We Defended our Futures, Now We Have the Tools to Build. Let’s Use Them!
Mural by Greta McLain
This essay is part of a larger series about how our elected officials help us defend our futures by leading on equitable climate solutions and building multiracial democracy.
When I started this series back in September, I wrote I’d never been more nervous or more hopeful about my daughter’s future and the possibilities in this year’s election for building our multiracial democracy and a safer climate future. Fellow Minnesotans, you delivered a foundation for more hope, and it’s overshadowing the nervousness.
Even better, now we get to do the exciting, though still challenging, work of using the governance tools we have to build the better future each of us deserves.
Let’s review what those tools for building our futures are and then go deeper on how you, me, and each of us can be part of making our elected officials the partners we need to build our futures.
Governing Tools
Minnesota reelected Tim Walz and Peggy Flanagan for second terms as governor and lieutenant governor. These two have laid a foundation for accelerating climate leadership – most recently with the release of the Minnesota Climate Framework in September. Moving forward, our governor and lieutenant governor need to deliver on this foundation by championing 100% clean energy, making climate investments a key part of their state budget proposal, and using executive actions to effectively use the big federal funds coming to Minnesota.
Minnesota reelected Attorney General Keith Ellison, which means our state’s lawsuit against fossil fuel companies for profiting off the fraud of lying about the harms of climate change continues. This is great news for building a climate future with a foundation of a fair economy.
Secretary of State Steve Simon also earned a second term in office. His leadership on making voting more accessible for all eligible Minnesotans will continue. And we hope he continues to champion policies to make voting more accessible – policies like automatic voter registration and restoring the right to vote to Minnesotans who have completed their prison sentences.
Voters chose to give State Auditor Julie Blaha a second term. Auditor Blaha has led on confronting the climate risks for Minnesota’s pension investments. We want to see this work continue and expand to consider the risks climate change creates for local government budgets. Moving forward, this work could help forge a path to proactively prepare local governments for the climate risks in their budgets.
Finally, voters made the biggest change at the legislature. The DFL retained the majority of the House of Representatives and the majority in the Senate flipped from Republican to Democratic. It’s a huge shift in the potential for bold climate action in our state government. Over the last couple of years, the House has passed major climate policies – including 100% carbon-free energy and a substantial climate budget – only to have these things get stopped by the Senate. Majorities led by climate champions in both bodies means big, new tools to build a better climate future. Exciting!
We have more (fun!) work to do
We’ve done the work to defend our futures by electing champions for multiracial democracy and equitable climate solutions. Now, comes even more fun work. We need to make sure our elected officials deliver on all this potential!
We get to shift from becoming future defenders to becoming world builders. What does that mean? In short, it means we need to dream, to write letters to the editor, to ask questions at town halls, to rally, to build relationships, to talk with our elected officials and our neighbors. We need to do all of this work for the world we want to create for ourselves, our children, and each other.
For me, the world I am working to build looks like this.
I want to build a world in which my daughter knows she has both rights and responsibilities as a citizen and community member. I want her to know and value people of different races and from different backgrounds. I want her to know that each of these people is as essential to her community as she is. I want her to feel in her bones that each person has just as much of a right and responsibility to build the world together as she does. This is what multiracial democracy means to me.
In 2050, my daughter will be the same age I was when she was born. I want her to live in a world with net zero carbon emissions, a feat humanity achieved fast enough to avert the worst climate change impacts. I want her to inhabit a community with infrastructure – like stormwater systems and transportation options – built with climate resilience at the center. I want her and her family to be enmeshed in public systems – like schools, government, and health care – that are making sure people stay healthy and connected even as climate disasters continue.
We’ve got a government poised for making big progress toward these big dreams. To make them possible I need to step up. I need you to step up, too.
So, what can you do, practically, to help? Here are three big ones.
Get to know your legislators. Then engage with them! Sign up for their newsletters. Attend their town halls. And each time you do, make sure they know the things you care about and want to see happen. Figuring out your legislators is a little tricky right now because of recent redistricting and the fact that the election just happened. But the legislature doesn’t start up again until January, so you have some time. Check out the Minnesota Legislature page for links to the House and the Senate websites, which have links to connect with your legislators and the legislative process overall.
Pick an issue or two, and commit to engaging deeply on that issue. We don’t need everybody doing everything, but we need everyone to do something. So, pick an issue. Find an organization that will help you make sense of what’s happening on that issue and connect you to others interested in it. These organizations can help you figure out how to be most effective. Your issue could be school funding, progressive tax revenue, voting rights, or something else! Obviously, we at the 100% Campaign would love to connect you with climate action and multiracial democracy-building. You can sign up to get informed and involved here.
Connect in your community and intentionally grow roots. Community connections are valuable for a meaningful life. These connections also matter for our democracy and climate resilience. Knowing our neighbors beyond the world of political fights weaves a fabric that won’t fray if (or, more accurately, when) we disagree. And being resilient in the face of climate change will take a community fabric that can be activated to help each other out when climate disasters inevitably happen. Connecting to community can take all sorts of different forms. In my current phase of life, it has meant joining my neighborhood association board. Through this service, I’ve built cross-generational friendships that I treasure and draw from as I try to navigate juggling work with child and elder care. Maybe you could volunteer at a local school, join a faith congregation, form a book club, lead a scout group, or something else that feels right?
The results of this election in Minnesota have given me – and hopefully you – a little space to pause and take a breath. I’m going to use this time to dream about the potential we have created by defending our futures in this election. And to get ready to push for policy change and state budget investments we need to build the world of our dreams.
