There are a lot of great educational resources out there to help people understand their clean energy options, but often language barriers can get in the way. Now, for Spanish-language learners, there is a nice collection of clean energy resources available.
Thanks to a generous grant from the Carolyn Foundation, Do It Green! Minnesota is distributing a number of exciting new handouts on energy efficiency and renewable energy in Spanish!
Materials Available:
- Lista de Energía / Energy Checklist – a step-by-step list of easy tasks to do throughout the year to save energy
- Alternativos de energía renovable en Minnesota / Renewable Energy Alternatives in Minnesota – two informative articles about the different types of renewable energy available in Minnesota
- Preguntas de Energía / Energy Trivia Questions – good for teens and adults, this is a set of trivia questions about both renewable energy and energy efficiency
- Un mundo bello comienza contigo / A Beautiful World Starts with You Energy Activity Book – produced by the Environmental Protection Agency, this is full of fun and educational energy-related puzzles and games for kids
- Solar Energy Coloring Book – produced by the Texas Solar Energy Society, this book has a minimal amount of English, but the informative pictures are accessible to all kids
If you would like free copies of these materials for your classroom, community group, or personal use, please email Eva Lewandowski at eva@doitgreen.org.
We spoke with Eva Lewandowski, Grants Writer and Program Assistant at Do It Green! Minnesota to learn more about the Spanish language resources that they are offering.
Joel Haskard: Tell us a little about Do It Green! Minnesota.
Eva Lewandowski: Do It Green! Minnesota is a volunteer-run nonprofit whose mission is to educate Minnesotans about sustainable living and promote the building of healthy, local communities. Through our website www.doitgreen.org, our Resource Center for public education and skill-shares, the Do It Green! Directory of sustainable businesses, and through numerous public events like the annual Green Gifts Fair, we work to give Minnesotans the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to live sustainably. Created by the community, for the community, our educational programming is flexible and varied, in order to meet the needs of Minnesota’s diverse population.
JH: These are great resources. How did you find/compile them?
EL: Our new multicultural energy resources come from several sources. Some, such as the children’s activity books and coloring books come from other organizations, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Solar Energy Society. These were already available publicly online, but with our funding we are able to print and distribute hard copies. Our other documents were created by Do It Green! Minnesota and translated into Spanish in order to reach more individuals.
JH: Can a teacher order sets for a classroom? Do you have enough that community groups can pass them out at events?
EL: We have received a grant from the Carolyn Foundation to fund our multicultural energy education work, so we are currently able to print and distribute bulk amounts of all our new materials. We welcome requests from teachers, community groups, and individuals who would like to receive copies of any materials. However, we do not have permanent funding for this project, so we cannot guarantee that we will be able to provide paper copies in the future. We encourage people to contact us (email eva@doitgreen.org) now if they would like copies of any documents. We will of course be happy to provide electronic versions of any of these materials now or in the future.
JH: What are your goals for this outreach effort?
EL: Our goal is to reach out to more Minnesotans and offer them helpful information and resources about energy efficiency and renewable energy. This is part of our larger Diversity Program, which is striving to offer multilingual and multicultural resources to meet the needs of our very diverse state.
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