Environment & Sustainability

MN350 & Stop Line 3

 MN350  is a volunteer-led climate justice organization based in Minneapolis, right across the river from Macalester. MN350’s work is divided into a number of different teams, such as Policy Action, Green New Deal, Pipeline Resistance, and Communications. They also offer internships, both during the semester and the summer, which many Mac students participate in. 

One of MN350’s most active campaigns is  Stop Line 3 , an effort to oppose the Line 3 pipeline that Enbridge (a Canadian oil company) is trying to build in northern Minnesota. The movement to Stop Line 3 is largely led by Indigenous activists and organizations, including Winona LaDuke and Honor the Earth. LaDuke is an environmentalist and Indigenous rights activist, writer, two-time vice presidential candidate, and economist based out of the White Earth Anishinaabe reservation in Northern Minnesota. The Line 3 pipeline would cut across 200 bodies of water and Ojibwe treaty land, endangering sacred Ojibwe wild rice habitat in the process. The Stop Line 3 campaign works on multiple fronts, engaging in direct action at the offices of state decision makers, supporting multiple lawsuits against the project, and demanding that state leadership (such as the Public Utilities Commission, the Pollution Control Agency, and the governor’s office) uphold environmental laws that would prohibit such a project.

In addition to Line 3's treaty violations and environmental/climate risks, pipelines present heightened risks of kidnapping and murder of Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people in the areas where they are being built. Indigenous women are 2.5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other US demographic, and the extractive worldviews that permit oil pipelines and the exploitation of land also give rise to the exploitation of Indigenous people. Read this  article  to learn more about the connections between pipelines and missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people, as well as the work that is being done to end this epidemic and provide support for Indigenous survivors of sexual violence.

Photo credits: MN350

Urban Roots

 Urban Roots  is a Saint Paul-based organization whose mission is to help revitalize low-to-moderate income communities by providing technical assistance and operating programs that will enhance the physical, economic, social, ecological, and spiritual well-being of the community and its residents. Urban Roots has offered a variety of community development services in the decades since its founding. These services include architecture, urban planning, and organizational development. Their food and environmental programs have been active on the Saint Paul’s East Side since 1996, providing training, educational, and work opportunities for youth in order to develop leadership skills, and build community and environmental health.

Minnesota Climate Strike

In September 2019, environmental and social justice groups and community members marched to the Minnesota State Capitol for the Minnesota Global Youth Climate Strike – one of many that took place around the world on September 20th. The march was followed by a rally at the capitol, with a crowd over 5,000, and a symbolic “die-in” inside the capitol building. Many young people gave speeches, including high school student leaders of MN Youth Climate Strike and Macalester alum Marco Hernandez (class of 2019). The Mac Weekly estimated that around 250 Macalester students attended. Read  The Mac Weekly’s coverage  of the strike and  MPR's interview  with youth leaders to learn more.

Photo credit:  Saint Paul Pioneer Press ,  The Mac Weekly 

The Hennepin Energy Reclamation Center (HERC)

The HERC is a trash incinerator located in downtown Minneapolis. The HERC has been the target of decades of activism, due to the fact that it produces a great deal of air pollution that gets funneled into North Minneapolis, a low-income, predominantly Black neighborhood.

For more information on the HERC, check out this  article  from the Daily Planet. Today, the BIPOC Environmental Justice Table is one of the main organizations working to propel the movement to shut down the incinerator. 

Photo Credit: Peter Callaghan for  MinnPost 

Lower Phalen Creek Project

 The Lower Phalen Creek Project  (LPCP) was founded in 1997 as a partnership between Saint Paul’s East Side and Lowertown neighborhoods. The area was once a focal point for Dakota people who gathered here for trade and ceremony, and there is a cave in the sanctuary called Wakan Tipi, which is a Dakota sacred site.

The LPCP area stretches from Lake Phalen to the Mississippi River. Their mission is to complete the redevelopment of the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary as an ecological, cultural and educational resource and vibrant community asset. 

Swipe above to watch a video on Wakan Tipi and current efforts by Lower Phalen Creek Project to build awareness of the site and the landscape’s importance to Dakota people.

Swipe further to hear from Anna, the Environment & Sustainability Organizer in the CEC, about how the CEC has worked with Lower Phalen Creek Project in the past.

Mississippi Park Connection

 Mississippi Park Connection  partners with the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area in the pursuit of creating a more accessible Mississippi National Park. Volunteers can help with educational events for school children, aid in weeding invasive plants, and canoe to restore national park areas.

The part of the Mississippi River that goes through the Twin Cities is part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MNRRA), a national park that protects a 72 mile stretch of the river (from Dayton and Ramsey, MN, to just downstream of Hastings, MN). The recreation area includes many parks and trails, as well as visitor centers and quiet spots for fishing or canoeing down the Mississippi.

Photo credit: Wayne Hsieh via  Flickr 

Upper Harbor Terminal

The Upper Harbor Terminal is a 48-acre area of publicly owned land in North Minneapolis near the Mississippi River. Until recently, it was the Port of Minneapolis, a hub for commercial river transportation, but with the closing of the Upper St. Anthony Falls lock in 2015, the site was vacated and has been the subject of controversy in recent months. The Minneapolis mayor and members of the city council have proposed a 10,000-seat concert venue at the site, using a large amount of public funding. Although cloaked in the language of “equitable development” and economic opportunity for Minneapolis’ low-income, historically Black Northside, the development proposal is a huge gentrification risk that has garnered opposition from North Minneapolis residents and activists, as well as environmental and economic justice advocates.

Swipe above to hear an interview with Minneapolis activist and organizer Kswiftly and her thoughts on the Upper Harbor Terminal. Below are further articles for more information on the subject.

 Revamp the Upper Harbor Project 

 Upper Harbor Terminal: North Minneapolis Voices 

 Minneapolis, don't squander this development chance at the Upper Harbor site 

Photo credit: Friends of the Mississippi River