Minneapolis, MN – On April 18, hundreds took to the streets of Minneapolis, to celebrate Earth Day and demand an end to capitalism’s relentless attacks on the planet. Organized by the Climate Justice Committee along with numerous coalition partners, the rally and march was held under the banner “Earth is for everyone – No one is illegal.”

The march began at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis and travelled to The Commons park, where speeches and tabling were held. Minneapolis-based band Van Cleaver provided music for the afternoon.

Speakers covered a range of topics, from the Trump administration’s attacks on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, to how climate change is a driver of immigration and displacement.

Tracy Molm of the CJC said, “ At a time when communities are facing environmental destruction, displacement, and escalating political attacks, this Earth Day action makes one thing clear: the fight for the planet is inseparable from the fight for human rights.”

Aizar Cabrera from MIRAC drew a connection between climate change and the immigration, saying, “When humans harm our planet, through pollution, deforestation, mining, and countless other atrocities caused by their manic greed they permanently disrupt ecosystems and destroy livelihoods, forcing people to leave their homes to survive. And when these climate refugees come here, seeking the safety and prosperity they have lost to climate change and natural disasters, they are vilified and told to go back to where they came from.”

The attacks on the Boundary Waters proved to be an energizing issue for the attendees. Chris Knopf, the executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters, gave a fiery speech excoriating Representative Pete Stauber’s use of the Congressional Review Act to overturn a moratorium on mining in the Boundary Waters watershed.

Knopf stated, “We in Minnesota have proven that hardship is not what defines us. What defines us is how we respond. Our strength, our resilience, our resistance have inspired the nation and the world.”

Knopf continued, “Trump, Stauber, and those in power in Washington DC are no match for the people of Minnesota. They are no match for you. We in Minnesota know how to stand up to Trump. We’ve done this for months now. We will stand up for the Boundary Waters; we will stand up for our clean water.”

A member of the CJC stated, “Our planet has a disease. And that disease is capitalism. A virus that corrupts…that works for the 1% instead of us. Our forests and wetlands, burned for beef production, stripped and polluted for minerals and drained for data centers. Our rivers and aquifers drained for oil pipelines and animal agriculture, rising oceans used as a dumping ground, and overfished until all that is left is waste and water. If you kill the planet you kill the people! The vision of the ruling class is a frightful new world where we own nothing, have no rights and have to remove the parts of us that make us human: empathy, community, critical thinking, love, in order to survive under the constant, deadly watch of corporate overlords.”

The event concluded with pizza for all, more music from Van Cleaver, and an invite to future events, including MIRAC’s May Day march on May 1.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Environment #EarthDay #ClimateJusticeCommittee #BoundaryWaters #BWCA

Minneapolis, MN – On August 16, over 100 activists and community members held a celebratory rally in response to winning the struggle to shut down a long-time polluter, Smith Foundry.

The Smith Foundry is one of several heavy industrial sites located in the residential Minneapolis neighborhood of East Phillips, one of the most diverse and working-class neighborhoods in Minnesota. The city has long used East Phillips as its toxic dumping ground, and, as a result, East Phillips has some of the highest rates of asthma and cardiovascular disease in the state. Notably, Smith Foundry operated as the top lead polluter in the county, further poisoning an already environmentally overburdened community.

The neighborhood has been a center of environmental justice activism for decades, and Smith Foundry became a major focus of that struggle over the last couple years. Due to increased public pressure and militant struggle, Smith Foundry announced that they would be closing all operations on August 15. This comes after Bituminous Roadways, an asphalt manufacturer next door to Smith, announced their shutdown in March. The previous year, the community won a fight with the city of Minneapolis to take ownership of the old Roof Depot site and create a community space across the street from Smith Foundry.

The day after the Smith closure, the Shut Down Smith Coalition, a group of local organizations ,joined together to fight to close the foundry. They held a block party in the local Cedar Field Park to celebrate the major gains that organizing and struggling in the streets had gained for the community. Children ran around the park and through the playground, and community members grilled food for friends and families to eat together.

Organizations active in the struggle set up tables to share the other community demands they are working on outside of their work to shut down Smith Foundry, encouraging community members to get organized and continue fighting for liberation. Speakers drove this message home, emphasizing the need to fight militantly for a better world, rather than trying to appeal to the moral sensibilities of the ruling class.

Charlie Berg of the Climate Justice Committee stated, “They weren’t just going to shut down Smith Foundry because we asked nicely. They weren’t just going to shut down Smith Foundry because they realized it was bad. They were going to have to realize the whole community was going to make them shut it down if they weren’t going to do it themselves.”

Rachel Dionne-Thunder, cofounder of the Indigenous Protector Movement and an East Phillips community member, emphasized a need to keep fighting beyond this single major win, as she asked, “Why is it our communities of color, our minority communities, our native communities suffering disproportionately [from pollution]? It shouldn’t be a thing, and it’s not going to be a thing. We’re going to make sure it doesn’t continue.”

The speaking program ended with the group chanting, “We are unstoppable, another world is possible!”

#MinneapolisMN #Environment #ShutDownSmithCoalition #ClimateJusticeCommittee #IndigenousProtectorMovement

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 protesters took the street Sunday afternoon, October 29, in response to the Biden administration’s recently-announced plan to waive 26 federal laws in order to extend the border wall further into southern Texas. Several organizations joined together to protest the “Trump-like” policies in response to immigration.

