Campaigns

We use our health professional credibility and expertise to work in coalition with other organizations in Minnesota to advance policies and initiatives that address the climate crisis.

We recognize that we cannot solve the climate crisis without addressing the underlying health and economic disparities that devalue the lives of Black, Indigenous and People of Color. We advocate for the inclusion of climate equity in all climate change solutions and policies.

 

Frontline Communities & Cumulative Impacts

HPHC is a member of the Frontline Communities Protection Coalition (FCPC), a group of organizations led by COPAL MN and the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table. The FCPC addresses environmental injustices at a systemic level across Minnesota.

Pollution already heavily concentrated in frontline communities, combined with existing unjust conditions that produce health and socioeconomic disparities, leads to the accumulation of compounding negative impacts or ‘cumulative impacts.’ During the 2023 legislative session, the FCPC, guided by the work of North Minneapolis’ Community Members for Environmental Justice (CMEJ), helped pass Minnesota’s Cumulative Impacts law.

Currently, the coalition is actively engaged in state agency rulemaking that determines how the law will be implemented.

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Clean Cars

HPHC is a member of Minnesotans for Clean Cars, a coalition of Minnesota-based organizations that believe that adopting clean car standards in our state is a smart solution to reducing climate pollution, is consumer friendly, and will benefit Minnesotans’ bottom line.

Clean car standards, including standards to achieve zero vehicle emissions in Minnesota, will reduce and eventually eliminate climate change-causing air pollution from vehicles. Exposure to air pollution is linked to many adverse health outcomes, including heart disease, cancer, hypertension, asthma, decreased lung function, stroke, kidney disease, and reduced birth weight for children born to women exposed to air pollution during pregnancy.

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Line 3

Enbridge Inc. wants to build a new pipeline to transport tar sands oil from Edmonton, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin via Minnesota. While billed as a “replacement” of the current Line 3 pipeline, the Line 3 Replacement Project  involves constructing 340 miles of new, higher capacity pipeline along a new route across northern Minnesota.

Due to the sensitive ecosystems this pipeline will cross, the toxic properties of the oil it will carry, and its contribution to continued climate damage, the Line 3 Pipeline poses unacceptable health risks to Minnesotans. HPHC collaborates with MN350, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, Honor the Earth and other groups to educate the public and policymakers about the health risks of tar sands oil extraction and transport, and to advocate for government actions to prevent the construction of wasteful and dangerous fossil fuel infrastructure in order to protect Minnesota water resources and the health of Indigenous and rural Minnesota communities.

For more information, see our report Health Risks of the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Replacement Project, June 2020.

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100% Campaign

HPHC is a member of the 100% Campaign, a cross-sector, statewide, multi-racial, intersectional campaign to build an equitable clean energy economy that works for everyone in Minnesota. The goal is a transition to a 100% equitable and clean energy future.

A transition to 100% carbon-free energy will benefit our health, our environment and our economy. Climate effects, such as extreme heat, severe storms and flooding, wildfires, drought, vector-borne diseases, and air pollution are increasingly impacting the physical and mental health of Minnesotans, as the U.S. and Minnesota have thus far failed to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. While everyone’s health is affected by climate change, structural racism, multigenerational trauma, and underlying socioeconomic conditions place the lives of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income communities at highest risk from climate change.

Climate Accountability

HPHC is a member of the Minnesota Climate Accountability Coalition working to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the health impacts of climate change. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed a consumer protection lawsuit against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute for their decades of deception regarding the climate impacts of their product and the harm their lies caused to the people of Minnesota. The voices of health professionals are critical in holding fossil fuel companies accountable for the harm caused to the health of Minnesotans.

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