Our Climate Futures: Participatory Science on a Great Lake
Thank you for making the 2025 Our Climate Futures: Participatory Science on a Great Lake conference an incredible success! The Institute on the Environment - Duluth's annual conference is dedicated to connecting the University of Minnesota - Duluth campus with our community, and creating a space for people and ideas to flourish. Our 2025 conference brought scientists, natural resource professionals, and communities together February 3rd and 4th to share experiences and make new connections. Passionate community members came from around Minnesota and the region to learn about the latest practices, ideas, and strategies surrounding participatory science and community engagement from the region’s leading experts, change agents, and innovators. View the 2025 program here.
Business Opportunities & Solutions Showcase
Businesses were invited to join IonE@UMD and the Labovitz School of Business Economics at UMD for a showcase featuring student research projects revealing business solutions and opportunities that stem from engaging the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
This event took place in the Kirby Ballroom, Kirby Student Center at UMD (1120 Kirby Drive, Duluth, MN 55812) on Tuesday, December 10th from 4:30pm to 5:45pm with a drop-in format.
Net-Zero House Tour!
Students, staff, and faculty joined IonE for a tour of the first net-zero house in Duluth built by Green New Deal Housing! This event had two tour dates and times in Duluth. Learn more about the net-zero house tour.
Sharing Our Stories
IonE Affiliates were able to connect and discuss sharing sustainability stories and what sustainability means to them on November 20th 11:30-1:30 at Bagley Outdoor Classroom.
Hawk Ridge Fall Migration
October 15th, we held the "eyes on the skies" program at Hawk Ridge!
Starry Night Skies
More than 80% of the world’s population lives under light-polluted skies. Light pollution can negatively impact wildlife and ecosystems, human health, and more. In April of 2024, over 60 people attended the UMD Institute on the Environment showing of the documentary Northern Nights, Starry Skies, a visually stunning celebration of our spectacular starry skies… held in the Marshall W. Alworth Planetarium.
UMD Energy Plant Tour
IonE and the Sustainability Office arranged to have Mechanical & Electrical Operations/Engineering Manager John Sawyer lead two tours of the UMD Energy Plant in February of 2024. Over 20 students from the Colleges of Science and Engineering and Life Sciences were able to learn about the heating and cooling systems which use 45% of UMD’s greenhouse gas emissions and how, as individuals, they can lower their impact. According to Energy Star, the average commercial building wastes 30% of the energy it consumes! Students also learned how to cut emissions at home, an important piece of the solution, as homes and commercial buildings account for nearly 40% of the energy consumption in the US.
Climate Grief Discussion
The UMD Institute on the Environment and UMD Program in Writing Studies co-hosted, Discussing Climate Change; What is lost, What is left, What is possible, with authors Katya Gordon and Shawna Weaver in November of 2023. Weaver’s new book, Climate Grief: From Coping to Resilience and Action, explores the powerful emotions we feel as the climate changes and how that affects our ability to respond. Gordon, winner of the University of Minnesota Climate Communication Award for 2022, is an educator, radio show host, and author of Climate Change Musings and Studies from Lake Superior’s North Shore. Together they led an impactful conversion about climate change, climate grief and climate action.
