Mounds View students encourage change, propose climate education bill

Mounds View High School seniors Julia Gronert, Margaret McGann and Jonin Morgan are at the forefront of expanding climate change education through Youth Environmental Activists (YEA), a network for Minnesota youths acting on the systems perpetuating the climate crisis.

YEA is a part of Climate Generation, an organization that was created in 2006 by polar explorer and educator Will Steger to help build climate literacy, amplify personal connections to climate change and develop community collaboration. 

The seniors joined the group within the last year. Gronert joined YEA in February of last year. 

“I was kind of having an existential crisis about the environment and I was like, ‘I need to find something that I can do to get involved.’ I was looking for so long to find somewhere … and I found YEA, and I was like, ‘Oh, this sounds perfect,’” she said. 

Morgan joined YEA shortly after Gronert brought him to a meeting. 

“This is my second year,” Morgan explained. “I am really passionate about government environmentalism. So, I thought it was a really cool opportunity, and I was really excited to go to the first meeting.”

McGann started attending the meetings around four months ago after hearing Gronert and Morgan talk about the group. 

“I heard Jonin and Julia talking about it a lot, and I heard ‘environment’, and I was like, ‘I’m in!’” she said. “I went there, and it was totally different than I thought. I thought ‘Wow, this is really cool,’ and I started learning so much that I had never known about.”

The three are all leaders in YEA. Morgan explained that this means they are responsible for planning different projects and events. The group meets every Wednesday from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Climate Generation office. Morgan added that they have networking time, where the public is welcome to join. It is an opportunity to learn about various topics, such as fast fashion. 

“We have something called ‘radical hospitality,’” said Morgan about the program. “They always make it a goal to have a nice spot for you to sit, or warm food for you to eat. I think that nurturing environment really helps to create policy and to create new plans for projects and to move our visions forward.”

“It creates an environment where it is open and free, people can speak how they feel and it’s not competitive. It is more of an environment where you can disagree and build off of each other’s disagreements rather than pushing each other down,” he added. 

McGann said that since joining YEA, her eyes have been opened to new perspectives. 

“I feel like I always come out of there learning so much and having a different awareness, because people are all bringing their own stories and sharing and talking about what has been affecting them,” McGann said. “I think my eyes have been opened a lot more.” 

Currently, McGann said that YEA leaders are focused on teaching members about the Climate Justice Education bill. If it passes, it will require the Minnesota Commissioner of Education to create educational materials for all schools that is based around climate justice. 

Climate justice is a framework that focuses on fairness and equity in addressing climate change, ensuring that burdens and benefits of climate action and impacts are distributed equitably, particularly focusing on the rights and needs of marginalized communities. 

“It is really about creating this curriculum that teachers can use in their classrooms. And I think that the biggest thing is that it’s very interdisciplinary; any subject teacher can teach this curriculum,” Morgan explained. “So, it is just about having that resource available to teachers to teach their kids because right now, there’s nothing like that in the state.” 

Gronert said that most students do not receive a good climate change education. Last year was the first year where earth and science courses became a requirement in schools. 

“This is just aimed at making sure that they do,” she added. “And also, that it includes how minorities are disproportionally affected by climate issues.”

“I would add that the cause of why we have this bill is that these (marginalized) groups that we talked about are impacted disproportionally. Most of the climate change policies do not directly help these communities,” McGann added. “These communities that are affected the most are excluded from the actual policy decisions. What our bill is doing is demanding equitable solutions for these groups.” 

Earlier this year, YEA held the Youth Climate Action Summit. Hundreds of students from across the state attended. Attendees participated in workshops and learned about the bill. As part of the summit, small groups went to the Capitol to speak to representatives about the bill. 

McGann said students and community members can get involved by speaking to legislators about the bill. Gronert added that the community is welcome to attend meetings during networking time to learn more about the bill and help. 

Morgan added that being a part of the YEA community makes climate change seem more manageable. 

“Climate change is scary, and being able to find a community that is so supportive and welcoming is nice, and makes this big, scary issue become more manageable and allows for solutions to open up in your mind and makes solutions realistic,” he explained. 

“The program is extremely call to action,” McGann added. “We talk about the fast fashion industry and then we hold our own clothing swap to do our own part in reducing our consumption of clothing and reusing clothing. It’s not just learning; it is every single week we are doing something to do our part.”  

Currently, YEA is waiting for a hearing date from the House of Representatives for the bill.