Eighteen Winona County citizens met at the Winona State University Tau Center in Winona, Minnesota for 3 days, 8:30am to 5:00pm, starting Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 and concluding Saturday, March 5th, 2016. Participants were randomly selected and stratified to include a balanced representation of the Winona County population. Participants were paid $375 plus expenses for the three days.
Panelists were tasked with deciding how Winona County can best address extreme weather and a changing climate in order to remain a healthy, resilient, and prosperous community. To respond to this charge, community panelists identified and prioritized significant challenges to the long-term prosperity of the community, opportunities to respond to those challenges, and individual actions and community actions to directly address challenges or realize opportunities. Those challenges, opportunities, actions, and other important outcomes were based on information provided by experts and the collective wisdom of the group. Check out the key weather information along with other important outcomes from the three days here on our website or in the full summary report.
The group drafted the following statement to summarize their experience of the Winona Climate Dialogue:
“We are 18 residents of Winona County who met for 3 days to consider changes in our local weather and climate and the impacts of those changes on our community’s economy, energy sector, water resources, insurance, public health, and agriculture. Based on testimony from subject matter experts and group discussion among incredibly diverse individuals with a wide range of viewpoints, we’ve changed our own views to find common ground, creating the following list of challenges the community is facing, opportunities to remain resilient and vibrant in the face of those changes, and actions residents and our whole community can take now to begin responding to changes.
Evidence suggests that Minnesota’s climate and weather are changing more rapidly and more dramatically than many other parts of the country, including through increasing temperatures and more extreme weather events. These changes will have a real measurable impact on our overall economy, our environment, fish and wildlife habitat, health, insurance rates, and more.
Individually and as a Winona County community, we need to take action by working together to prepare for the future. We need to educate ourselves, our neighbors, and our elected officials to face challenges and pursue opportunities together. By doing so, we can ensure Winona County remains vibrant, resilient, and prosperous into the future.”
The Winona Climate Dialogue is the third in a series of Dialogues across Minnesota. You may read more about the first Dialogue on our Morris Area Climate Dialogue page, and the second Dialogue on our Itasca County Climate Dialogue page.