Conference & Event Listings

How do we provide sustainable fuel, food, fiber and fresh water to a global population of 9 billion people in our lifetime? That’s one of the critical issues we’ll explore during E3 2009. New this year, the conference features a lunchtime panel discussion with national experts, track sessions focused on the big questions of the 21st century, and a series of “Green on the Ground” workshops.

Hosted annually by the University of Minnesota’s Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment, a signature program of the Institute on the Environment, the E3 conference showcases current technologies, environmental benefits and market opportunities in renewable energy. Each November, scientists, movers and shakers, and policymakers from across the Midwest and beyond join together to share knowledge and discoveries.

Stay tuned to our Web site, www.iree.umn.edu/e3  for the latest details on E3 2009, including announcements of our keynote speakers and track session line-up. Don’t miss the Midwest’s premier energy, economic and environmental conference!

Page Lambert features The Writer magazine in a one-day seminar on Saturday, November 21, at beautiful Mt. Vernon Country Club

Where Inner and Outer Meet: the Art of the Personal Essay

Working on a memoir?  A human interest story?  Posting a new blog entry?  Exploring Self and Place?  Self and the World?  At the heart of all of these is THE PERSONAL ESSAY.

Using Page’s Off the Cuff essay featured in the November issue of THE WRITER magazine as a springboard, this hands-on workshop will delve into the mysteries of constructing the personal essay or memoir chapter.  We will explore how to gracefully dance between the landscape of the heart and the landscape of the outer world so that our words become a gift to the reader, rather than a burden.  How much is too much to share?  How do we find the narrative thread that connects the wisdom we’ve gleaned from a personal experience, to that larger universal question?  How does the willingness to be outwardly vulnerable lead to deeper inner strength?  How do we weave “all those trailing ends” into a theme-based essay?  How can we attract an editor’s eye?

WHEN: Saturday, November 21, 2009, 8:30 am to 4:00 pm.  WHERE: Mt. Vernon Country Club, Golden, Colorado.  COST: $85.00 before November 1^st, $95 after November 1st, includes copy of THE WRITER magazine, continental breakfast, catered luncheon.  OPTIONAL: guided hike on Mt. Vernon’s beautiful private mountain trails following the workshop. TO REGISTER: email page@pagelambert.com or phone (303) 842-7360. Limited to 14 participants.  The last Mt. Vernon Seminar sold out. Pre-registration is required.

Page Lambert: Connecting People with Nature, and Writers with Words

Author of the memoir In Search of Kinship and other works, Page has presented over 150 workshops and readings in the U.S. and B.C.  In 2006, her River Writing Journeys for Women were featured in Oprah’s O magazine as “One of the top six great all-girl getaways the Year.”

December 1 and 2, be part of a bioeconomy conference on the University of Minnesota campus. Agricultural producers, landowners, community and business leaders, citizens and students interested in economic development and biorenewables are encouraged to attend and identify ways they can participate in agriculturally-based and forest-based solutions to the global climate change and energy supply issues facing Minnesota.

Growing the Bioeconomy: Solutions for Sustainability
December 1 and 2, 2009
University of Minnesota Continuing Education and Conference Center

On December 1, you’ll be part of a virtual conference hosted by 12 Midwest universities. You’ll get a big picture overview of the issues through broadcast viewing and a live panel discussion. Speakers include:

• U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
• U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu
• Renowned biochar and climate change expert Dr. James E. Lovelock

December 2 is all about Minnesota. We’ll focus on local success stories, getting your questions answered, and giving you information you can put to use right away. Topics include:

• Biorenewable feedstocks
• Conversion technologies
• Anaerobic digestion
• Biomass utilization

Cost is $50 per day, $85 for both days.

Details and registration at extension.umn.edu/biorenewables.

Hosted by University of Minnesota Extension and the University of Minnesota Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.

This conference will explore and evaluate potential and existing Native American Renewable Energy Projects and discuss the development of energy sufficiency, economic growth and employment in Indian Country.  This event will feature panel topics that will:

-       discuss federal energy policy and government initiatives

-       explore different financing options

-       explain risks and obstacles that could arise in developing renewable energy projects

TOPICS FOR THE DAY: Plant growth, timing and duration of grazing, range nutrition and animal behavior, designing the grazing strategy and riparian management, fencing techniques, grazing management tools and techniques, monitoring and the grazing response index, and tying it all together.

Cost is $30 per person and includes a resource notebook and lunch. Two individuals from the same ranch can register for $50 per ranch but must share one resource notebook.

Range Management School provides the best available science and information about on-the-ground application for the care and management of rangelands. Please join us!

Pre-registration is required.

The "Cleaning Stars" program, offered through Lyfstar,Inc, is a program that teaches children ages 7-14 the importance and principals of cleaning their environment, in the home or at school, using a non-toxic, biodegradable cleaner especially designed for them. 

During the two hour program children will learn how to properly clean to reduce flu virus and bacteria transmission. 

At the end of the program Children will be able to demonstrate how, and why it is important, to properly clean counters, sinks, their school desks, floors, and hands.

 Each participant will receive their own "Lyfstar" multipurpose spray cleaner, "Lyfstar" dirt boxing mit, natural sink scrubber and "Cleaning Star" certificate from Lyfstar,Inc. All the tools needed to start a "Cleaning Star" program at home to help busy parents!

*The program will be taught by Michelle Shewchuk, BsN, CEO,President of Lyfstar,Inc and former Registered Nurse with experience in Infection Control and teaching children in schools through Public Health and Community Health nursing. 

We produce the largest sustainable lifestyle event in the Northwest. Find everything green, good and sustainable in one place - Portland, Oregon. The Energy Trust Better Living Home and Garden Show. If you are looking to live a more earth friendly life, this is the festival for you. Seminars, workshops and music add to the expo. Admission is free to this show.  Contact Michael O'Loughlin for this and other trade shows.

American Indian World's Fair. An invitation to all indigenous cultures of the world to share their unique cultural expressions with indigenous peoples of other tribes and a formal request for participation by dance groups, musicians, poetic and literary artists, pow-wow folks, war mothers and veteran's societies, seventh generation youth and golden age groups, tribal tourism, art and craft vendors and tribal commercial exhibits, sponsors and volunteers are welcomed. We also send out an invitation to all four directions of the world to invite the four races of mankind, the red, the yellow, the black and the white to participate, share, experience and taste this unique event of ten thousand years of cultures, one hundred-fifty tribal nations, 10 days all at one location - Tucson, Arizona, USA. To be held on December 30, 2011 through January 9, 2012. "Thunder in the Desert 2012" will feature parades, fashion shows, birds of prey, equestrian events, pow-wows, concerts, midnight friendship dance, elder's, veterans', children's and world indigenous people's exhibition days and a lot more.