In addition to continuing the militarization of the U.S./Mexico border, the waived laws include environmental protection policies and the defense of native burial sites. Protesters spoke to the importance of acting for the environment.

MIRAC member Montana Hirsch said, “This is an outrageous attack on immigrants, native people, and the environment. Millions of people trusted Biden and voted for him when he promised to stop building Trump’s wall during his 2020 election campaign. We demand he keep his promise and reverse this decision. The U.S./México border is already one of the most militarized and deadly borders in the world. We need to end militarization of the border now!”

Speakers from the Anti-War Committee made the connection between border walls in the U.S. as well as across the globe in Gaza. Protesters shouted, “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go!”

Pablo Tapia of Asamblea de Derechos Civiles spoke about the history of the U.S./Mexico border wall. He pointed out the pain caused by the expansion of the U.S. border in the 1800s to take over around half of Mexico.

Rachel Thunder-Dionne of Indigenous Protector Movement continued this point saying, “These borders, these invisible lines formed by colonizers, those didn’t exist for us. We didn’t cross those borders, those borders crossed us.” She spoke to the struggle that it took in order to have the American Indian Religious Freedom Act and the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, which Biden has waived in order to continue construction of the border wall.

Protesters encouraged supporters to call the White House in opposition of the executive order to extend the U.S./Mexico border.

The event was initiated by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights and Action Committee (MIRAC) and held in collaboration with the Indigenous Protector Movement (IPM) and Climate Justice Committee (CJC).

#MinneapolisMN #MIRAC #IndigenousProtectorMovement #ClimateJusticeCommittee #BorderWall

By Sarah Martin and Kim DeFranco

St. Paul, MN – On October 20, over 150 people rallied at the weekly Palestine vigil of the Women Against Military Madness’s (WAMM) Middle East Committee. The people filled each part of the intersection of the busy streets of Snelling and Summit Avenues. The bannering called for an end to the genocidal Israeli bombing of Gaza, to let Gaza live and end U.S. aid to Israel. Protesters also came to stand with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation.

The crowd was almost double the number that demonstrated at the vigil last week. It represents the upsurge of pro-Palestine rallies in the Twin Cities and across the world. A diverse crowd representing all ages including a contingent from nearby Macalester College, members of the Palestinian and Somali communities and of organizations representing all parts of the people’s movements.

The honks and fist pumps from motorists passing by were constant as they responded to the chants, “Netanyahu you will see! Palestine will be free!” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” Signs and banners included, “Stop funding Israeli massacres” and “End the bombing of Gaza, let Gaza live.”

Robyn Harbison, an emcee and director of WAMM, welcomed the crowd, “I joined the movement in the Twin Cities two years ago and what motivated me was the attacks on Sheik Jarrah. When I found reliable information, I was justifiably fueled with anger. But I found I could use my anger for something worthwhile and join the working people of the world who are showing up by the millions. If not now when? We must not allow genocide funded by U.S. tax dollars to happen before our eyes.”

Harbison went on to talk about the Minnesota state money which is invested in Elbit system, Israel’s largest weapon manufacturer and Lockheed, the largest U.S. weapons maker which makes F-16s used in the horrific bombing of Gaza.

Sara Olson, member of WAMM, gave an opening fiery speech, said. “Israel, which did not exist 75 years ago, was established through one of the most violent acts of ethnic cleansing in modern history with the unwavering support of British imperialism at the time and later U.S. imperialism alongside French and other European imperialist forces,” adding the imperialists “proposed to address the issues of Jews in Europe by establishing the state of Israel and colonizing Palestinian land, displacing its people.”

Olson continued to explain, “This is similar to American history, particularly in terms of wiping out as efficiently as possible the indigenous inhabitants and by denying them their humanity, exactly as the Israelis have done to Palestinians.”

Kent Mori from the Climate Justice Committee rallied the people, “WAMM shows that with this vigil for the past 20 years when we fight, we win. Just as the Palestinians are showing us now. When we fight, we win!”

Liz McLister of the MN Anti-War Committee expressed, “At this juncture I invite you all to remember that the struggle for Palestinian liberation is not a fringe position – not by a long shot. In recent years cracks and grooves have appeared in the bunk ‘both sides, slash complicated, slash conflict’ narrative wall that once obscured the ugly truth about occupied Palestine from the eyes of the average American. Scaling back from the imperial core of the United States, the intersectional, transnational campaign for Palestinian liberation is stronger than ever before.”

Protesters were encouraged to attend the protest on October 22 at Loring Park in Minneapolis at 2 p.m. organized by American for Muslims in Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of MN and the MN Anti-War Committee.

#SaintPaulMN #WAMM #ClimateJusticeCommittee #AntiWarCommittee #Palestine

St. Paul, MN – The Climate Justice Committee and allies held a press conference at Metro State University to hold the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) accountable as they start the three year rulemaking process for a new cumulative impacts law passed in Minnesota in 2023. This cumulative impacts law would not just take into account air pollution from one business at a particular site but would look at the cumulative impacts of pollution in the area and make permitting decisions based on historic pollution and how the community in the area has already been impacted.

