Getting green in Coon Rapids

Ready for a spring greening?

The Coon Rapids Sustainability Commission is hosting its second annual Green Expo at City Hall at the end of the month.

The April 30 program grew out of the work done by the commission -- also in its second year -- to spread the word about living within a smaller environmental footprint. Last year's event drew as many as 800 people. This year, there will be at least 50 exhibitors, and the event will be spread out all over the City Hall building.

Coon Rapids residents of the city already are enthusiastic recyclers, giving the city a 75 percent participation rate, said Recycling Coordinator Colleen Sinclair.

"That's good, statewide, but as a community it could be so much better," she said, adding that recycling is only a start. "The purpose of the Expo is to try to expand that beyond your recycling bin to what you do every day in your life."

The Expo was modeled after the much larger Living Green Expo that comes every year to Minneapolis. Sinclair said the commission found that people were interested in learning more, but wanted to find the information and products they need closer to home.

"Basically, it's our northern suburban version of the Living Green Expo," she said. "It's going to be a very similar event. It's just kind of focused more on our neighborhood, where theirs is geared more toward Minneapolis."

For example, an organization called KidWind will offer a hands-on activity to help kids build wind turbines. Coon Rapids doesn't make use of wind power right now, but it's a great opportunity to introduce the concept of a renewable energy source, Sinclair said.

On the city side, workers for the forestry department will be on hand to give advice about tree-trimming and to talk up the city's mulch program, a greener alternative to purchasing mulch at the garden store.

Participants can learn about the local food movement, solar panels, composting, green landscaping, community gardening, alternative transportation and much more.

One of the goals is to get people to think differently about the things they do every day. How can they shop more sustainably? Cook? Clean? Get to work? Use cosmetics and other personal products? Eat and drink?

Sometimes it's just a matter of shopping at a local, environmentally aware business, or of tweaking what people already do in their daily lives.