The Morris area, located in West-Central Minnesota, is expansive prairie land largely devoted to conventional agriculture, its horizon increasingly dotted with wind turbines. This intimate community is also home to a nationally-recognized liberal arts university, the University of Minnesota – Morris, which has helped drive a shift to the use of alternative energy and sustainability in the community.
The work done by a range of community members in the last decade has transitioned the community to a “renewable energy community,” according to Troy Goodnough, Campus Sustainability Coordinator at UM – Morris. “Seventy percent of campus electricity comes from wind; we’ve got two 1.65 megawatt wind turbines that, between the renewable energy standard in the state, provide energy to 2000 people, which is a remarkable story.” He cites the mentality that allowed for Morris’ renewable energy success as one which sought to discover “how do we capture and build local wealth around the resources that we have?”
While Goodnough’s work and that of others has dramatically changed the energy climate in Morris area, he has seen an increase in damaging extreme weather events. “My roof was totaled along with most of the people in my community when we had two back-to-back hail storms. Right after the last one, I walked out and a 91-year old lab scientist, Harley Hanke, was across the road and I said ‘Harley, have you ever seen anything like this before? He shook his head and essentially said he didn’t know what is going on here. His mind is sharp as a tack. We’ve seen hail events, now what we’re seeing now is that when the rain comes, it comes in larger rain events. On a more personal level, the town in Northeast Wisconsin that my mom and I both played in as we were growing up just had an unprecedented water event, and a relative of ours was swept away and killed in that flash flood.”
Goodnough’s connection with the outdoors extends beyond harnessing renewable energy or weathering hail storms. He is proud to be the Senior Patrol Leader for his son’s Boy Scout troop, but laments the outdoor activities of his childhood are changing. “I’m not sure I’m going to get cross-country skis for my son because the winter just really isn’t there. The way my son will experience Minnesota isn’t going to be the same way I experienced it as a kid.”
Read the profiles of an Itasca County participant and a Winona County participant, or go back to the Rural Climate Dialogues.