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Environmental Justice

Climate change is an existential threat: we must all become agents of change.

Alicia Gibson's Civilian Climate Corps:

  1. Train neighborhood-based teams with solutions for renters, homeowners, and businesses.

  2. ​Door-to-door education and outreach.

  3. Follow-up to encourage participation & create relationships.

There is no clearer example of the way old paradigms of thinking have brought us to a dead end than climate change -- we could add to the list species extinction, and the choking off our rivers, lakes, and oceans. If we do not address the underlying causes for this dire state of affairs, policies to stop the damage will leave in place the paradigm of exploitation that continues to enrich some at the expense of others. The idea of environmental justice began at the 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit. Governing by its principles means making things like toxic clean-up a priority in historically marginalized parts of the city, but it also means including the community in a fundamental way in the planning and implementation of all infrastructure plans -- not for them, but with them.

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Alicia Gibson's Ecological Vision

Holistic Approaches in

City Planning

  • Accelerated transition to renewable energy puts us on sustainable course

  • Evaluate city projects based on energy efficiency, water quality, air pollution, native habitat, tree canopy, and community relationships to green spaces 

  • Impacts to animals, plants, insects included in planning in accordance with a planet-saving ecological mindset: native plantings for habitat, green strips to break up dense urban built environment, tree canopy impact analyzed on ongoing basis, priority on lake and river watershed health

  • Successful partnerships with regional and state partners bring better mass transit options for people living in the city

Building Communities of Renewal

  • Increased access to community gardens, particularly in dense, renter-dominant locations ensure equitable access to green space

  • Funding at neighborhood level for projects connecting the community to outdoor spaces and environmental stewardship strengthens grassroots democracy and our relationship to the land

  • Opportunities for community conversations around ecological impacts and current use give rise to community-driven solutions to reach environmental goals

  • Fully funded and supported Green Zones repair harm with micro-grid technology to build resilience

Citizen Climate Corps for 

Urgent Action

  • Minneapolis meets emission reduction targets from our Climate Action Plan (80% by 2050) by dramatically increasing access to subsidized green transition opportunities through education

  • A new Neighborhood Revitalization Plan provides funding from the utilities franchise fees for a Climate Corps to conduct door-to-door outreach modeled after census campaigns and WWII homefront mobilization 

  • Climate Corps members train with experts like the Community Utility Board and the Center for Energy & the Environment to create personalized transition plans with homeowner, renter, business, and property owner teams.

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