Author: Jenny Werness

Jenny Werness

Jenny Werness

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Jenny (she/her) is a carfree, bicycling, tree-loving St. Paul resident, with a Ph.D. in organic chemistry. She believes that our rapidly changing climate should be of utmost concern to all of us. Board of Directors of streets.mn, 2019-2024; Executive Committee - Content Manager.

Climate Emergency 500x295

Celebrating the 1-year Anniversary of the streets.mn Climate Committee

On December 29, 2019, seven people met at Dual Citizen Brewery in St. Paul, and there we created the streets.mn Climate Emergency Committee. We had a few in-person writing meet-ups before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, and even though none of us could anticipate the events that followed throughout the year of 2020, we maintained […]

A bike helmet, turned upside down with plants growing out of it.

Rethinking “Rethinking I-94”

Despite its name, MNDOT’s project does not allow for “rethinking I-94,” it can only recapitulate I-94. And the community organizations’ letter, while we agree with its goals, does not push for the magnitude of change necessary. The urgency of our climate crisis requires more ambitious plans, and even the proposals by the community organizations will not manifest an I-94 corridor that has been sufficiently reconsidered.

Small yard sign saying "We protect the Mississippi River. Sweep up! Rake up! Pick up! adopt-a-drain.org" in a yard with a small wooden gnome house

Celebrate Earth Day with Climate-Focused Actions

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the theme for this year’s celebration is “Climate Action.” Here at streets.mn, we have a lot of ways we’re taking action on climate breakdown, including the formation of our Climate Committee, a carbon audit, hosting trash clean-up events, and, as always, climate-focused articles from our wonderful […]

Raymond University

UPDATED: Spring 2020 Writers’ Forum: May 30th

UPDATE: we have decided to postpone our Writers’ Forum, and will be rescheduling for May 30th  – details to come! It’s time for our big spring event: The Writers’ Forum! Details: Network with fellow authors and new contributors Ask your questions about how to contribute more effectively Brainstorm topics for posts, event ideas, etc. Meet […]

B2bb89b2 Eea1 4ed3 9740 12b8a2933c71

Celebrating 31 Days of Winter Bicycling

Winter in Minnesota can be delightful, gorgeous, fragile, challenging, and sometimes far too gray. In January of 2018, Melissa Wenzel issued herself a challenge to a winter-weather version of April’s “30 Days of Biking.” Fellow winter bicyclists in Minnesota and around the world joined Melissa in her pledge to bike every day in January. In 2019, […]

streets.stickers

Femme/Trans/Women/Non-Binary Meet-Up: Friday, August 9th

Our mission here at streets.mn highlights the value of inclusive conversations, and to that end we are hosting another FTW (femme, trans, women, non-binary) meet-up next week. We want to encourage and sponsor underrepresented voices.   If you identify as femme/trans/woman/non-binary and are reading this post, please consider joining us for a casual meet-up focused […]

Img 1547

Sunday Summary – May 19, 2019

Every Sunday here at streets.mn our longtime member and Board Secretary, Betsey Buckheit, has been cleverly summarizing the week’s posts. I’m filling in for her this week, and have categorized posts according to the core values of streets.mn: people-centered, future-oriented, justice-driven, and delight-cultivating. Of course, many of our posts fit into multiple categories, or might require […]

Leafed out tree surrounded by medium-sized plants, some flowers

It’s Spring! Plant a Boulevard Garden

Walking and bicycling through my neighborhood has given me a deeper appreciation of the many gardeners who work to add beauty and resiliency to our world. I started noticing the strips of curbside gardens, and occasionally stopped to chat with folks while they were out planting. I enjoyed watching the plants sprout, bloom, feed bees, […]