Residents consider sustainability
Conversations designed to create direction
Jill Schramm/MDN Tim Baumann records thoughts of participants Tuesday during a sustainability conversation session that he organized as part of a North Dakota Change Network project.
Jill Schramm/MDN Facilitator Ellen Duffey, right, displays questions for participants to consider during a discussion session on sustainability in Minot Tuesday. At left are Ann Fritz and Dan Conn.
Jill Schramm/MDN Tim Baumann records thoughts of participants Tuesday during a sustainability conversation session that he organized as part of a North Dakota Change Network project.
Jill Schramm/MDN Facilitator Ellen Duffey, right, displays questions for participants to consider during a discussion session on sustainability in Minot Tuesday. At left are Ann Fritz and Dan Conn.
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Minot residents have been coming together to discuss sustainability this week, and the organizer of those conversations hopes to turn that talk into action with the help of community consensus and potential grant dollars.
The "What's Next for Sustainability in Minot?" series of public conversation and listening sessions is part of a project conducted by Tim Baumann of Minot through his participation in the North Dakota Change Network, supported by Strengthen ND and the Bush Foundation.
"I want to have an idea of what the residents, business owners, community leaders of Minot want to see for the future, so that I know where I can put my efforts. I want to help lead and help the community to grow, but I want to know in what ways the community wants to grow," Baumann said.
The conversation sessions were netting what Baumann called "phenomenal feedback." Sessions were held Monday and Tuesday and were to include Central Campus students today.
"Some of it is really simple, easy steps that the community can take if we are able to line up all the entities that are involved. So there’s some really small progress that can happen that people are asking for. Then I think it also helps to get a broader picture of what the people’s vision for the community is, and that allows us to make sure the ship is pointed in the right direction," he said.
More frequently mentioned ideas from the public have been to expand recycling access, grow and develop local food markets and increase transit accessibility in ways that reduce reliance on private vehicles, he said.
"I think it’d be really foolish for us to turn a blind eye to the fact that there are state and federal funds that are available to improve our community. And we can address things that are related to sustainability but are also related to general community development by using those funds through the lens of sustainability. So we need to be smart - to say we have this goal and we have this goal and they intersect, and we can use those funds to achieve both of those goals at the same time," Baumann said.
He plans to share his project information with interested community members and leaders, which is a critical step in forming consensus and moving in the same direction.
"When we all start to see these same data points, we can all start to move in that direction, and we’ll find that progress is going to be easier, the more of us are working towards it," he said.
Baumann said his interest in sustainability comes from growing up in a rural area with access to the outdoors and natural environment.
"I also, personally, think that the impacts of unsustainable practices, whether it’s pollution or resource exploitation - things like that - they really disproportionately affect the poor and those of us that don’t have a voice. So, there is a social justice element of this that I want to be able to champion for the people that have less than me. We want to improve people’s lives and help people's lives be better, and this is one of many avenues," he said.
The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality recently held a series of listening sessions across the state, including in Minot, on sustainability related to agriculture, energy, community, government and public service.
Ann Fritz, environmental justice and civil rights coordinator with the department, attended one of Baumann's sustainability sessions in Minot Tuesday and noted the direction formulated from the community and statewide events can work together to put Minot in a position to attract grants for projects. Many federal grants for sustainability are becoming available, and some could come Minot's way, Fritz said.
"We just have to have the plans in place," she said.