Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos: Knowledge as One of the Most Important Tools to the Next Generation of Climate Leaders

Have you ever wondered about the placement of the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center in downtown Minneapolis? How about the skewed amount of people with asthma in neighborhoods that are predominantly Black, Indigenous, Persons of Color (BIPOC)? I had the chance to talk about these issues and more with Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos. Analyah is the Environmental Justice youth program coordinator for Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light (MNIPL), an organization that strives to build the interfaith climate movement throughout the state. Analyah plays an important role in empowering and mobilizing youth to help them gain the tools and experiences necessary to implement real changes in their community. Although Analyah does not have an academic background in Environmental Studies, her background in Communications has allowed her to increase accessibility within the Environmental Justice movement to people regardless of their background. Moreover, Analyah strongly believes in creating an Environmental Justice movement that includes everyone. She mentions, for example, how excluding people from the environmental movement because they do not fit into the category of a conscious, clean, minimal waste producing human means less progress can be made. My interview with Analyah gave deep insights into her passions about this project and the issues that the youth involved in the Environmental Justice movement are discussing today.

In order to break the ice, I began the interview by asking Analyah how she would define the Environmental Justice movement. For Analyah, this question called in a recollection of an encounter at a Youth Climate Summit, where much of the discussion centered on how Environmental Justice is the intersection of environmentalism and social justice work. “Environmental justice is climate justice, food justice, sovereignty, caring for the planet, migrant justice, and health justice… and then some.”To put it plainly, “Environmental justice is climate justice, food justice, sovereignty, caring for the planet, migrant justice, and health justice… and then some” It requires acknowledging that we do not have a lot of time before irreversible changes to our climate will shape the survival of human beings. It also requires recognizing that traditional cultures protect the Earth, that indigenous people around the world help to cultivate land and water, and that it is important that organizers work with these communities in order to help sustain our planet. Analyah sees growth in the future of the Environmental Justice movement and wants to look to the next generations’ leaders for support and mobilization.

It was interesting to hear about Analyah’s motivations for getting involved in Environmental Justice work. Analyah took the opportunity to branch out from her Communications major by taking up an internship with the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs. This was a study away internship that focused primarily on environmental sustainability and involved farming once a month. Analyah applied for the internship after learning about environmental communication, which aims to make environmentalism more accessible for a variety of different communities in order to grow the movement.

From there she met Sam Grant, who is the executive director at MN350, and Julia Nerbonne, Executive Director at MN Interfaith Power & Light. Both are currently her EJ mentors. Discussions of what was currently happening within the community and discussion of an energy efficiency summer camp led to the current position she holds today. Analyah values her time in the internship as it introduced her to the world of Environmental Justice and also helped her to understand what community organizing truly is and how it works.

Analyah believes that in order to create widespread change, people from all over the globe, no matter their way of life, need to be included in the conversation around Environmental Justice. In order to do this, She describes the way she works with youth as, “looking at environmental injustices in order to change them into justices.”Analyah starts with the next generation of climate activists and leaders, giving them the resources, experiences, and tools they need to create communities they want to be a part of. Analyah recalls organizing the first summer camp for her program Youth N’ Power. Expecting only about 10 kids to show up, she was surprised when they had 25 participants, 5th through 12th grade, eager to get involved. She describes the way she works with youth as, “looking at environmental injustices in order to change them into justices”.

For example, the program has looked at the placement of the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC) in downtown Minneapolis, asking questions like, why place HERC here? And, who is this facility affecting? HERC is a waste management facility that burns garbage to create energy for the city, one of the 73 incinerators across the United States. Of these 73, 79% are situated within three miles of low income and minority neighborhoods (Milman 2019). HERC is no different. The effects of the facility harm the surrounding BIPOC communities that have little influence over the matter. The burning of garbage releases hazardous emissions and leads to serious health problems. Pollutants such as lead, particulate matter, mercury, and nitrous oxide are released from the incinerator. Although the incinerators in the United States usually follow rules set for the allowable amount of emissions, researchers say that even those operating within the range of allowable emissions pose serious health problems, mainly burdening Black, Hispanic, and poor communities (Milman 2019). Like many other incinerators across the country, there have been efforts to relocate HERC in the past years, however none have been successful in removing it from its current location. The power imbalance between those affected by HERC and those placing the facility is obvious. Living in hazardous conditions not only causes life threatening effects for the people there now, but also develops into generational health issues. Incinerators also provide less jobs than that of recycling facilities, an alternative and more environmentally friendly alternative to HERC. Not only does this facility impose detrimental health impacts on the community, but it could also be replaced by a more economically beneficial facility instead. Considering all this, Analyah and the organization Youth N’ Power examine the impacts of HERC on the surrounding community and work to find alternative solutions.

In my conversation with Analyah, she recalls how there are minimal trees and, instead, concrete covers most of the area, leading to hotter weather and worse air quality. Looking out her apartment window, she says that for as far as she can see, there is only concrete. In a survey conducted by the organization Neighborhoods Organizing for Change looking into the neighborhoods of North Minneapolis, out of the 130 people surveyed, 99% said they had or knew someone with asthma (Watts 2016). The reason for this can be linked to data released by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency which shows an unhealthy amount of lead and toxins in the air of North Minneapolis. The noticeably hotter weather and worse air quality than that of the suburbs of Minneapolis can be attributed to the fact that the suburbs are filled with trees and green space while North Minneapolis is not. Youth N’ Power has discussed the impacts this has on their community and considers ways of changing this injustice. Systematic racism perpetuates these disparities among BIPOC communities. Redlining is just one example of how Black people have been forced to live in worsened parts of the city, exposing them to high levels of toxins, little green space, and further putting people in these communities at a greater disadvantage.

Another passion of Analyah is the accessibility of food. Food is essential to human survival; high quality and healthy varieties determine whether people have a good quality of life. Furthermore, food and health are interconnected, which is why social determinants of health play a large role in food accessibility. Among the questions Youth N’ Power discusses, asking, why do certain areas have easier access to fresh food, and why healthier options tend to be more expensive compared to less healthy options are important questions that Youth N’ Power tackles. Both location and income are factors that determine whether or not people in a community are able to acquire high quality items. Potential solutions to these issues include pushing the people at the top who plan city structures and spreading information to youth in order to mobilize and enable grassroots change.

With opportunities such as intern training and visits to the state capital building, Analyah works to make Environmental Justice issues relevant and inclusive to everybody. Her end goal is to reach every person without placing blame or deeming people “unfit” for the movement. She believes that starting locally to teach kids these lessons early on will increase the awareness of our global community and create more equality for those who currently have less of a voice. Utilizing her studies in Communications allows Analyah to connect with all types of people and bring them into a conversation that previously excluded them and their perspectives. Through Analyah’s work with youth in Minneapolis, they have questioned the systems surrounding them and pushed for systematic and transformational change.