Hudson Hot Air Affair, the premier winter ballooning event and winter festival in the Midwest, has added virtual and drive-thru events for 2021. Typically it’s been held in January so it’s a little later this year and of course as expected, it comes with some changes for 2021. You can find the full list of changes on their website linked below, as well as the planned schedule of events.
Head to Hudson, Wisconsin along the beautiful St. Croix River for Hudson Hot Air Affair, the premier winter ballooning event and winter festival in the Midwest. This family friendly 2021 event will be a hybrid, including activities such as:
Virtual programing with balloons in the air,
An evening drive through balloon glow and candlestick event and lots of fun.
Some of the in-person events will not be possible, so they are working on creating virtual versions of these events. Some of the events will be presented in a different format, like the balloon glow and candlestick as a drive-thru event.
The complete schedule of events can be found here on their website. The weather can and many times does affect the schedule for balloons so make sure to check their website for updates.
The Hot Air Affair usually attracts about 30 to 35 balloons; however, we expect about half that many will be able to participate with private pop-up launches around Hudson, weather permitting. While there won’t be any public launch field access, there will be balloons in the air.
George Floyd Square: Jay Webb is a caretaker and organizer who worked on creating the garden around the “Black Power” fist sculpture at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Webb thinks this place has had a positive impact on more than just this corner of the city. He said it’s become a place of community action and healing, which is having a ripple effect on the world with demonstrations and safe spaces popping up everywhere you can think of. “We created our space and our vibration here for Minneapolis. Now what happened after they saw how we responded. What did other cities do?” he said. “They started giving as well. They responded the same way.” This is part of a monthlong series looking at how the community has transformed the site of George Floyd’s killing and at the people behind its transformation. It is the culmination of reporting over several months, and a partnership with South High School to engage neighborhood youth in telling their community’s story. Read more at MPRNews.org.
Keep The North Cold isn’t a slogan – it’s our mission as a company, and a commitment we make to our customers. So we created the world’s first Climate Positive outdoor apparel company to help protect the very thing our products are designed to celebrate.
Climate Positive means taking responsibility for our environmental impact and doing more good than harm. It’s about holding ourselves accountable to the planet – and to you – and making sure that together, we are contributing to climate solutions.
To have a net-positive impact on the environment, we must make sure our investments in creating a sustainable future outweigh our carbon footprint and we use a simple three-step formula to do it:
Each year, we carefully measure our full carbon footprint as a company, from raw materials to production and shipping.
We use the Social Cost of Carbon to convert our carbon footprint into a dollar amount.
We invest 110% of our annual climate cost in organizations working to create solutions to the climate crisis across three key areas: Education, Activation, and Innovation.
We want you to hold us accountable, too. This report is an annual opportunity for us to share our progress, as well as our challenges, and give you an opportunity to check our math.
Carbon Reductions From Previous Year
Achieving climate positive impact starts with making our footprint as small as possible. This year, we worked to further reduce our carbon footprint on two main fronts: finished goods transportation and sourcing sustainable materials.
1. Sea Shipping
The second biggest contributor to our carbon footprint in 2020 was the transportation of finished products. Last year, to reduce transport emissions, we shipped our parkas from their manufacturing facility by sea instead of air. This increased our lead time, but by doing so, we reduced emissions by 24%.
2. 100% Recycled Lining
Another step we took to further decrease our overall emissions was a switch from a bluesign® certified taffeta material to 100% recycled nylon for the lining of The Winter Parka. This improvement means our parka is made almost entirely of recycled materials.
Carbon Footprint
In 2020, we emitted 112.7 tonnes of carbon. Here is a breakdown of those emissions by source:
Social Cost of Carbon
Purchasing carbon credits is a great place to start for any business that wants to offset their carbon footprint, but they don’t capture the full amount of a company’s social and environmental impact. Using the social cost of carbon as our benchmark comes at a greater expense to our business, but we believe it’s the right number to use for true climate accountability.
To make good on our promise to do more good than harm, we use the social cost of carbon – versus just the cost of carbon offsets alone – as the source of truth for our offsetting investments. The social cost of a metric ton of emitted carbon incorporates the human cost of climate change: extreme weather, sea level rise, food insecurity, and impact on health. When you add up those factors, the result is more than four times the average cost of a carbon credit.
Grantees
We center our giving on the three key areas where we see the best opportunity to fulfill our mission to Keep The North Cold and ensure a just transition to a sustainable future:
Education — We need to have fact-based conversations about climate change that move us beyond divisive politics to collective action
Activation — We need to build powerful, diverse coalitions and invest in frontline leadership
Innovation — We need equitable climate solutions at scale that quickly move us toward a carbon-neutral economy
We are already feeling the impact of climate change, and it disproportionately affects communities of color and people experiencing poverty. And as we enter the final decade of opportunity to act, our investments reflect that urgency. We’re proud to support the scientists, activists, artists, and educators who are making the transformative impact this challenge requires.
