#StopPolyMet – Emy Minzel

Today I am up in northern Minnesota in Beaver Bay for a fall weekend wedding. I am attending this wedding with my daughter, who is in the ceremony. The bride is a young woman I have known since she was born, the year before my daughter. I am so excited to see her walk down the aisle in such a beautiful setting. The trees are at their peak color and look like Candy Corn on the shores of beautiful Lake Superior. The weather is chilly, but the scenery and company are amazing.

On the way up to the North Shore with my daughter, we stopped in Duluth for some food, then decided to take our time to see a few sights. We stopped at the Split Rock Light House, so we could take a hike down to the rocky shores of our beautiful Great Lake. My daughter said she had never been to Duluth and it was her first time to see Lake Superior.

This realization made me feel like I had failed my daughter somehow! I am from northern Minnesota on the Iron Range side. We have always gone to visit family, just skimming by Duluth/Superior area, to get to where we were going on holidays or family reunion trips. Yet as close as we had been, I had never taken her to see the majestic and stunning scenery of what the North Shore of Lake Superior had to offer.

I am a Boundary Waters girl, I like to rough it, because I enjoy the peace and solitude that comes with being in the middle of God’s country. My daughter is not a ‘roughing it’ kind of girl. She likes plumbing and the internet with a warm bed to sleep in. It had never occurred to me that I had never brought her to this more populated, yet still environmentally beautiful, area that Minnesota has to offer.

What stuns me even more is that it took me 25 years to realize that I had taken the Minnesota, I had grown up knowing, for granted! I had not found the time to share my experiences with my daughter when she was younger. As I expressed my thoughts to my daughter I said:

“I feel like I somehow failed you as a Mother! I did not show you ‘why’ I love Minnesota as much as I do. I took it for granted, somehow thinking you just didn’t enjoy the outdoors as much as I do.”

My heart felt so heavy at this realization. Yet I was thankful to have the opportunity to be in the moment, standing on the boulders of Lake Superior, with my favorite person on the Planet.

She said. “Mom, to be fair, I probably would not have appreciated it or enjoyed it as much as I am now.”

My eyes filled with tears I did not let fall. I did not want her to see me so emotional about my inner strife. We were in fact having a great time exploring and enjoying the large waves crashing around us, as we carefully navigated the rocky shores of Lake Superior.

Instead I told myself. “This has got to change! I need to take initiative to show my baby girl; ‘why’ I really do love Minnesota as much as I do.”

From this moment forward, I will not take for granted the beauty of the State I love so much. We have plans to explore Minnesota together a lot more often now. It is because I love Minnesota so much that I am willing to change my comfortable life working from home to go work in St. Paul at the Capital.

My goal is, and always has been, to protect the Minnesota we know and love for future generations.

My goal is to work to protect and restore the nearly 50% of Minnesota’s waters that are already too polluted to eat the fish from. My goal is to protect our waters from further pollutions like the mining proposals that could devastate the Northeastern Region on Minnesota.

I totally know that Northern Minnesota is not ‘in my district’ as the central Minnesota Representative of 15A. But as a State Representative, I would get a vote. I get a voice and a say and I am going to use it to protect ALL of Minnesota. So that I can spend more time showing my daughter the beauty Minnesota truly holds. Before our Lake resources are taken for granted and spoiled for the future. You can bet your butt I will fight my heart out for the blessings of my district as well.

My goal is to not make the same mistake, I had made with my daughter, and allow a whole State to take for granted the natural beauty and clean water we have been blessed with. My goal is to remind others of what we stand to lose if we proceed with the usual money hungry politics; bending to the will of forgein industry that does not respect or care what happens to Minnesota.

I will remind you that Sulfide-Copper Mining has a 90% failure rate with its contamination containment areas around the world. Leading to 500 years of pollution. Basically forever.

Five Hundred years of generation after generation not allowed to play on the shores of our beautiful great Lake Superior. Never will Adventure Sisters Stacy and I be able to Adventure in the BWCA without worry of getting sick. Multiple Generations before the most visited National Park in the Nation, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, will be able to again host the millions of nature lovers that come to seek the peace and solitude of God’s Country. Well past yours, mine and any of our grandchildren’s lifetimes, before it’s safe again to use.

All because we took our biggest blessing of fresh water for granted for the promise of (maybe a) couple hundred jobs. Like stepping over a $100 bill to pick up a quarter. It just does not make sense to me. I refuse not to learn from this life lesson! I must learn from this heart-breaking and eye-opening experience of taking things for granted with my daughter.

Although I was sad to learn this lesson, it was delivered to me in the kindest way possible. A lesson through Joy, a blesson. I was having a fabulous time, spending girl time with my only child when Spirit kindly guided this realization to me for a reason. I must remember to count my blessings and move forward, vowing to not let this happen again.

Adventure on my friends. Remember do not take your blessings of family and healthy environment for granted. We would and will truly miss them when they’re gone.