The MPCA is responsible for permitting all businesses that have an impact of soil, water and air pollution and was responsible for the permitting of Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline.

At this event, the CJC showed up to hold MPCA accountable for its current and future actions around the issue of air pollution.

“Why is the MPCA not working harder to outreach to the communities they say they want to protect, like East Phillips. I am a student at Metro State, and I wouldn’t have known this event was happening if the CJC hadn’t done this event. We see this as another time when communities like East Phillips in Minneapolis will be let down by legislation that could benefit them. It’s time to end half-measures and leniency for people who poison us!” said Mordecai Mika of the Climate Justice Committee.

Mair Allen from the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy stated, “I’ve lived in East Phillips for 13 years, and I think about my 11-year-old neighbor who died in his house of an asthma attack. And I think about the people who can leave their windows open and can walk around their neighborhoods without coughing; everyone benefits from the environment, but those benefits are uneven. There is no such thing as a ‘community benefit’, it’s not possible to benefit from not having pollution. We shouldn’t have to fight for clean air.” Mair was referring to one part of the legislation that includes making “community benefit” agreements with businesses that would be legally binding.

Climate Justice Committee members and supporters then went into the MPCA meeting to ask questions. The MPCA had intended to only take written comments, but CJC members and other community members forced the MPCA representatives to listen to comments. Several audience members talked about the current lack of community outreach and in particular the lack of indigenous input. Others pointed out the distrust of the MPCA because of its history permitting Line 3. MPCA now knows that the community is watching and will be there to force them to do the right thing and get polluters out of our neighborhoods.

#StPaulMN #MinneapolisMN #ClimateJusticeCommittee

Minneapolis, MN – On June 28, the Climate Justice Committee gathered with around 20 community members outside the former Minneapolis Police Department 3rd Precinct building to stand in solidarity with Atlanta Forest Defenders, who called for a national week of action to stop Cop City as intense political repression continues on the frontlines of that fight. The protest also called for a local demand: no new 3rd Precinct building in Minneapolis.

People stood at the intersection of Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue holding signs that read “Stop Cop City,” “Defend the Atlanta Forest,” and “No new 3rd Precinct.” Representatives from five local justice organizations gave speeches marking the connections between the struggle to defend the Atlanta forest and the struggle against retraumatizing community by rebuilding the 3rd Precinct in Minneapolis, despite overwhelming opposition to both.

Charlie Berg, from Climate Justice Committee, called out the fact that major corporate funders of Cop City have stakes in Minneapolis – and are funding Cop City precisely because of the 2020 uprising that began here.

Joe Vital spoke on behalf of East Phillips Neighborhood Institute about the irreparable harm the colonial systems of destruction have and will continue to inflict on the unceded lands, water, and all other living beings who dwell there. “We know the phrase ‘The borders crossed us.’ And when they crossed us, that changed our relationship with the land, the animals, our kinships to one another, our relationship to free-flowing water and to the trees themselves. We are talking about 381 acres of forest land—and we have to remember it’s all Indian Country.”

Vital continued by drawing a parallel to the local, native-led fight to defend the Roof Depot, which proved how collective organizing can effectively fight the system.

Hannah Jerrie from the Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar called out the city of Minneapolis’ attempt to manufacture consent around the 3rd Precinct, and how the power of the state to take away our rights is working exactly as it was designed. Atlanta has continued escalating attacks on protesters, creating trumped-up charges, incarcerating protesters, and otherwise violating freedom of speech – in all the ways the government was designed to do, Jerrie emphasized.

Repping Minnesota Defend the Forest, Griffy Lake put out a call for anyone to join the grassroots movement to defend the Atlanta forest, pointing out that the movement is gaining momentum, thanks to people involved refusing to be quiet and lending their voices and passions. Lake suggested taking part in whatever ways people feel comfortable with, whether that’s offering creative talents, helping to raise bail funds or provide jail support, or even just talking to people in the community about the importance of stopping Cop City, because “resisting one is tied hand in hand with resisting the other.”

Siobhan Moore, a representative of Students for Democratic Society at the U of M, denounced political repression, the destruction of the Weelaunee Forest for Cop City and the proposed new precinct in Minneapolis. Siobhan spoke about their proximity as a student organizer to the state’s attacks on activists, with fellow student activists known as the Tampa 5 currently facing up to ten years in prison for protests in Florida after a brutal arrest.

Finally, a member of Communities United Against Police Brutality rounded out the rally by highlighting the political prosecutions and oppressive tactics that both police and elected officials are using to silence movements like the ones in Minneapolis and Atlanta.

The rally ended with the crowd chanting “Justice for Tortuguita! Justice for the Forest Defenders! Justice for the Tampa 5!”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee #StopCopCity

Minneapolis MN – On February 19, around 100 protesters and community members gathered at the Roof Depot site in the East Phillips neighborhood to protest the impending demolition of the building. The Climate Justice Committee organized the protest as part of the week of action for the Defend the Atlanta Forest, connecting the struggles against environmental racism and police terror in Atlanta to the local struggle against the pollution of oppressed nationality and working-class communities like East Phillips. The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar also joined the protest, demanding justice for Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Teran, a forest defender murdered by Atlanta police.