Climate Central
Climate Central is an independent group of scientists and communicators who research and report the facts about our changing climate and how it affects people’s lives. Climate Central uses science, big data, and technology to generate thousands of local storylines and compelling visuals that make climate change personal and show what can be done about it.
Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy
Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy is a nationally connected and trusted nonprofit dedicated to climate literacy, climate change education, youth leadership and community engagement for innovative climate change solutions. Climate Generation’s mission is to empower individuals and their communities to engage in solutions to climate change.
Climate Justice Alliance
The Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) formed in 2013 to create a new center of gravity in the climate movement by uniting frontline communities and organizations into a formidable force. Their translocal organizing strategy and mobilizing capacity is building a just transition away from extractive systems of production, consumption and political oppression, and towards resilient, regenerative and equitable economies.
Fresh Energy
Fresh Energy’s mission is to shape and drive bold policy solutions to achieve equitable carbon-neutral economies. They are working toward a vision of a just, prosperous, and resilient future powered by a shared commitment to a carbon-neutral economy.
MAD
MAD inspires and empowers cooks, servers, and eaters to create sustainable change. From luminaries in the field to young apprentices, MAD is connecting individuals and equipping them to make a difference in their restaurants and the world. The MAD Academy is designed to give students the expertise, practical tools, and inspiration they need to enhance their professional lives and actively engage in positive change.
MN350
MN350 unites Minnesotans as part of a global movement to end the pollution damaging our climate, speed the transition to clean energy, and create a just and healthy future for all. They are working to secure the clean air, clean water, stable climate, and equitable future that our children and grandchildren deserve.
Project Drawdown
Founded in 2014, Project Drawdown is a nonprofit organization that seeks to help the world reach “drawdown” – the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere stop climbing and start to steadily decline. Project Drawdown is helping the world stop global warming by achieving drawdown as quickly, safely, and equitably as possible.
Protect our Winters
Founded in 2007 by professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones, POW is a community of athletes, scientists, creatives, and business leaders advancing non-partisan policies that protect our world today and for future generations.
Rocky Mountain Institute
RMI engages businesses, communities, institutions, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. RMI employs rigorous research, analysis, and whole-systems expertise to develop breakthrough insights. They then convene and collaborate with diverse partners – business, government, academic, nonprofit, philanthropic, and military – to accelerate and scale solutions.
Sunrise Movement
Sunrise Movement Education Fund supports the education and awareness efforts of the Sunrise movement’s plan to make climate change an urgent priority across America and expose the corruption of fossil fuel executives on our politics.
“Get Out The Vote” 2020 Campaign and Grantees
Creating a more just future for people and the planet requires collective action, and it requires prioritizing climate at the ballot box. In 2020, we made a special round of grants focused on organizations helping get out the vote.
The grants supported the important work of these organizations:
Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy
Protect our Winters
Conservation Minnesota
Honor the Earth
MN350
We already know what we have to do to avoid the worst catastrophic impacts of climate change.
We believe that we can get there through shared resources and resilience, and remain optimistic about our collective ability to overcome adversity and solve big problems. Thank you for your continued support and helping us to Keep The North Cold for generations to come.
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To learn more about how we calculated our impact over the past year, you can find our 2020 Greenhouse Gas Footprinting Methodology and Disclosure Report here. You’ll find the details and data that inform and validate our Climate Positive business model. And if you have any questions, please just let us know – we’re always available at service@askovfinlayson.com (and we love this stuff).
The late John Tester’s book, “Minnesota’s Natural Heritage,” will be launched as an updated second edition in January 2021. The second edition of “Minnesota’s Natural Heritage” introduces readers to the major ecosystems that give our state its rich and varied character and have been profoundly altered in the twenty-five years since the book’s first edition. In an interview with the Star Tribune, the authors talk about their connections to Tester and why the new edition of “Minnesota’s Natural Heritage” is due. Visit the link to read more and join us on January 21 for a virtual book launch with a conversation exploring this definitive work on Minnesota’s natural history and ecology!
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The story of Minnesota’s natural landscape, reaching back to the time of the glaciers, covers at least 12,000 years. Yet even against that vast expanse, recent decades have significantly transformed the natural world that is Minnesota’s greatest resource. In the second edition of Minnesota’s Natural Heritage, readers are introduced to these ecosystems—the lakes and rivers, forests and prairies, farmlands and wetlands—and how they have come to be, how they function, and how they have changed so rapidly and dramatically in recent years. Full-color illustrations document the state’s striking natural beauty in all its vigor and fragility, while maps, drawings, diagrams, and graphs amplify points of historical, ecological, and geological interest.
The new Bell Museum brings together science, art, and the environment with a unique Minnesota perspective. Our new home features a digital planetarium, high-tech exhibits, our famous wildlife dioramas, outdoor learning experiences and more.
The new facility is expected to triple the number of annual visitors—and we hope you’re one of them. If you love to explore and discover, you’ll love the Bell Museum more than ever before!
Our state-of-the-art planetarium takes you on amazing journeys from the far reaches of the cosmos to deep inside the human brain. Learn more about our dome and other space programs.
