Skyway Walk

Xcel Energy Box on Hennepin Avenue

Yeah, it's been hot and muggy and we are all tired of it.  I think the end is near though.  Thunderstorms are approaching and that means cooler weather will follow.  When it's been too hot to walk outside I head indoors to the Skyway.  Supposedly there are about 8 miles of walking through connecting buildings in downtown Minneapolis.  If I want an hour long walk (3miles) I will usually do the outer loop or walk from the river to the convention center and back.  http://www.skywaymyway.com/

The Skyway connections are maintained by the various building owners and they are certainly not all the same.  One can be like a sauna and the next is wonderfully air conditioned.  Hours can vary slightly too between buildings.  Last Friday I was in the Skyway just before the crazy rush of downtown workers looking for a little lunch.  The Skyways are full of food choices for folks. Since Earth Day last April I have been witnessing the downtown transition from Styrofoam take out containers to compostible containers made out of more eco-friendly materials.  I haven't done a scientific survey of this change but I watch and I notice when one business has made a change and others have not.  Sometimes I will ask a manager or business owner what their experience has been.  Eco-friendly containers cost more and some businesses pass it on to the consumer and some are sucking it up and hoping the container prices will come down soon.  Dave from Dave's Downtown in the Oracle Building says he was on board before the Earth Day mandate and is happy to be a part of this important change.   A few (no names here) who have done nothing claim that they are still using old stock (which is allowed) but I find it hard to believe that after 4 months you would still have old stock to use up.  Will they be fined when they have their yearly health inspection?  I hope so.  I also spoke with Kate from Greenfield Natural Kitchen in the Canadian Pacific Building.  She has created a great visual display over their recycling bins so the customer is not confused about what goes where.  She also gave me a tutorial on PPL plastics (who knew that you could make takeout bowls out of corn and sugar).  By the way Greenfield is also composting stuff right in the basement of their building.

Have you noticed how some plastic bottles are getting really thin?

Really there is so much to learn about recycling.  Where does our trash in Minneapolis even end up?  Do we have landfills somewhere?  The website MPLS Green answered some of those questions for me and I recommend the short video on their website.  http://mplsgreen.com/where-does-garbage-go-in-minneapolis/#how-we-8220get-rid8221-of-garbage