Despite the pleas of community members, the Minneapolis city council voted on January 26 to approve the contract for Rachel Contracting to perform the demolition on the site. Because the Roof Depot building sits upon arsenic-laden soil, the demolition will release arsenic into an already polluted community and the city’s plans for the site – a city diesel refueling station – will only further deteriorate the air quality.

Demolition is imminent and the city has already added increased fencing and “No trespassing” signs to the property in an attempt to stifle the voices of residents who will live with this increased pollution for years to come.

With the demolition slated for the immediate future, community members expressed their anger with the city for ignoring any alternatives and moving forward with the demolition. Addressing the crowd, Rachel Thunder, a member of the American Indian Movement and a resident of East Phillips, declared: “We’re going to make a stand. We’re not going to let this happen. This land that we’re standing on is stolen land. This is native land and we’re not going to let this kind of environmental racism continue to kill and poison our people.”

Organizers from various groups, including the Climate Justice Committee and the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, have more actions planned for the upcoming weeks to protest the demolition and halt its progress.

#MinneapolisMN #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee

Some new measures were begrudgingly adopted, others swiftly shot down, and ultimately many attendees left exhausted and unenthused. For every step forward, there was a step back, as was summed up by chief Mexican climate negotiator Camila Zepeda, who said with quiet resignation, “you take a win when you can.” And it is precisely because of this chronic dysfunction that working-class people can see this conference for the shameless act of political theater that it really is. Conferences like COP27 exist to preserve the capitalist system at all costs, to convince average citizens of something they already know is untrue: that our future is in capable hands.

The “loss and damage” fund

Certain measures adopted this year have been lauded by pro-capitalist media outlets as historic achievements, which in some sense is true. The main “historic” moment was that there has been a first-of-its-kind discussion of the necessity for wealthier nations to contribute aid for poorer nations in building their defenses against the effects of climate change. On its face, this would seem like a major victory for those in the climate movement who have long been insisting that our current laissez-faire free-for-all approach disproportionately hurts underdeveloped nations. However, this apparent victory comes with a staggering amount of fine print.

For one, this measure that was adopted does not actually fund any particular projects for poorer nations, it really only acknowledges the necessity of such a fund. Furthermore, the money for this fund would not actually be paid for by wealthier nations themselves (read: the nations responsible for the overwhelming share of global emissions) but would come from the very global financial institutions that have artificially maintained the underdevelopment of the Third World in the first place. And finally, it is important to make clear what such a fund is not. It is not a fund for reparations to repay for historic climate injustice, and it is not a fund dedicated to eradicating the emissions that are causing climate change, only for damage control as crises intensify.

In fact, the U.S. made it quite clear that this fund is not the same as reparations, which would potentially open the U.S. and others up to international criminal liability, and that this distinction was a main reason they agreed to it in the first place.

U.S. hypocrisy on China

The U.S. delegation, headed by John Kerry, met with Xie Zhenhua and China’s climate officials to discuss the possibility of cooperation on fighting climate change – a discussion that was tabled earlier in the year when Nancy Pelosi inflamed tensions by visiting Taiwan. Little was revealed about the details of their brief talk, but Kerry was quick to use this conference as an opportunity to hypocritically heap undue blame onto China, implying that it is them who are refusing to follow the lead of the West and pull their weight in keeping warming at or below the 1.5°C threshold agreed upon at Paris 2015. This ignores both that the main reason China’s emissions are higher is that Western nations have offshored huge amounts of their production to China, and that China has been behind some of the most genuinely bold emissions mitigation projects in the world, such as the building of vast commuter rail networks across continental Asia, reforestation projects, and others that were highlighted in their recent 20th Party Congress. Meanwhile, the U.S. remains responsible for more than double the energy consumption per person as compared to China.

Corporate greenwashing

A perfect symbol of COP27’s total non-commitment to actually fighting climate change was caught by observers before the conference even began, when it was announced that Coca-Cola was sponsoring the event. Just days before this, the Coca-Cola corporation had been named by the 2022 Break Free From Plastic audit as the single worst plastic polluter on the planet for the fifth year in a row. This act of greenwashing is so naked that it really needs no additional analysis, but as poet and songwriter Gil Scott-Heron put it a half-century ago, “the revolution will not go better with Coke.”

Reject “green” capitalism, build workers’ internationalism

It is long past time for working people of the world to declare outright that those in power – the capitalist class – are fundamentally unfit for the task of averting climate catastrophe. These conferences like COP27 are nothing more than a pageant of controlled opposition, a sophisticated act of class warfare to create the illusion that humanity’s biggest problems will be solved by the good-hearted decisions of capitalist think-tanks and NGOs – no, they will not, and cannot.

For the health and survival of all oppressed peoples of the world, there is no alternative but for the masses to strike at the imperialist system itself, and for the workers of all nations to take their future into their own hands.

Charlie Berg is a member of the Climate Justice Committee MN

#UnitedStates #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateChange #ClimateJusticeCommittee

The Roof Depot site sits atop a bed of arsenic waste from mid-1900s industry, which would be released into the air by the building's demolition, potentially poisoning countless residents. Under the proposed plan, the site of the demolished Roof Depot would be converted into a maintenance yard and refueling station for the city’s fleet of public works trucks, further worsening the air quality of an already low-income and polluted neighborhood.