The permanent galleries—which include our world renowned wildlife dioramas—span space and time, from the origins of the universe, through the diversification of life on Earth, to Minnesota’s own unique habitats. Also, learn about U of M researchers who are working to create a better future for our evolving world.
The Bell Museum created the first natural history museum discovery room in the world, and we are proud to carry that tradition on in the new Touch & See Lab where all ages can actively learn through observation and sensory engagement.
The learning continues outside with a second floor green roof and observation deck, and sustainable landscaping with native plants, geology exploration area, solar station, and other highlights on the ground floor.
As the state’s natural history museum, the Bell Museum seeks to ignite curiosity and wonder, explore our connections to nature and the universe, and create a better future for our evolving world. Our goal is to advance understandings of the natural world that will create a sustainable future.
These understandings include the traditional knowledge systems of indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants and caretakers of the land. These systems capture histories, relationships, and ecological expertise. To advance our mission, we rely on and share some aspects of indigenous knowledge systems and understandings of the land. We do this in consultation with indigenous peoples.
The Bell Museum sits on the traditional and treaty land of the Dakota people who, along with the Ojibwe people, are the indigenous peoples of the land now called Minnesota. In recognition of this fact, and to honor the Dakota people for their care of and knowledge of this land, we waive general museum admission for Dakota and all indigenous peoples.
Thursday, January 28 thru Sunday, February 7, 2021
Tickets are on sale NOW for @stpaulwintercarnival Drive-Thru Ice & Snow Sculpture Park on the Fairgrounds!
We’re so excited for this, and we hope to see you there!
DESCRIPTION
Combining two signature Winter Carnival events – the Ice Carving Competition and the Snow Sculpture Contest – this brand new drive-thru experience, will take place each day of the Carnival, giving you ample opportunities to enjoy the winter creations!
KING THE NEWS: The Lake Harriet “Submergents” meet at 7:55 a.m. every morning to sit in the cold lake for three minutes. They say they believe it has various health benefits.
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MINNEAPOLIS — Gone are the days of outdoor concerts at the Lake Harriet Bandshell and ice cream by the lake is now just ice. However, in Minnesota, winter and swimming aren’t mutually exclusive.
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“It’s just so cold,” Jan Rolfe said. “Then it just goes away about a minute later and we just sit in for about three minutes.”
They say you can take a Minnesotan out of the land of 10,000 lakes, but you can’t take the lake life out of a Minnesotan. Here, whether it’s the mid 30s or the mid 80s, someone’s bound to be in the water. “We’re gonna go in Lake Harriet for three minutes and just go like shoulder deep,” Harriet White said. “There’s a lot of health benefits for it.”
In fact, every morning, a group that calls themselves “submergents,” have a chill start to their day. Some in the group claim that sitting in the cold water increases their metabolism. Some say it decreases inflammation. Others also claim their mind feels clearer after a dunk.
“When I first did it it hurt so bad, I didn’t think I could go all the way in and actually after about a minute you don’t feel the pain anymore,” Rolfe said with a laugh.
“The initial 20 seconds is like really hard, but you just need to control your breathing and then it gets easier,” Harriet’s sister Sylvia White said.
Last Friday, Steve Jewell led the group into the water.
“So we’re going to walk in, walk up to our waist, drop down to our knees,” he explained to the group. “Cross your hands if you’d like. I have a timer on and we’re going to pop up at three minutes.”
Sitting there, stuck in your own thoughts and fighting time may be the hardest part of it all. Many took to closing their eyes, or just staring off into space, focused on mindfulness.
“I feel terrific, once you’re in, and you do deep breathing, you stop hyperventilating,” Jewell said. “What really happens, is your body temp takes over and it warms the water around you, so I’m not cold right now.”
And just like that, it was quite a sight. Just a handful of bobbleheads on a yet to be frozen lake. For many time is passing as normal. For others, like molasses.
When the three minutes are up, Jewell called out for others to ‘dunk your doughnut,’ meaning, dunk your head underwater if they wanted to. “The first 30 seconds were definitely the hardest,” a woman said as she is on her way out. “When he called out 30 seconds I thought he meant, 30 seconds left, but afterwards, singing for me really helps.”
So why in Lake Harriet’s name…would people do this– let alone, return each morning?
Again, for some it’s a mind thing.
“when you get out it’s just so clear in your mind,” Rolfe said.
“There’s a sense of empowerment where you can face something like the cold and overcome your mind– with your body,” Alex Freese said. “So it’s just a daily practice.”
“It’s not just crazies running in the lake, well people do that too but if you notice, there are people who swim out here–there’s some value to cold temp swimming,” Jewell said. “The water is always going to be warmer than ice, so at least 35 degrees, the duration is up to you, we don’t stay longer than three minutes.
And the most Minnesotan answer of them all–it’s just something to do, that keeps you outside even during the winter season.
Midwesterners– we love our outdoor activity and to me this is another way of extending that outdoor activity,” Jewell said.
The Lake Harriet ‘submergents’ meet each morning at 7:55 at Lake Harriet.
