On Tuesday, February 7, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a bill that requires 100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 (Senate File 4 and House File 7).
The bill requires energy companies to move away from fossil fuels to wind and solar, while biomass, hydropower, hydrogen, and existing nuclear plants are allowed within their energy mix to be labeled as carbon-free. As a member of the 100% Campaign, we have been working with partners since 2019 to make this legislation as ambitious, just, and equitable as possible.
A small way this showed up in the final version of the bill was excluding garbage incineration facilities from being defined as “carbon-free energy” in densely populated areas. (Read more about why waste incineration is not good for our health or environment.) In addition, the bill encourages utilities to locate new clean energy facilities in communities where fossil-fuel plants are closing, and includes provisions to focus on diversifying the utility’s workforce.
We applaud and celebrate the importance of passing this bill in Minnesota, as well as the many organizations, legislators, communities, and individuals that made this possible. We also know this is just one part of a comprehensive climate justice-grounded policy package that needs to be passed during the 2023 legislative session, and we are just beginning the process of not if, but how we will implement and do the work required of this bill and others in the future.
Passing clean energy mandates alongside mitigation and adaptation measures are important, but we cannot forget the human infrastructure that is needed to build and sustain the progress we are making –– the students that will become wind turbine technicians; the training required to prepare job seekers for the boom in renewable energy jobs and transition from fossil fuel infrastructure; the teachers that will prepare their students with the knowledge they need.
We need legislation that also takes on the systems perpetuating the climate crisis through education, community resilience, and upholding the right to democratic participation. The education sector provides a foundation in understanding systems and educators make solutions relevant to student lives by inspiring and preparing them for green jobs providing the technical and adaptive skills needed to transform society. Furthermore, it’s imperative that the health and resilience of frontline Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities is centered. Historically excluded communities need to lead the decision making.
Solving the climate change challenge in the United States will require massive shifts in policies, technologies, and economic incentives. It also demands tens of millions of educated consumers, thousands of brilliant entrepreneurs, millions of skilled technicians, a multitude of insightful planners, engineers, architects, enlightened corporate and government executives, and educators. Engaging in the belief that new rules, regulations, and technologies can reverse climate change while ignoring the need for human understanding, skill, and preparation is to engage in magical thinking. Without ramping up our education and training programs nationwide, we will never get a firm enough grip on the climate problem.
— Coalition for Climate Education Policy
With this in mind, Climate Generation and high school leaders in our YEA! program will follow, support, and advocate for progress on the following bills and opportunities during this Minnesota legislative session. This short list is by no means comprehensive of the changes needed. There is a whole array of exciting climate-adjacent and intersectional bills in buildings, community planning, transit, land use, zero waste, conservation, soil health, agriculture, workforce development, housing and more. Alongside this we must ensure individual rights in voicing advocacy are upheld.
Education Bills
Climate Justice Instruction Bill (SF 476): While Minnesota does include human-induced climate change in their newly adopted science standards, as well as including Traditional Ecological Knowledge in that understanding, climate justice education must be consistent and coherent across disciplines. YEA! students have been stewarding a climate justice education bill for a few years and are enthusiastic about the opportunity to push for climate justice education again this year. This bill is one step towards making climate justice education recognized as an essential piece of a Minnesota student’s education.
Hear from YEA! leaders Tahm and Maria about why climate justice education is critical.
Teachers of Color Act (HF320, SF619): This bill is exciting on a number of levels. 96% of teachers in Minnesota identify as white, yet BIPOC communities make up the majority impacted by climate change. This moment requires diverse perspectives and educators that are representative of their students racial and cultural backgrounds. Additionally this bill includes an ethnic studies curriculum which includes “the critical and interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the experiences and perspectives of People of Color within and beyond the United States. Ethnic studies analyzes the ways in which race and racism have been and continue to be powerful social, cultural, and political forces…” To truly understand the climate crisis and to empower all students to take action, an ethnic studies analysis is essential.
Threats to Public Participation Bills
Two “anti-protest bills”(HF 1069, SF 935) have been introduced. These are important to be aware of because they threaten the ability of individuals to exercise their rights to public advocacy, but the bills themselves are unlikely to go anywhere. Our friends at Outrider recently wrote about the importance of climate activism and why public participation is critical.
Environmental Justice Bills
Cumulative Impacts Bill (SF466/HF637): This bill asks that a “cumulative community impacts” analysis be done when state permitting. This means the potential public health and environmental impacts from pollutant exposures and risks are required, incorporating the context of past, present, and future impacts to communities made vulnerable by new permits.
There are opportunities across the Governor’s budget to make it a climate budget. We invite you to join us in this work! On February 15, come show your support at Rise & Repair: Rally for Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice at the MN Capitol to meet with legislators, build community, and recognize that honoring Indigenous Sovereignty and treaty rights is part of our path to a climate just future.
Want to show support for any of these bills? Email and/or call your representatives and/or senators. Opportunities to testify in support or against some of these bills will likely be coming up in the next few weeks –– if you would like help developing your talking points, please contact us for support.
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Kristen Iverson Poppleton is the Senior Director of Programs for Climate Generation. Climate Generation empowers individuals and communities to engage in solutions to climate change. Kristen develops a vision for and provides strategic coordination, oversight and support for all Climate Generation programs focusing on youth, educator and community engagement. She served on the Federal Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment and the City of St. Paul’s Climate Action Planning Committee, and Minnesota’s Science Standards Revision Committee. She currently serves as co-chair of the CLEAN (Climate Literacy) Network’s Leadership Board, the Action for Climate Empowerment Leadership Team, and St. Paul’s Climate Justice Advisory Board. Kristen has worked at the Science Museum of Minnesota, the International Wolf Center, and taught environmental education in Argentina. Kristen holds a BA in Biology and Hispanic Studies from St. Olaf College, a MEd in Environmental Education from University of Minnesota, Duluth and a MS in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is a fourth generation St. Paulite, and in her spare time loves to be in the boreal forest with her husband, two children and Lab, canoeing, hiking, nordic skiing, or with her nose in a new novel.