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

EmyforHouse.com

@emyminzel

@EmyforHouse15A

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

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Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

https://stacycrep.com

I have always loved learning new things about subjects that I am interested in. I find that it keeps my mind busy from worry or stress, especially if I have my nose in a book or busy reading news online. I have always been curious about the world around me. I figure if I am unable to go out into the world to explore, as much as I’d like, then I can do my best to read about it through other’s experiences.

It never fails, once I read a book about a place that interests me, it only makes me want to visit even more. I want to go see with my own eyes and experience the nature and culture for myself. I have read several books about women who have embarked upon the long solo journeys on the Camino de Santiago trail. I have also read the book “Wild” by Sheryl Strayed who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. I find I admire women who decided to challenge themselves by “giving themselves” the time and opportunity to find out what they are really made of.

These women were brave in the face of adversity. Hiking trails that were hundreds of miles long with unpredictable weather. Having to be self-reliant when looking for shelter on journeys that lasted months. Can you imagine hiking by yourself in a strange place, 10 to 20 miles a day, carrying all your equipment and needs on your back for three months? It sounds horrifying and exciting all at the same time to me!

The reason I love to read about these journeys, and one day find my perfect hiking adventure for myself, is that everything you learn on these journeys has to do with who you are on the inside. I love that these challenges, these adventures, teach us who we can be and what we are truly capable of. Sometimes you cannot learn what you need from a book or others. Sometimes life has to be lived and experienced for yourself, so you can find out what you are made of and who you really are inside.

I love to push myself to do better and be better in different ways, as much as I love my comfortable life in my warm safe house, I also love excitement. When I tell my friends about my desire to embark on such a journey, they often look at me like I have three heads! They tell my all the reason I should be scared and nuts for even wanting to subject myself to such a challenge! They say it would be dangerous for a woman to go it alone. I think to myself, “Yes, it could be but that is part of the adventure, right?!”

In all honesty, I think I would prefer company on such an adventure. But where does one find someone who would be as adventurous to join me? I won’t sweat those details yet, because it is just not the time for me, right now. It would be quite the undertaking to accept these hiking trail adventures that last for months. Yet, I think it will happen eventually. When the time is right, I will know.

Now I have read several other interesting books from memoirs and spiritual growth to non-fiction, fun reads and historical events. I do love me a great book! Isn’t it funny the things you find that you are interested in or that pull your soul? That say; “Yes, do that. This is for me.” Just by reading someone else’s experiences? I probably would have never known that these types of journeys were even possible, if it weren’t for my curiosity.

My love of reading and researching of what interests me, has accidentally gotten me to my political journey, as if by magic or what I like to call “divine guidance.” Many years ago, I was researching and learning how to live a more holistic, sustainable life, and working to do just that. When I researched the importance of organic foods, I learned a great deal of information about our food system, that surprised and angered me. It made me start my own organic garden and learn more about permaculture, but this was not enough for me.

I realized quickly that to answer this calling of my soul, I had to step up and protest the status quo. I would March Against Monsanto and I would research environmental statistics. Putting pieces of the puzzle together to try and make sense out of our modern way of life that seemed to be making me sick.

It turned out, that to make any change that should be made, to protect my family from chemicals in our drinking water and too many GMO’s in my daughter’s belly. Well… I was going to have to pay more attention to the politics that allowed and supported this way of life. I was never interested in political ambitions, never. As a matter of fact, I kind of despised politicians who continually let me and our environment down. Yet here I am.

It is not ambition or pursuit of success that brought me here, it is passion to do what is in my heart. It is no coincidence that I was led on this path that guided me to fight to protect the Minnesota I know and love for future generations. I see self-interest groups trying to weasel their way into our pristine Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area to poison our water and us. I felt I had to stand up and say something. So here I am. Running for political office because I see this as the only way to protect what I love.

As Ansel Adams says; “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

My love of learning leads me to where I am today. It may not be as ‘fun’ as a journey on the Camino or Pacific Crest Trail, but I know I will learn a great deal and already it has been an adventure. I will be proud of myself for following my heart. Reading and researching keeps me holding on to dreams and planning adventures for my future.

I see, now, how my curiosity has made my life so much better. My love of learning and collecting knowledge asks me to step up and be bold enough to fight for what I want. Knowing I can defend my beliefs, because I have armed myself with the information and facts to do so.

Sometimes, learning is a hands-on experience, that has nothing to do with studying. Life is always sending me lessons through my experiences. It’s up to me to learn the lesson or repeat it until I do. Our paths are funny that way, twisting us around, to re-learn what we thought we already knew but now in a deeper more meaningful way.

Until I get to spend some time getting lost on a trail or some other adventure I find. I figure, while I am here on this path, I might as well enjoy it, while learning all I can!

Tag: #StopPolyMet

Taken for granted

My love of learning