iMatter, a youth-driven organization based in Minneapolis, MN, has worked across the country to mobilize teen voices on climate action. The organization helped student members at one Minnesota high school petition their City Council to pass the most aggressive carbon-neutral policy in the state. City council members not only listened to the concerned residents, but voted on and passed the resolution! The students started reaching out—asking more students in more cities and towns to push the same issues to their city councils. Then, iMatter groups across Minnesota banded together to demand state-level climate action. They partnered with other organizations and young people to form MN Can’t Wait. They are pushing for three things: (1) a Minnesota Green New Deal bill, (2) stopping construction on an existing tar sands pipeline, and stopping all proposed future fossil fuel projects, and (3) utilizing existing legal authority to limit greenhouse gas pollution.
Student organizers from MN Can’t Wait are being recognized across the state as advocates whose voices are critical components of the conversation around climate change. Members of the organizing team have been quoted in stories from across the country, and a recent rally at the Minnesota House of Representatives made state-wide headlines. Learn more from these activists at Climate Justice: A Better Future for Us All.