Earth Day is only less than a month away, so I decided to go out on the great World Wide Web and see what’s up in the Twin Cities.  But then I found so much, I decided to only do a selection!  However, I did take a lot of my ideas from this article about 2008 metro Earth Day events.  My thinking was that a lot of them are annual events, and they do seem to be.

And, all events are FREE!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

St. Thomas Green Team Mississippi River Cleanup

Saturday, April 18, 2009

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Help clean up the East banks of the Mississippi River.  Meet at the WWI Memorial at Summit Ave. and Mississippi River Blvd. in St. Paul.  More information here (it’s kind of in the middle).

2009 Minneapolis Earth Day Watershed Cleanup

Saturday, April 18

9:30 a.m. – noon

Sites all around Minneapolis will host a variety of events.  In 2008 people removed 22,500+ pounds of trash from Minneapolis waterways!  Two of the sites on the Mississippi are being run by Friends of the Mississippi River.

Midtown Global Market Earth Day

Saturday, April 18, 2009

11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

How to enact sustainable changes in your everyday life.  Lots of food things and prizes.

Watergate Marina Adopt-A-River Cleanup

Saturday, April 18, 2009

No time indicated.

Watergate Marina is in Crosby Farm Park in St. Paul.  No time is indicated for the cleanup but see the webpage.

Dodge Nature Center Earth Day Buckthorn Pull

Saturday, April 18, 2009

All Day

All ages welcome.

Other dates

Wishes for the Sky

Harriet Island

Sunday, April 19, 2009

10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Write a wish on a kite to be flown in the sky.  A public art event to celebrate Earth Day.

Como Park Go Green for Gorillas – Party for the Planet

Como Park, St. Paul

April 22, 25-26

Learn ways to protect gorillas and participate in a Party for the Planet.

Friends of the Mississippi River Earth Day Garlic Mustard Pull

Saturday, April 25, 2009

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Help pull invasive garlic mustard at a section of the Mississippi in Inver Grove Heights.  Free, but pre-registration required.  All event details provided upon registration.

The library is the ultimate! When I lived in Mexico, I came to appreciate that libraries are a privilege and not everyone just has one. We all know there are books, but you can also get movies, magazines, online learning, programs, and probably more I don’t even know about. It is the pinnacle of frugal and green: lots of people sharing materials, rather than all buying copies – and all for free! How much more frugal can you get!?

I love the convenience: At the St. Paul Public Library (I’m sure at all of them, actually), once you have a card, you can search the whole catalog online and make online requests to pick up at the branch of your choice. I always choose Sun Ray so I can stop by on the way home from work, saving gas.

On top of that, there are a ton of services. One that is close to my heart is the online Rosetta Stone language learning access for patrons of SPPL. Using your card, you can access this service to learn Mandarin, English, French, Spanish, or Russian.

There is also the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM), which I have not played around with but looks awesome. Especially for kids, there is a ton of info here, and any resident of Minnesota can use it. As a teacher this is going in my mental file.

SPPL also offers a ton of free programming for people of all ages. I personally think the most fun one looks like PawPals, where kids read with “dog and human teams.”

Of course, you may be thinking, “Well, it seems free, but the money has to come from somewhere.” If you want to do your part, you can become a member of The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. I just joined recently, feeling like since I am able to pay something, I should. If there’s a moment where I can’t, I’ll be overjoyed that this rich intellectual service is free for all.

What do you love about your library?

I just found this site called Community Connection Calendar. It has a good number of mostly free different kinds of events happening in the Cities. Browsing the calendar, it looks like as of today, the majority are politically-oriented, but some are related to the arts, literature, parenting, etc. This looks like it could become a really powerful tool for sharing events – and a neat way to learn something new – for FREE

Twin Cities Free Market is a kick-butt website run by Eureka Recycling. It’s like virtual classified ads of free stuff (both wanted and available). I have obtained a USB cable, beads for crafting, and other craft supplies on the Free Market. My sister even got a tuba! There is some good stuff on the Free Market ranging from baby stuff to furniture to home renovation materials.

I think it is frugal to use both features. It’s kind of obvious how getting free stuff is frugal, but not so much how giving it away can be. My boyfriend has unloaded doors, a broken motor, shelving, and a broken camp stove on the Free Market. All the people knew these things were broken and wanted them so they could fix them and use them. Now, if he’d just hauled them to the dump, he would have used his gas getting there and paid a dump fee. Even if he’d just left them out by his garbage, he may have been charged by his hauler. So this was a perfect for both parties, and it was kind to the Earth!

Here’s how you use it:

1. Go to Twin Cities Free Market.

2. Click on “View Listings.” You will probably have to register in order to view listings. They track their users this way, my guess is for funding reasons. So have no fear! Register and search on!

3. Use the search features to narrow your results, or browse everything! There is all kinds of stuff on here! If you want something, contact the lister according to their directions. Pay close attention to the email addresses. Some people insert REMOVEME or spell out the “at” in order to avoid junk, and you will need to make it into a proper e-mail address in order to reach the person.

4. If you are going to list something to give away on the Free Market, I can share how I prefer to do it. First of all, don’t be surprised if you have no shows. Almost every time I list something, there are no shows. This kind of amazes me, because the items are free. I guess on the other hand, it’s understandable that if people haven’t paid for something, they feel little commitment to it. Don’t let that stop you, though! Lots of people do show up and are glad to have the items you are listing.

In the body of the listing itself, I prefer to specify the situation in which I will return e-mails. “If being offered the item” is what I usually say, so people aren’t left wondering. Don’t feel like you have to respond to the first person. You may want something gone right now, or you may want to see what people want it for. (People WILL tell you, whether or not you want to know!) For example, I once listed three formal dresses that needed some cleaning/repair. I gave them to a woman for her young daughter’s dress-up box, but then another mother e-mailed me that her daughter had won a city Queen or Princess title, would be in a ton of parades, and the dresses were in her size. She would have used them much more than in the dress-up box. Of course, you can’t control what happens to your stuff after it’s gone, but I learned from that one to just wait for a few messages to see what’s up.

Another thing I do is never commit to sticking around so someone can pick something up from me. Life happens and people are delayed or don’t show. What I do is put the items, well packaged, outside my house. I used to put them on the porch and once someone took something else, too! So now I just say “The xxx will be hanging from the mailbox in a Target bag after 6:00 on Friday. Please pick up within 24 hours or I will offer it to someone else.” I also always put it in the original ad if I expect someone to come right away. I usually say within 24 or 48 hours.

When you have given away the item, go back to the site and click on “Edit Listings.” Indicate what happened, save, and it will disappear from the listings. Otherwise people will continue to contact you, and I’m sure it’s valuable to Eureka to have accurate information about the effectiveness of the service.

Happy Free Marketing!