The 18 community panelists identified the following actions individuals can take to help address challenges and realize opportunities.
- Take personal responsibility: Ensure home, business, and farm practices that protect both the quantity and quality of our waters.
- Let your voice be heard: Advocate for a balanced approach to land and water management, one that ensures water equality.
- Go fishing! Money from trout stamp sales is critical for mitigation and management.
- Support sustainable agriculture and land use practices.
- Identify best available energy technologies: CERTS can help explore projects that would work for your farm or business and provide you with one-on-one assistance in developing a project. Explore the Clean Energy Project Builder. Have your home assessed for energy best practices through an energy audit.
- Find financing/funding for clean energy projects: Options include pursuing Property-Assessed Clean Energy Financing (PACE) option. PACE provides a loan up-front, with repayment occurring over anywhere from 5-20 years on property taxes. You can also push your community to participate in the Guaranteed Energy Savings Program (GESP).
- Support policy in Minnesota that allows insurances companies to create high-risk insurance pools to spread risk evenly among policyholders who make multiple weather-related claims within a short period of time.
- Reduce fraud and curtail the rising cost of damage repairs in insurance claims by developing relationships with local, trusted contractors.
- Through “Renewable Energy for Greater Minnesota,” Clean Energy Resources Teams (CERTs) can help explore projects that would work for your farm or business, identify potential funding and financing options, and provide you with one-on-one assistance on developing a project.
- Consider utilizing the Property-Assessed Clean Energy Financing (PACE) option. PACE provides a loan up-front, with repayment occurring over anywhere from 5-20 years on property taxes. This eliminates much of initial cost burden, and allows a more manageable payment plan for many participants.
- Take personal responsibility by assessing your land and practices; getting technical and financial assistance if needed; and ensuring home and business use protects both the quantity and quality of our waters.
- Encouraging balanced planting in urban and rural environments, promoting crop diversity, and using forages instead of or in addition to corn and soybeans reduces runoff.
- Buffer strips could significantly improve water quality and remove sediment from Minnesota water.
- These practices could help reduce the spread of diseases, mold, and other pollutants through runoff, floods, and other extreme weather events.
- Support state policies that promote healthy land use and natural resource management, support investment in infrastructure improvements, and advocate for land use policies that strengthen water quality.
- Assess your private land and practices and implement agricultural best management practices/perennials where needed.
Back to learning about the Winona County Climate Dialogue!