Organizers from the Climate Justice Committee (CJC) and the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI), along with activists from groups across the city, gave speeches calling out Frey's inaction as a blatant act of environmental racism, highlighting that East Phillips is home to one of the highest concentrations of Black, indigenous and immigrant residents in the Twin Cities area.

Speakers also included unhoused former residents of an encampment that was recently destroyed by a highly militarized eviction – a joint operation by Mayor Frey, the Minneapolis Police Department, and notably, Minneapolis Public Works, whose trucks would occupy the former Roof Depot site.

Attendees of the protest outside the mayor’s apartment dressed in hazmat suits to signify the pollution the East Phillips neighborhood will face if the building is demolished and replaced by a heavy-traffic maintenance yard. Passing cars honked in support of the rally.

In a press release from the CJC, member Whitney Wildman stressed that this planned demolition comes “despite consistent neighborhood opposition and despite the city having no plan to contain the cloud of arsenic that would poison the entire area,” adding further that staggering numbers of East Phillips residents “already have asthma as a direct result of the pollution in the area,” and that the relocation of the public works facility would only worsen this highly racialized public health crisis.

This protest also comes at a time when Mayor Jacob Frey and others in the city government are under significant pressure as several close associates of theirs are embroiled in a sweeping criminal indictment for fraud and embezzlement, stealing as much as $250 million taxpayer money that were supposed to go toward feeding food-insecure children during the pandemic. Speeches at the protest aimed to demonstrate the connection between this corruption scandal and the issue at hand in East Phillips, emphasizing that many of these thieves are not only friends of the mayor’s, but are also among the most outspoken proponents of demolishing the Roof Depot.

Some demonstrators painted a picture of an even more direct connection to this scandal, pointing out that some of those implicated in the scandal are property developers and landlords who likely have a personal interest in the current site of the Public Works yard, which is currently located in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood. In their press release, CJC member B Becker put this in stark terms: “These very same racketeers, Frey’s developer cronies, are pushing for this new refueling station because they want the prime real estate that would be vacated in Marcy-Holmes. As if stealing food out of kids’ mouths wasn’t enough, they now plan to steal the air from their lungs.”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee

Saint Paul, MN – On Saturday, July 23, roughly 30 climate activists gathered outside the Saint Paul Farmers’ Market to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the Kalamazoo oil spill and demand a stop to Line 3, a new tar sands pipeline. The action was organized by the Climate Justice Committee (CJC).

The Kalamazoo oil spill occurred on July 26, 2010 and was one of the largest in U.S. history. Spills and accidents happen regularly from oil pipelines. Between 2010 and 2020 alone, the U.S. and Canada had a combined 3398 pipeline spills.

B Becker from the Climate Justice Committee opened the protest, stating, “Enbridge is responsible for the Kalamazoo oil spill that leaves the Kalamazoo River poisoned to this day. Enbridge is also responsible for the two largest inland oil spills, both in Minnesota. We cannot allow corporate greed to destroy our waterways. We cannot allow Enbridge to poison the Mississippi like they did the Kalamazoo River.”

“This is like being forced to ride the Titanic while getting told it's unsinkable,” said Diana Hernandez of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee. Autumn Lake from the Anti War committee pointed out the role of the U.S. military to the ongoing drive for fossil fuels and environmental degradation.

“What do we want? Stop Line 3! When do we want it? Now!” chants could be heard by the hundreds of people at the farmers market.

Several speakers and chants connected the struggle against Line 3 with the demands for Native sovereignty and the need to defend and uphold treaty rights over land and water resources.

Steve Sandberg from the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute told the crowd about the role of environmental racism against oppressed nationality communities and the ongoing fight for an urban farm in the East Phillips neighborhood.

This action was part of the CJC's campaign to demand that the Army Corps of Engineers perform a full federal environmental impact survey on Line 3 and pull its operating permits. You can sign their petition online:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Yrj66S_iroqq5oo2XkD9HaOysU8_OlI-WcjV515IZs8/viewform?edit_requested=true

#SaintPaulMN #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee #Line3Pipeline

On Thursday June 30, the Supreme Court ruled against the EPA and its ability to set pollution limits on power plants. This is a blow to the U.S. government's ability to combat climate change and comes on the heels of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. It’s also a sign that the current court is set out on an anti-people agenda that will put a corporate and a right-wing agenda before the needs of the people. And it's a sign that the system won't do a thing to reverse climate change created by capitalism’s drive for profits above else.

SCOTUS' majority decision says that the EPA doesn’t have express powers to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants, citing the EPA as an unelected governmental department. But on the other hand, we can see the lack of action on the part of elected officials. Politicians bought by the fossil fuel industry torpedoed the green infrastructure bill. Elected officials have been part of what has put us in the climate catastrophe we are currently in, they have stood by and been complacent or active participants.

Climate change is a real and growing threat and the government, elected and unelected, can't and won't save us. Our only solution is to fight like hell, to unite the climate justice struggle with other progressive movements like the abortion access movement and the Black lives matter movements. We need to take our fight to the streets and to the doors of politicians and demand real action on climate change! Join the Climate Justice Committee!

