September Meeting Notes (Sat, Sept 12 @ 10:30AM)

Monthly Meetings & Notes
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The September WCMNCN Meeting will be on Saturday September 12th at 10:30AM.

Google Hangouts link: https://meet.google.com/gft-hbuj-vfb

Please refer to the September Discussion post to contribute to agenda ideas.

Meeting Notes:

  1. Hellos!
  2. Announcements
    • Beyond Coal Campaign Meeting - @srosemark invited some folks to a meeting with Steve Payne of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign. He shared a lot of information with us about Ottertail Power Company and is hoping to bring together a crew of OTPCO customers with the end goal of customers having more say in OTPCOs business/energy decisions (ex. shutting down their 2 coal plants). You can read the slideshow he shared in the Energy/Grid Resources post.
    • Solar United Neighbors Webinar- My internet died during this part so I am going to let @Susan_Gilbert and @Nic_McPhee edit this post with some of the info they learned from this webinar.
    • Nibi Walk - @Alex shared some information about the upcoming Pomme De Terre River Walk that is happening in conjunction with the We Are Water and Why Treaties Matter exhibits currently in the Morrison gallery. She is going to attend the information session on Sun Sep 12 and then report back (feel free to add information you learn here, Alex!). You can also learn more on their website.
  3. Brainstorming ideas for action events
    • Visit Morrison Gallery exhibits (our plan is for this to be our October event)
    • Climate movie night (a November/December activity, if anyone has any climate movie ideas please share!)
    • Harvest seeds with the USFWS (@nomuzz is looking into this)
    • Make climate yard signs
      • We have decided that the September Action Event we want to do is make yard signs! WHY?? Because (1) it is something we can do socially distanced, (2) it is a way to share personal messages of climate engagement, and (3) it will add to the election signs populating yards and people will READ them! also (4) it is something we can DO and then celebrate that we have done! A success story!

Sign Making!!
Susan has gotten us some white signs and we are inviting people to design their own climate related sign to put up in their yard! Here are the full detailed steps we outlined for sign making.

  1. Sign Prepping Event
    • On Sunday September 20th at 3PM in Eastside Park we will be socially distance + face masks gathering to write “West Central MN Climate Network” on the bottom of all the signs. We wanted everyone who designs a sign to make it their own, yet we still wanted them all to connect back to our group. Syd has sent out a gcal invite for this event.
      • Syd is going to make stencils that say “West Central MN Climate Network” so it will be easy/efficient to fill it in on the bottom of all the signs.
      • Susan and Nic will bring the signs.
      • Everyone who is interested in helping should BYOS (sharpie, black).
      • If you attend this crafty afternoon, you get first dibs on yard signs.
  2. Syd will then deliver signs to anyone who wants them across town (with first dibs to WCMNCN members)!
    • The signs will come with a cheat sheet which we are group drafting on the Sign Cheat Sheet post. The cheat sheet will include:
      • Ideas for what they could put on their sign
      • That they should have their sign posted in their yard/window by the 1st week of October
      • That they should post on social media about their sign, why they wrote on it what they did, and using #WCMNCN and #ClimateNetwork so they can be easily found on the interwebs.
      • Instructions for how you can let Syd know your sign is up so she can come by and coat it with a sealant so it does not fade/wear away.
  3. Rejoice!
    • Because signs should be up by the first week in October, at our Oct 10th meeting we will be able to celebrate our group coming together to accomplish sharing some climate messages across town!

At the end of the meeting we commented on how it felt very productive and encouraging. I had a fun time chatting with folks and coming up with this plan of action that met the goals we were looking to achieve at our August meeting. Success!

Next Steps for YOU, reader:

  1. If you are interested in getting & designing a climate sign, comment on this post & let Syd kno
  2. If you are interested in helping prep signs, accept Syd’s gcal event for Sun Sep 20th!
  3. Add your input to the cheat sheet post
  4. Favorite this post!
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Today’s meeting agenda:

  1. Intros/Hellos
    a. Name, pronouns, thoughts on how your fall is starting, something you are looking forward to!
  2. Announcements
    a. Beyond Coal
    b. Solar Webinar - Susan?
    c. Other events/announcements
  3. September Discussion Post Thoughts
    a. If you didn’t answer the questions, take a moment to think about them
    b. What do we want our group activities/tasks to be? Signs, We Are Water Exhibit, Prairie Seed harvesting? Lets take some time to flush those thoughts out & make a plan!
  4. Summarize the meeting as a group for processing purposes
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I did attend the Nibi Walk orientation, just forgot to post something here. It’s meant as a meditation and celebration of the river. It seems that the walk is set up as a sort of relay where one person carries the water for a mile and then hands it off to the next person. Normally, there could be a group walking, but because of COVID restrictions, people will be driving to their next spot. I discovered that you are supposed to sign up with another person in your household/pod so that one person can move the vehicle. Last I heard, they still needed people, so email peg@cureriver.org if you’re interested!

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