Minnesotans made their presence felt last month at the U.N. Climate Conference of Parties (COP26). More than 60 of us were in Glasgow for the two-week summit with a wide variety of perspectives represented: Indigenous leaders, students, youth climate activists, environmental and faith leaders, elected officials, renewable energy developers, health professionals and academic researchers.
Our state’s presence was made known visually, as well. Each day, as delegates from across the globe entered the conference’s main gates, they were greeted by hundreds of prayer squares stitched together into a quilt by delegates from Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light. The message was clear: Minnesotans are here and we want to be part of the global solutions to climate change.
The climate summit concluded with the Glasgow Pact, an agreement signed by all 197 nations in attendance. Among the highlights, countries have recommitted to hold global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and finalized the rules for implementing the Paris agreement. New strategies include the Global Methane Pledge, the Declaration on Forests and Land Use, and a “phase down” of coal.
The group returned to Minnesota distressed that more was not accomplished. One of the biggest disappointments was that negotiators failed to create a mechanism for funding the “loss and damage” caused by climate change. This would compensate certain nations, like low-income and low-lying states, that are already experiencing the destruction wreaked by the climate crisis. Seve Paeniu, climate minister from the now-sinking island of Tuvalu, told attendees that COP26 is “a matter of life and survival for many of us.”
But we also come back with a renewed and more urgent commitment to fight climate change here at home. Midwestern states, taken together, account for 33 percent of all U.S. emissions, and the U.S. is the second-largest polluter in the world. Minnesota must do its part, which means we have work to do.
This work starts by listening more to the voices of Indigenous communities and our young people, and working in partnership with them to make sure we keep moving forward. Much like the citizens of Tuvalu, they’ve contributed relatively little to climate change and yet stand to lose the most if we fail to act.
“We need people in power to do better. The governments of the world are too afraid to do anything big or bold, but we cannot afford to share their fear,” said Ashley Fairbanks, an Anishinaabe artist and one of Climate Generation’s Minnesota delegates.
To fulfill this commitment, we must start by prioritizing an update to the Next Generation Energy Act (NGEA). In 2007, Minnesotans came together and led the nation in adopting science-based standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The NGEA required utilities to produce 25 percent of their energy using renewable resources by the year 2025 and reduce energy sales by 1 to 1.5 percent each year. That goal is now out of date.
The Minnesota House of Representatives passed the Next Generation Climate Act to update the 2007 law. The new bill mandates reductions in greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors with a goal of 45 percent by 2030 and net zero by 2050. In addition, the 100 percent Clean Energy bill, which calls for 100 percent clean energy by 2040, also passed the House. Neither of these bills has even gotten a hearing in the Minnesota Senate. We need the Senate to act to update these laws so we are keeping in step with climate science and our national commitments.
We also need to accomplish this work by putting more accountability in place to ensure government entities follow the targets in their actions, and that they embed racial and climate justice in implementation. This includes everything from more transparent environmental review of energy projects to better representation from Brown, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) within decision-making bodies like the Public Utilities Commission. We must ensure that we factor in environmental justice when assessing each new measure, because for too long, people of color have had our society’s waste and pollution forced upon their communities in ways that others have not.
“On the days when I feel hopeless, I need to remember that there are others who are with me, who are ready to see the possibilities and not give up,” said Bella Garioch, a youth delegate and student at Macalester College.
If 197 countries can agree to dramatically address climate change, Minnesotans can accomplish something similar here as well. Our responsibility to future generations demands no less.
This piece was written by Prof. Roopali Phadke, Macalester College, and state Rep. Frank Hornstein of Minneapolis. This piece was also signed by: state Rep. Patty Acomb, who represents Minnetonka, Plymouth and Woodland; Ellen Anderson, climate program director, Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy; great-grandmother Mary Lyons, Ojibwe Wisdom Keeper and Elder U.N. Observer; Beth Mercer-Taylor, co-program director, Sustainability Education, University of Minnesota, and Julia Nerbonne, executive director, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light.
Just imagine what message would have been sent if that two-week conference had been held virtually instead of burning tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel for your comfort and enjoyment. How do you expect open-minded people to take your cause seriously?
I’ve spent a lot of time in Scotland and it’s beautiful. But I got there in a nuclear submarine. Zero pollution.
Zero pollution? MISINFORMATION ALERT.
“Spent nuclear fuel is shipped by rail to the Naval Reactor Facility in the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), located 42 miles (68 km) northwest of Idaho Falls, Idaho, where it is stored in special canisters.[1]” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship-Submarine_Recycling_Program#Spent_fuel_storage
“In fact, the U.S. nuclear industry has produced roughly 64,000 metric tons (one metric ton equals 1.1 U.S. tons) of radioactive used fuel rods in total or, in the words of NEI, enough “to cover a football field about seven yards deep.” (Of course, actually concentrating rods this way would set off a nuclear chain reaction.)” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nuclear-waste-lethal-trash-or-renewable-energy-source/
Nuclear power plants are unable to finish projects as few investors and huge cost overruns have forced the abandonment of half-completed projects.
Last week Japanese monitors found the ice wall built to contain the Fukushima plant is melting. If you re-call, a Tsunami damaged the cooling system beyond repair and the runaway reactor needed to be entombed in soils frozen in perpetuity.
You really shouldn’t preach a panacea of nuclear power when the solution is decidedly NOT any nuclear we have designed and built at today’s standards. Some people will believe you and stop working on sustainability. We have not learned how to safely use nuclear power, only ways to use it to produce Armageddon.
I appreciate your larger point. My point was simply there was no exhaust (pollution) while we were underway versus the noxious gases being discharged by a jet engine.
Thanks, Dennis, you’re right about emissions.
I respect your service / experience as a sub mariner, and the mental strength and stability required to live and work at close quarters with fellow crew members (who certainly could be annoying / challenging after many days and months at sea.)
I think we all could use some of those attributes as COVID hangs around and we see the signs of instability and mental break down around us.
You might want to read up on 3rd and 4th generation nuclear reactors that are under development. They even consume spent fuel from earlier reactors. Wikipedia has good information on this.
There is no way that we can get to a zero carbon world without relying on nuclear power.
Research is good, but time is slipping away for these prototypes to start solving the problem.
The best prospects RIGHT NOW are bigger and bigger wind turbines, both for reliable generation in offshore wind environs and for lowest cost per kWh energy.
Solar too is paying the bills for some electrical utilities already.
The problem is, trillions of dollars of stranded fossil fuel assets will not be given up easily by the energy monopolies. There isn’t a monetary incentive for them to give up their cash cows, maybe EVER.
I think the article sums up the feelings of a lot of people worldwide – that we need to pick up the pace on addressing climate change. Even though the results in Glasgow were disappointing, at least. there was an attempt to address the problem.
We recently had a gathering in our county to hear information about how climate change is now, and will in the future, effect our area. It wasn’t pretty, but there were a couple of encouraging bits of information: 1. A slight majority of people now feel that there is a serious problem with the climate situation (thus there is hope that we are approaching a tipping point on this issue). 2. Even if the politicians are moving slowly, we (as individuals and communities) have ways to reduce our carbon footprint on our own. Many of those actions will also save us money – fewer trips, more efficient transportation, buy less stuff, upgrade energy efficiency of buildings, install solar panels, etc. If enough people start making the shift, and urging our leaders to do the same, it will make a difference. We also need to ramp up the pressure on our political leaders to do their part.