#10 Minneapolis: Clean Air, Big Plans

Minneapolis charms residents and visitors alike with its graceful tree-lined parkways, lakes, multiethnic restaurants, and vibrant arts and music scene. Then there's the winter--endless days of numb fingers, gray sludge corroding your car and soaking your shoes, and high energy bills. In recent years, though, there hasn't been enough snow to get a good cross-country ski race going. During the winter of 2005-2006, unprecedented numbers of ice fishers' cars fell through the ice on city lakes.

Minneapolitans are concerned about the warming winters, and the city is doing its part to lower its energy impact: In 1999, Minneapolis became one of the first US cities to adopt sustainability indicators.

Healthy Living

Can you canoe? If so, the Chain of Lakes lets you cruise through channels to several city lakes, which are also popular swimming holes. All year round, people throng Minneapolis's parks. Cyclists and rollerbladers have over 80 miles of trails to choose from, and in the winter, the parks are favorite spots for sliding, cross-country skiing, and ice skating.

Enjoying the outdoors is easier when the air is clean, as it is in Minneapolis (#5). You might want to think twice (and install a good carbon filter) before drinking the tap water, though. The water, from the Mississippi, not only smells an awful lot like chlorine, but when last tested contained 21 contaminants, 5 of which were over the EPA limit (#38).

Plants and gardens thrive in the city. Minneapolis has 100 community gardens and counting. These gardens aren't just a fun hobby. According to Lori Olson of the city's Environmental Department, "The Youth Farm and Market Project . . . plays an important role in nurturing relationships between urban youth and the earth around them by growing, cooking, eating, and selling healthy food." All but one of Minneapolis's farmers markets accept WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) vouchers, enabling more residents to enjoy the bounty of this rich farming region.

Getting Around

With an impressive network of bicycle commuter trails, Minneapolis ranks #2 in bike commuting, with 2.3 percent pedaling to work. The city ranks #18 in overall public transportation use and healthy commuting (carpooling, biking, and walking).

Likewise, more people drove alone to work in 2004 (65%) than in 2000 (62%). Countering this trend is a light rail system launched in 2005. Ridership has far exceeded expectations and should help get increasing numbers of commuters out of their cars, which will help reduce energy consumption.

Minneapolis is one of 17 business districts in the country to earn the EPA's "Best Workplaces for Commuters" seal for providing carpool coordination and transit subsidies to employers. Residents can also participate in local carshare programs. Minneapolis could further benefit by greening its fleet of city vehicles, less than 5 percent of which currently run on alternative fuels.

Economic Factors

Not only do community gardens and farmers markets make for healthier people, they benefit the local economy as well. Minneapolis opened the Midtown Global Market in 2006 to promote ethnically diverse food and discourage shopping at "big box" stores.

Speaking of big boxes, Minneapolis invented the mall, and the country's largest, the Mall of America, is the most widely visited landmark in the Twin Cities area. However, many residents are fed up with driving through congested streets to spend their dollars at chain stores that sap dollars from the local economy. A few communities, including the Linden Hills neighborhood, have organized campaigns to support local businesses. The city as a whole provides links to green businesses through the Twin Cities Green Guide.

Minneapolis leads the Midwest in renewable energy, with 4 percent of its total electricity mix. Wind is a growing industry, along with solar and biomass. By 2008, the city pledges to increase its renewable energy use to 10 percent. The city lags behind others in green building--to date, it has no LEED certified buildings, although some public buildings conform to less stringent state green building guidelines.

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