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee #EPA

The site, which has decades’ worth of toxic arsenic waste in its soil and structures, is slated to be demolished by the city to accommodate more public works facilities. This would throw all of these toxins into the air of a neighborhood that already has some of the worst air quality in Minnesota.

East Phillips is also one of the most Black, brown, indigenous, immigrant and working-class areas in Minneapolis. Speaking for the CJC outside of Frey’s office, local organizer Rob Hendrickson brought up the unfairness and environmental racism of the city’s continued stonewalling of the EPNI’s urban farm.

“We’re addressing how the city of Minneapolis is choosing to further burden East Phillips with industry in order to benefit itself,” said Hendrickson. “Even if the city has the best intentions to minimize harm to the community, there is still harm, and East Phillips has had enough of that! Why do we continue to oppress the same people to benefit some greater good?”

Hendrickson continued: “In all of these cases, we see those in power make decisions using ‘business as usual’ tactics that are rooted in white supremacy, colonialism and putting profits over people. We at the Climate Justice Committee believe that real solutions to the climate crisis center the well-being of Black, brown, indigenous, immigrant and working-class communities.”

The EPNI has its own plans to deal with the toxic soil and has been adamant in opposing the demolition of the Roof Depot building. They have been advocating for a sustainable urban farm for over five years.

Only recently, however, has the city of Minneapolis begun meeting with them in any official capacity. On June 5, EPNI met with Mayor Frey’s office and were offered a deal for a $1, hundred-year lease on 3.5 acres of the 14-acre lot and were promised that the city vehicles which are planned to use the space would get priority in being converted to electric.

Although the EPNI has not accepted these terms, it is willing to accept the city working and negotiating with them in good faith. Even these tentative promises, however, were verbal. They have yet to be put into writing.

“The good news is that we have the words of commitment, and now the next stage is that we get the action of commitment,” said Dean Dovalis of the EPNI. “We have to keep the pressure on, keep pushing, and drive this.”

After gathering outside the mayor’s office, the crowd entered and submitted the following demands:

“We demand that Mayor Frey and the City of Minneapolis host a community meeting in East Phillips to talk about the Urban Farm and the City’s plans for the Roof Depot site. We demand that Mayor Frey and the City of Minneapolis follow through, codify and strengthen agreements around remediation of the site, vehicle traffic, and commitments to move the city’s vehicle fleet to electric,” and “We demand that Mayor Frey and the City of Minneapolis regularly meet with EPNI.”

There is a community meeting scheduled for June 12. Updates will be published as negotiations develop.

#MinneapolisMN #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee

The climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland ended with an agreement that leaves the earth on a disastrous track toward catastrophic warming and crisis. Once again, the interests of the fossil fuel companies, and wealthy countries were protected at the expense of most of the countries of the world. All the world, but particularly the Global South and island nations are already experiencing the most horrendous effects of climate change including floods, hurricanes, life threatening heat waves, food shortages and fires.

The language of the agreement is too watered down and weak to limit carbon emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius warming in the next ten years, the scientifically accepted limit to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. As a result, millions of people will have their lives and lands ruined and will be forced from their homes and homelands. Pledges for reparations, mitigation and the development of carbon free energy from the wealthy countries were grossly inadequate. The United States, and many European nations have caused the vast majority of environmental and emissions damage while poorer countries, which are responsible for a very small amount of carbon emissions, have been most affected and desperately need money to build green energy economies.

The scapegoating of India and China, especially by the Biden administration, is disingenuous and hypocritical. They used this event as political theater patting themselves on the back, when they’ve actually done nothing but make this dire situation worse. Allowing projects like tar sands oil pipelines like Line 3 to continue the building of fossil fuel infrastructure.

It is clear that we cannot count on governments or world meetings to solve this existential problem. Unlike the politicians and polluters that chose profits over people, tens of thousands of climate justice activists from around the world converged on Glasgow demanding an end to the theft of their resources, the polluting of their air, water and land and for sovereignty and self-determination. It is up to us here in the belly of the beast to organize and continue to build a fighting climate justice movement in all our cities and in all communities, which will be able to hold the politicians and fossil fuel companies to account.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee #COP26

Minneapolis, MN – On September 18 nearly 100 people rallied and marched to call for an end to the Line 3 oil pipeline. The Climate Justice Committee organized the rally to continue pressure on President Biden and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to end the permits for Line 3.

Michael Johnson, an indigenous youth organizer with the Bloomington Anti Racist Coalition, started out the rally telling organizers, “As a young person, it's difficult to let your voice be heard. But I say our time is here and now. If you truly label yourself as an indigenous ally, use your voice, sign petitions, show up at rallies and get involved.”

The Line 3 oil pipeline runs through Minnesota crossing the Mississippi river at several points and violates the sovereignty of the Anishinaabe peoples and their land.

Speakers made connections with other important struggles. Joe Vital from the East Phillips Urban Farm Initiative talked about their fight for community control in fighting industrial pollution and building a community space that empowers the residents and combats historic environmental racism.

The protest marched to the Mississippi River to honor the water. Speakers made connections to the fight for community control of the police in the form of a civilian police accountability council (CPAC); the fight for Palestine and their indigenous struggle against Israeli occupiers; and the fight of students for control of their campus demanding university CPAC as well.

