Caucus Chair Veda Kanitz Departure Message

Essays and Guest Posts,

The following are remarks delivered by outgoing DFL Environmental Caucus Chair, Veda Kanitz. 

Helping to shape and build the DFL Environmental Caucus has been my passion since the 2014 State DFL Convention.  With your help, we have built a strong, resilient community caucus that is making an impact. 

We inform and empower the voice of all Minnesotans who want to live, work, and raise their family in a safe, nurturing environment. 

We empower the voice of Minnesotans who demand action, not just words, to address the climate emergency that threatens the future of humanity. 

We lift up and empower the voice of the BIPOC community, who bear a disproportionate share of the burden of the impacts of climate change, and all too often live in unsafe, polluted environments. 

We endorse and help elect environmental champions, like Senator McEwen, Kate Knuth, and Jason Chavez, because we know without effective, thoughtful leaders, who use fact based evidence to make informed decisions,  who are connected and invested in their community, without leaders like Jen and Kate and Jason, we all lose.

We write and support resolutions that steer our work, and influence the party.

We form coalitions with other DFL caucuses and environmental groups, who amplify and strengthen our voice.

We have grown in strength and numbers but our work is far from complete. 

We join Honor the Earth, MN350, and over 370 organizations calling on Governor Walz and President Biden to STOP LINE 3.

We join the Native People’s caucus and the Somali caucus to call on the City of MPLS to abandon their plans for the Hiawatha Expansion, and to work with the East Phillips Neighborhood Initiative on their plan for an urban farm.

We join a coalition of environmental and tribal organizations with Friends of the BWCA and over 70 legislators who say, “Prove it First”, prove that it is safe, before you allow toxic sulfide mining in MN.

Help us flip the senate. So all the meaningful work of the House on climate is not lost once again. We cannot allow that to happen. 

Help us push the Governor and President Biden to make good on their pledge to act on climate, to provide a just, equitable transition to an economy based on clean, renewable energy.

Help us continue to grow and build strong alliances with others to “Protect what we love!”

Thank you for the last 7 years. It has been an honor and a privilege to chair this fine group. My life has been greatly enriched by you all. I look forward to supporting the next chair.

-Veda Kanitz

Endorsements for Minneapolis from DFL Environmental Caucus

Uncategorized

We are delighted to announce that the DFL Environmental Caucus has endorsed the following Candidates!!!

Kate Knuth for Mpls Mayor

Kate Knuth for Mayor of Minneapolis Kate served three terms as a state representative, including a stint as Assistant House Majority Leader.  She founded and runs Democracy and Climate LLC, a small business that provides strategy, policy, research, writing and consulting services.  She has a PhD in Conservation Science from the University of Minnesota, a M.Sc. in Biodiversity Conservation from Oxford University, and a BA in Biology and Philosophy from the University of Chicago.  She served on the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board and was the first Chief Resilience Officer for the city of Minneapolis.

 

LaTrisha Vetaw
LaTrisha Vetaw

LaTrisha Vetaw, for City Council, Ward 4

LaTrisha was elected to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in 2017.  She is the Director of Health Policy and Advocacy for NorthPoint Health and Wellness in North Minneapolis, where she’s lived since she was 12.  She’s the first member of her family to graduate from college.  She spearheaded creation of the Walt Dziedic Innovation Fund that prioritizes programs serving the Somali community, girls and young women, children and seniors.  She’s an avid gardener.

 

Kristel Porter
Kristel Porter

Kristel Porter, City Council, Ward 5 

Kristel is a life-long resident of North Minneapolis.  She’s worked at NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center, led two northside neighborhood organizations, and taught and coached at North High, Henry and Edison.  She founded and leads a fast-growing nonprofit that is installing solar panels on homes and businesses on the Northside.

 

Jason Chavez
Jason Chavez

 Jason Chavez for City Council, Ward 9 

Jason is a community organizer and legislative aide who is a life-long resident of the East Phillips neighborhood.  He turned to street life at age 13, emerged from that and became the first member of his family to graduate from college.  He served a term as student body president at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.  His focus on the environment began as a child, when his parents were told by the city (in a letter in English, which they couldn’t read) to stop growing vegetables in their yard because the soil was contaminated with arsenic.

We Stand Together

Social Justice

Dear DFL Environmental Caucus member,

There is tension in the air as we await a verdict in the murder trial of Derek Chauvin. There is also righteous anger over the wrongful death of Duante Wright, along with far too many Minnesotans, disproportionately people of color, at the hand of law enforcement officers.

We believe that every Minnesotan, regardless of background, zip code, or way of life, has the right to openly criticize how our private and public institutions work, and to speak out against oppressive activities of law enforcement officers and agencies. We support the right of Indigenous communities to stand in protest against the assault on their lands and cultural heritage. We support the rights of members of the press to observe and report on activities without fear of harassment, injury, or oppression by police. Recent police activities connected to protests in and near Brooklyn Center, Minnesota are greatly concerning.

We call on our leaders in government and law enforcement, including Governor Walz, Commissioner of Minnesota Department of Public Safety John Harrington, Col. Matt Langer, Chief of the Minnesota State Patrol, and Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson, to take action to stop dangerous, and oppressive activities being carried out by any or all police or National Guard forces that have been deployed. We stand with the people of the affected communities in Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center, and nearby communities.

We stand together as Democrats to ask for meaningful and swift reform of policing and public safety practices. We support the passage of comprehensive police reform bills now in the Minnesota State Legislature, including the Omnibus Public Safety Bill (HF 1078) and the bill to End the Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Deaths by Police (HF 717, SF 2021). We also support HF 593/SF 1489 to Outlaw White Supremacy in MN Law Enforcement.

Veda Kanitz, Chair, and members of the
DFL Environmental Caucus Executive Committee

Transitioning to renewable energy in Minnesota strengthens us

Energy, Essays and Guest Posts

by Lawrence Baker

Energy transitions have occurred throughout human history: human power to animal power, animal to water power and coal, coal to oil and natural gas; and now fossil fuels to renewable energy. While reducing global warming emissions is a major motivation for transitioning to renewable energy, there are many other important benefits to Minnesota’s citizens. Continue reading Transitioning to renewable energy in Minnesota strengthens us →

Face facts, a birder is the nerd of the outdoor world By Margaret Seibel

Uncategorized,

Face facts, a birder is the nerd of the outdoor world.  Everyone else is a tough, self-reliant individual who can survive off the land with nothing but matches and a can of DEET.   Even though a fisherman often sits in a cozy craft with a cooler full of beer, a person in the wild would still run to a fisherman for help rather than a birder clunking around with binoculars and a camera.  Rehabilitation of the birder image starts now.
Continue reading Face facts, a birder is the nerd of the outdoor world By Margaret Seibel →