Rural Climate Dialogues

This past June, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Jefferson Center co-hosted the first Rural Climate Dialogue in Morris, Minnesota. The Rural Climate Dialogues are part of an effort to spur rural leadership and build resiliency in the face of extreme weather conditions and a changing climate. The dialogue gathered 15 Morris residents for an intense three-day deliberative forum to discuss risks posed by climate change and develop a shared, community-based response to changing weather patterns and extreme weather events. The Dialogue participants had access to resources and experts to produce their own independent recommendations on how they’d like to see the Morris area respond to climate impacts.

On Wednesday, November 12th, 2014, at 3:30pm CST, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy will host a webinar to provide more information on the first Rural Climate Dialogue in Morris, including outcomes, follow up, and a participant’s perspective. The webinar will be moderated by Anna Claussen at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Webinar speakers are Kyle Bozentko, Executive Director of the Jefferson Center; Natasha Mortenson, an Agriculture teacher at Morris High School; and Wes Flinn and Troy Goodnough, Morris residents who participated in the Dialogue.