CJ McCormick from the Climate Justice Committee said, “We need control over our own communities – the power to clean our air, to support ourselves, and to determine how our own spaces are used. That needs to be our future.”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #IndigenousPeoples #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee #Line3

Minneapolis, MN – On August 4, over 30 people gathered on an Interstate 35W overpass, near the office of Biden ally Senator Amy Klobuchar. Via signage, song and chants, community members spread the message to thousands passing by in rush hour traffic: “Save our planet, not their profits” and “Love water, not oil.” Protesters urged commuters to contact President Biden directly to demand an end to Line 3, as the president could kill ‘the black snake’ with a stroke of his pen – but he continues to prioritize corporate profits over the health of people and the planet.

Line 3 is a pipeline currently being constructed in northern Minnesota by Canadian multinational company Enbridge. The construction of Line 3 is in direct violation of the State of Minnesota’s treaties with the Anishinaabe people and is a threat to tribal sovereignty.

Enbridge markets the pipeline as a replacement project, when in reality it uses a different corridor, expanding the territory defiled by the dying tar-sands industry. Building a new pipeline allows Enbridge to abandon the corroding, leaking pipeline already in existence, and instead exploit precious ecosystems in the name of capitalism.

Despite clear calls from environmentalists, indigenous peoples and their allies, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other state officials continue to tout fictionalized job gains as a reason to permit Line 3 to rob current and future generations of clean water and air. The pipeline would enrich only Enbridge. As Austin Dewey of the Climate Justice Committee explains, “Line 3 would bring few permanent jobs to the state, and instead suck billions into the pockets of Enbridge’s management.” The temporary construction jobs have the effect of creating man-camps near native communities. Communities which, due to systematic racism, land theft, and deliberate disinvestment by the federal government, experience a higher frequency of sex trafficking and violence against women.

Oil pipelines are the energy dinosaurs of a world slowly waking up to the dangers of relying on fossil fuels. Often called “the last pipeline,” Line 3 embraces the status quo of worshipping the oil industry, perpetuator of climate change and environmental destruction. Recent drilling fluid ‘frac-outs’ from Line 3’s reconstruction are harbingers of larger leaks that inevitably befall pipelines, especially those abandoned in the landscape in favor of new corridors. Any chemical spill near the headwaters of the Mississippi should be alarming to the millions living downstream, yet the banks funding the pipeline (TD Bank, Citibank, Wells Fargo, etc.) turn a blind eye. Those who can’t and don’t are the indigenous peoples who depend on the water, wild rice and wildlife. Water is life.

This protest was initiated by the Climate Justice Committee.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee #Line3Pipeline

Minneapolis, MN – Twelve activists with the Climate Justice Committee (CJC) held banners that said “Climate Justice Now”, “Military Bases Pollute Communities” and “The U.S. Military #1 Polluter” over Highway 62 in south Minneapolis, June 3, outside of an military base during rush hour. The CJC was founded in February 2020 to pressure the federal government to decrease its carbon footprint.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee

Minneapolis, MN – On May 13, the Climate Justice Committee organized an event which brought together local activist groups in front of the offices of Senator Amy Klobuchar to examine the actions taken on environmental policy by the Biden administration during its first 100 days in office.

Climate Justice Committee (CJC) speaker Tracy Molm explained how when Biden took office in January, the CJC held his campaign accountable for the promise of doing more on climate, demanded a People's Agenda, and a reversal of Trump's many disastrous executive orders on climate change – picking 11 of the worst for Biden to overturn t during his first 100 days in office. Of these 11, Biden has only reversed one: rejoining the Paris Agreement. Other measures which could have been changed with a simple signature on day one, like going back to pre-Trump era emissions standards, were flatly ignored. A big point of disagreement, respecting treaty rights and ending fossil fuel pipelines was minimally addressed with the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, while larger pipeline endeavors such as DAPL and Line 3 continue to trespass and trample on indigenous sovereign land while still severely contaminating our environment.

The grave impact of these dirty pipelines was further emphasized by the testimony of Water Protector Betsy Foy, who told of her experience being arrested twice for her resistance to pipeline construction. Foy spoke of the disturbing legal process arrestees were put through and the inhumane treatment inflicted upon them by the police – one example described officers placing protesters ‘in isolation’ using blindfolds, headphones and sacks over their heads to cut them off of their surroundings.

“Indigenous treaties across what is now known as the United States do not endow rights to Native Americans,” reminded Robert Hendrickson, reading a statement from a MN350 Pipeline resistance team member, “They provide rights to non-Indigenous people to live upon these lands. Mni-sota is built-up over the territory of the Anishinaabe and Dakota people, who are the custodians of these lands, past and present.”

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, speaking for the MN Anti-War Committee, listed further instances of the Biden administration’s failure to address a people's agenda. She pointed to his silence on Israel's most recent desecration of a Muslim holy site, the horrific and continuous bombing of Gaza, the evictions of Jerusalem residents in Sheikh Jarrah and the systematic violation of Palestinian human and civil rights, the “plan to privatize the occupation of Afghanistan,” with performative theatrics of bringing our soldiers home while leaving the bulk of occupation in the form of U.S. Special Forces, mercenaries, intelligence operatives and 18,000 Pentagon contractors “all planning to stay,” the continuation of Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, with ICE, last week, detaining about 15,000 immigrants, including more than 1500 parents and children at the family holding facilities; all pointed to the fact that Biden is not substantially changing Trump's policies. “The only change is in the rhetoric,” Aby-Keirstead declared.

