Minnesota is a beautiful state and we should treasure the lakes, streams, wood, wetlands, and prairies that we are blessed with. We need to clean up and protect those vital resources that set us apart from most other states. I’ve been an organic gardener for most of my adult life (60+ tomato plants and sweet corn that’s always knee high on the 4th or July!) but going green doesn’t just mean protecting our beautiful resources or eating local food. It means growing a green economy, energy and jobs.
Enhance and Grow Tourism
As one example, consider Minnesota’s tourism industry: Though we are very proud of all the recreational opportunities we as Minnesotans have at our fingertips, we need to be very honest about a grave reality: Minnesota’s tourism industry is suffering badly. Resort owners around the state, especially small family operations, are going out of business and the state is doing little to help them. At the same time, a treasure we are failing to discover and invest in is the emerging field of “green tourism.” What better place to build this trend than beautiful Minnesota? The state needs to promote tourism and rebuild the resort industry in the many areas of the state blessed with rare natural resources. Such investments in “green tourism” would be a boon to state revenues and to the economic well-being of these regions. This example could be one of many sustainable industries for Minnesota’s future.
Clean Energy Production
We also need to come together and focus our efforts on clean energy production. In Minnesota we are blessed with abundant sunshine, wind and biomass. We know we need to invest in increased power generation, but paradoxically we are spending our resources to support out-of-state coal production. While coal certainly is cleaner than it once was, it isn’t the answer for Minnesota. Minnesota can promote the creation of clean energy, improve regional economic development, and support local governments by supporting the cost of building small municipal power plants fueled by clean natural fuels such as biomass, wind, and solar power. These plants would provide affordable power and employ local workers to build them and operate them. They could be owned as cooperatives with local farmers and provide affordable power based on the best source for that region of the state.
As for nuclear energy, I will not support the construction of new nuclear power plants in Minnesota until a safe, permanent solution is found for the storage of nuclear waste.
As Governor, I would be the leader Minnesota needs and deserves to both create jobs and secure a clean environment for Minnesota’s future.
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