Many things in life take hard work and motivation. Exercise, education, furthering our careers and relationships all take a certain amount of dedication to achieve results.

The same can be said with conservation.

Whether it’s recycling a bottle or not using as much gas, our efforts can combine to improve our environment.

Last Saturday, five different organizations hosted the RE-fest in Austin, a celebration of green living and clean energy.

Representatives from Austin Utilities, Owatonna Utilities, J.C. Hormel Nature Center, Riverland Community College and the Clean Energy Resource Team of Southeast Minnesota joined together to present a day of activities, exhibits and live entertainment at Riverland.

Close to 1,500 attended.

“The main purpose was to give people ideas and actions that they could take home and that would make positive changes and conserve the Earth’s limited resources,” said Kelly Lady, of Austin Utilities.

While organizations are still deciding whether to make RE-fest an annual event, we applaud their efforts and those who took the time to come out Saturday.

It’s one thing to think about conservation and how nice it would be to better our environment.

It’s certainly another thing to do something about it.