So for this, the action of the Biden administration Aby-Keirstead graded with Needs Improvement. “And since I am a teacher,” Aby-Keirstead concluded, “that's official.”

“What we need to force change is a fighting movement,” said Tracy Molm. “While politicians are happy to talk about all of us making choices to be more green – reduce waste by recycling, and all – our personal choices are minor compared to the impact of the U.S. military. So we need to be outraged and demand cuts to the U.S. military, demand that the U.S. military account for their role in climate change. To do this we need all of you to join us, like today, out at events. And we need to continue to connect issues like climate change to attacks on our Black and brown siblings and attacks on immigrants. We need to demand justice and a People’s Agenda.”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #SenatorAmyKlobuchar #ClimateJusticeCommittee

St. Paul, MN – On February 17, members of the Climate Justice Committee (CJC) held banners over Interstate 94 and held a banner and signs to drivers on the Snelling bridge in Saint Paul as a part of their week of action targeting President Biden. The banners said things like “2050 is too late! Climate justice now!” “The U.S. military is the #1 polluter” and “Climate justice now, not 2050.”

Earlier in the week the CJC had its supporters contact the White House to pressure Biden to shut down the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline in Minnesota and to set emission reduction goals for the U.S. military. The U.S. military is exempt from the Paris Climate Accords even though the Pentagon, if it was a country, would be the world's 55th largest CO2 emitter.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a member of the Climate Justice Committee, explains, “Today millions in Texas don’t have power due to extreme weather. Scientists predict more and more weather chaos. We need to be taking bold climate action now. The president has issued some executive orders, but we need more. Biden can’t be satisfied with only mitigating the damage from Trump. We need more change and faster to stop the significant temperature change that has already started.”

This action was a part of the CJC’s campaign for strong environmental executive actions in the first 100 days of the Biden administration. They urge people to sign their petition and see all the demands.

#SaintPaulMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee

St. Paul, MN – Over 500 protesters picketed outside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz mansion, November 14, to protest his decision to grant permits to allow Enbridge to build Line 3, a pipeline that would carry nearly a million barrels of tar sands a day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin through Minnesota. The event was organized by MN 350, and included other groups that have organized against Line 3.

The Climate Justice Committee (CJC) joined to protest Walz’s decision. Katherine Gould, a CJC member explained, “We demand the people of Minnesota and Native people have a say in Line 3, not corporations that will pollute our lands.” The emcees started the program straight to the point, “Walz approving the largest tar sands infrastructure is fucked up.”

Protesters chanted, “Ho ho, hey hey! No tar sands today” and “Climate justice now.”

Climate Justice Committee members also handed out flyers for their new campaign to tell Biden to roll back Trump’s executive orders that would speed global warming.

#StPaulMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee #Line3Pipeline

St. Paul, MN – On September 22, activists from the newly formed Climate Justice Committee (CJC) hung banners over the side of the Snelling Avenue bridge and the pedestrian bridge that spans Interstate-94 connecting downtown Minneapolis with downtown Saint Paul. The banners read, “Capitalism kills the planet,” “The U.S. military: The #1 polluter,” “Push Biden left on climate change” and “2050 is too late, climate justice now.” The last slogan references Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s climate plan, which positions its goal as 100% clean energy by 2050.

Alongside Biden’s climate plan, in August, a section of the Democratic National Convention’s platform that called for “eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuels” was struck from the final draft by the Democratic National Committee, illustrating the need to push Biden and the Democrats on the issue of climate change.

The activists’ goal was to put the demand for climate justice back on people’s agenda as they drove home from work. They received a chorus of honks of solidarity from the drivers on the freeway below.

“We organized this bannering to bring focus to the importance of the climate change issue,” Kim DeFranco, an activist from the Climate Justice Committee said, “and to highlight the issue that the U.S. military is the biggest polluter in the world.”

“We want to give people something to think about on their drive home, that all these things are interrelated – the water crisis in Flint, the lack of water in the Navajo nation, the murder of George Floyd – all these oppressions are interrelated, and these oppressed groups are being affected the worst by climate change and the pandemic, like they’re facing multiple pandemics,” said Greg Trentman.

The Climate Justice Committee is a recently founded grassroots organization centered in the Twin Cities, for the purpose of advancing the demand for climate justice and bringing greater focus on the driving effects of U.S. militarism and imperialism on climate change.

“We didn’t feel like climate justice was being addressed in the movement. There’s a lot of talk about carbon emissions and recycling, but not about the fact that climate change disproportionately affects communities of color and poor and working class folks,” said Misty Rowan, another Climate Justice Committee activist, “we want to make sure climate justice is part of the conversation.”

The Climate Justice Committee meets weekly on Tuesday nights. To learn more about them and attend their actions follow them on Facebook at @ClimateJusticeMN.

#SaintPaulMN #PeoplesStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJusticeCommittee