We attended the 4th Solutions Twin Cities event yesterday night, “showcasing future-positive creativity in action.” It’s organized by Works Progress and was attended by 250 of the most interesting people you’re likely to meet in Minneapolis/St. Paul. What a great opportunity it was to hear from 11 local people/groups who are doing wonderful things, all in their own way.

A couple of speakers who might be of particular interest to those involved in sustainability are:

• The young folks over at the Kitty Andersen Youth Science Center. WOW! I wish I had some teens I could send on over there. They are doing great work educating young people about the science of climate change and other environmental issues, and then those young people are going out and educating others. Hey, they won a contest recently for a video they created. Watch it at Causecast.org: “Change is Needed.”
• Daniel Klein, video blogger at The Perennial Plate, talked about his foray into local food, how his video blog challenged him to embrace not only a variety of foods, but also the wonderful people who grow our food, and where he’s taking the blog next — on the road! But you can still watch all 52 episodes of Minnesota-grown food at his website.
• Speaking of gardens, how about the combination of community gardens and opera? We heard a preview of this summer’s picnic operetta from Mixed Precipitation.
• Worried about water quality and the pollution in storm water runoff? Kurt McIntire of St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) talked about the SAFL Baffle — a mesh that fits into storm sewers. The baffle allows large amounts of water to flow through the sewer during a severe storm but prevents that flow from stirring up the polluted sludge that rests at the bottom of the sewer pipe. It keeps the toxins in the sewer and out of our rivers and lakes.

The next Solutions Twin Cities is slated for fall 2011. You will want to be there.