average air quality, high recycling rate, and even, yes, a useful local government. Climate change might even affect us favorably, giving us a more Mediterranean climate. So, relative to the rest of the country and world, we could relax or throw a party. But this last bit, the “climate change” bit, presents an entirely unique issue (if you're still suffering from Climate Change Denial (GWD), go to http://www.grist.org/article/series/skeptics). It’s risks are great and greatly unforeseeable, and we Rochesterians must struggle with some environmental issue. Why is the problem so hard to deal with? Climate data collection is dilatory and incomplete. The issue spans international boundaries, requiring cooperation at a supranational level. The costs associated with climate change are so incalculable that they seldom factor into a consumer’s, manufacturer’s, or bureaucrat’s mind. Still, the absolute worst thing about the issue is how abstract it is. Will anyone ever cry at shifting precipitation patterns as they might at endangered pandas? There's almost no pathos to climate change. Perhaps we could lament the fate of sinking Pacific Islanders and sympathize with the Dutch who just couldn't build enough dikes, but even I am struggling to care. The abstractedness and current invisibility of the problem is why climate change presents humankind’'s ultimate test. Can we attend to an easy-to-ignore problem by listening to science and acting accordingly? The clock is ticking, and however slowly it may move, each increment takes away from our precious time on earth. The ghosts of the Enlightenment thinkers watch us anxiously, but every effort made helps reassure them that we are on the right path toward the stability they once foresaw.

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MNSEP's Premise

Schools

Each of the schools below is an engaged partner in the MNSEP community. MNSEP is proud to have collaborated with each school on solar panel installations and cannot wait to add more to the group. Click on a school's picture to see live monitoring data from its solar panels.

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Contact

Contact us

To ask questions, to start a discussion, or just to chat with a few high school kids, submit the form above or follow us on Twitter and Facebook below.

Donors

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Donors

As with any organization, MNSEP's successes have been in large part a result of the generosity of the organizations like those listed at left. Every contribution to MNSEP is critical, but we owe a special deal of thanks to the American Public Power Association for its continued support for our project.