Internship Location: Minnesota (Remote)
Organization Type: Nonprofit
Policy Areas: Environment and Social Justice
MN350 is a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that seeks to transition from our economy based on fossil fuel consumption to a more sustainable economy. They also plan to incorporate marginalized communities that were normally excluded from economic gain. MN 350 wishes to cultivate an environment of cleaner energy and equity for the future. They believe that fighting climate change requires dismantling intertwined systems of oppression that have continued to grow. Their vision encompasses the uprooting of the systems of racism, gender oppression, the dispossession of indigenous people, and predatory capitalism. Within the organization there are many teams. I worked mainly within the Pipeline Resistance Team. This team worked to stop Canadian corporation Enbridge’s Line 5 Reroute in northern Wisconsin. This pipeline endangers surrounding communities and environments. They also worked to change previously set rules so that new pipelines can’t be built in Minnesota, and so that existing ones will be shut down. My objective as a part of this team was to look through the policies and rules of other states to see how they restricted and handled pipelines and their placement. I would lay it all out to compare and contrast to the rules that Minnesota currently has placed. This was to hopefully find beneficial rules and solutions that could then be applied to Minnesota instead of their current rules. This internship allowed me to explore my interests in the environment and policy together as well as connect with new communities that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to.