Events focus on environment

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Appreciating our environment and what can done to preserve it were the themes of the Riverblast festival at Riverside Park and the Green Expo at Vogel Arena Saturday.

While the one-day expo concentrated on the many steps that can be taken in improving the environment, the three-day Riverblast zeroed in enjoying Minnesota River fun, with music, canoe races, a farmers' market and rides on a pontoon boat and a 28-foot war canoe.

Both events were free, and shuttle buses were provided so that visitors could go from one to the other during the day.

In addition to learning about products, policies and procedures that help clean up and preserve the environment, the expo featured presentations on a variety of environmental issues.

Expo-goers got to look inside gasoline-electric hybrid passenger cars from Toyota and Honda. They also could get into a bus that is an ecology classroom on wheels.

They also could see advantages of composting first-hand, waste management techniques, recycling, as well as being able to pick up a free kit for testing water quality.

Meanwhile, at Riverblast they could buy produce, squash, pumpkins and more, or they could buy yard-sale items, or participate in the river walk/run, go for canoe rides or even in canoe races, or just sit and enjoy the jug-band and blues music of The Sugar Kings or the light-hearted efforts of the Ya Sure, Ya Betcha Band.

Attracting attention at the Expo were the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight, two gasoline-electric hybrids that their manufacturers are betting will be the wave of the future.

The Prius on display seats four and has an automatic transmission. The Insight seats two and has a manual transmission. However, both vehicles operate essentially the same way, which is to say somewhat different than might be expected.

Both operate on the principle that the electric motor starts the car and runs it until a certain speed is reached when the gasoline engine kicks in.

"Our Prius will average 40 to 45 miles per gallon," an owner at the expo said. "However, it takes some getting used to because when you stop at a stop sign, for example, the car quits running. As soon as you step on the gas, the electric motor kicks in, and you're off with very little sound. I have gotten up to 42 miles an hour before the gas motor kicks in."

The Prius has another unique feature. The braking action recharges the battery.

The ecology bus is owned and operated by Prairie Ecology Bus Center in Lakefield. It is designed so that it is a mobile classroom.

"When we pick up kids at their schools," said Chrystal Dunker, the center's director, "as soon as kids are in their seats, we start teaching."

Dunker said it's the only ecology bus system in the country where students are transported in it to a field site.

"With the other systems that exist, the students have to meet the bus at the field site," she explained.

"We will find if there is something we can tie in with what the schools are studying so that we can provide the real-life experience for the students," Dunker said.

The private, non-profit organization subsists on fees paid by the schools, membership fees and grants.

"That's how we got this bus," she explained. "We bought it and outfitted it with grant money."

CREP is even a part of the Expo and Riverblast experience. The conservation reserve enhancement project on the Minnesota River watershed expires next year on September 30. Proponents are using every means of obtaining additional acres signed up before that deadline.