Secrets of the City

Are we supposed to want to be high on this list? I’d rather focus on being in the top 10 states for econmic growth — that is the green we should be focusing on.

It seems that carbon foot print per capita seems to have a very heavy influence on the ranking. Of course large states were people drive long distances and have to heat 6 months of the year are going to rank low on this list.

The ideal state for this would be a temperate state near water to regulate temps, very small in area to reduce driving and with little to no manufacturing.

Lists like this are about as enlightening as election polls 12 months before the election.

Fifteenth isn’t bad.

I’d rather focus on being in the top 10 states for econmic growth — that is the green we should be focusing on.

Why do you assume that we can’t have both? In fact, why wouldn’t you consider that going green will drive Minnesota’s economy, not hinder it?

I grew up in Wahpeton and can confirm that it is quite clean and fresh. Obviously, though, they didn’t take any air quality samples when the beet plant was running at full capacity. There’s probably no category for “stench of giant, fermenting tubers”. We lived ten miles out of town and if the wind was right, it would get pretty rank.

“Why do you assume that we can’t have both? In fact, why wouldn’t you consider that going green will drive Minnesota’s economy, not hinder it?”

True. The solar energy industry alone is projected to create several million jobs in this country alone.

Unfortunately, the US is lagging far behind other nations.

The French lead in next generation nuclear technologies, the Dutch lead in Wind, and the Germans have a formidable lead in Solar.

What about Breckenridge? Does Breckenridge have clean air, or does it stop at the MN state line?

Fygar, I lived in Breck as a young sprite, and I remember sugar beet time as my dad drove a sugar beet truck for extra cash. He took me and my brother with him once, and I will NEVER forget the smell of that processing plant. Woo-wee.

I, too, have been downwind of a sugar beet processing plant, and have dodged beets on county roads after “the lift.” If I owned any Crystal Sugar stock (I don’t), I would say that it smelt like money. Truth is, it smells like (fill in the blank).

It’s enough to make a fellow switch to artificial sweeteners.

I love the smell of burning soybeans. And hot tar in the summer. Those are two of my favorite smells.

And you won’t own any stock in Crystal Sugar, unless you become a beet farmer. Crystal is a co-op.

Lucky for me, growing up in Fargo, the prevailing winds tended to take the odor the other direction. But there are days when it gets pretty bad.

If I read “On The Road” while in the tractor cab, would that make me a Beat Farmer?

Speaking of the road, we will soon have special reserved parking spaces at ALAMN for alternative fuel vehicles and gasoline-electric hybrids.

Oddly, no bike rake. Our bike riders take them indoors.

Even so, one was stolen last month when construction worker propped the doors open. The nerve of thieves is, well, unnerving.

Josie:

Funny, my dad would take a few weeks vacation every year and drive truck, too. He loved runnin’ the graveyard shift. Something about how goofy everybody got around 3 or 4 am cracked him up daily.

I friend of the family was pretty high up at the plant and, as kids, we got a pretty detailed tour one afternoon. I just remember the smell and the noise. And lots of huge stainless tanks.

As for Breck not being as clean as the ND side, I dunno. Maybe it was that gnarly Wilkin County Fair that tipped you guys into the “unclean”.

Also, since when did Wahpeton become a suburb of Fargo?

“Also, since when did Wahpeton become a suburb of Fargo?”

About 2 years ago.

As for Breck not being as clean as the ND side, I dunno. Maybe it was that gnarly Wilkin County Fair that tipped you guys into the “unclean”.

Breckenridge has the same problem Moorhead has. Why live or locate a business there, when you can do the same thing across the river, and you’re taxed less?

Actually, Moorhead is doing pretty well.

Plus, Wahpeton has a movie theater.

Or at least it did in 1987.

Fargo’s problem is tht it’s about a 2miles wide, and 20 miles long.

Washington State #3? Well, sure, the numbers are skewed, of course. All the incredibly wealthy Microsoft clan moved in there, and they hire poor people in California to fart for them.

I love the smell of burning soybeans. And hot tar in the summer. Those are two of my favorite smells.

I love the smell of tuna.

Went to school in Grand Forks. That sugar beet plant smell is unbelievably bad.

I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Y’know, once we had a hail bomb….12 hours….and when it was all over I walked up. We didn’t find one of them, not one stinking dink body. The smell, y’know that gasoline smell, that whole hell.

Smells like…….. Victory.

On second thought, maybe it wasn’t the sugar beet plant. Maybe is was the dead body buried on campus.

To those who don’t read the Pioneer Press (and why not?), here’s an LTE “Consider the true cost of oil, too” from ALAMN’s clean air guru, Tim Gerlach.

Check out the US Carbon Footprint Map, an interactive United States Carbon Footprint Map, illustrating Greenest States to Cities. This site has all sorts of stats on individual State & City energy consumptions, demographics and much more down to your local US City level…

http://www.eredux.com/states/