Dr. Michelle Garvey: Advocating for Environmental Justice and Intersectionality
Renee Nicholson and Anneke Stracks
Before our interview with Dr. Michelle Garvey, we read about her work. We wondered which of her many ongoing projects she would talk about. Michelle’s professional engagements primarily revolve around her role as an educator at the University of Minnesota. In addition to her academic commitments, she advocates for environmental justice with organizations such as the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table, the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, Community Members for Environmental Justice, and The Women’s Environmental Institute.
Michelle’s academic background lies in women, gender, and sexuality studies, which has played a significant role in shaping her perspective on environmental justice. She credits University of Minnesota Professor Emeritus and Women’s Environmental Institute (WEI) co-founder Jacquelyn Zita for encouraging her pursuit of environmental justice and feminist environmentalism.
During our interview, Michelle elaborated on feminist environmentalism–also called ecofeminism–which approaches environmental issues starting from the lenses of sex, gender, sexuality, and/or reproduction. While it is similarly intersectional to environmental justice, Michelle differentiates it by its different foundations and global scale. The WEI is a regional non-profit that bridges feminist environmentalism and environmental justice, supporting regenerative urban and rural farms, devoting a portion of their CSAs to a Veggie Rx program that distributes fresh produce to hospitals, spotlighting gender minorities in educational workshops, and advocating for Green Zone residents in Minneapolis.
Michelle’s academic journey, coupled with her environmental justice organizing, has empowered her to make meaningful contributions to the field of environmental justice, bringing awareness to the importance of recognizing diverse perspectives in creating sustainable change.
Michelle told us about how she knew she wanted to do environmental work since restoring land with EarthCorps in Seattle after college. Butshe describes a turning point when reading Karen Warren’s Ecofeminist Philosophy (2002); she realized that the human world and “more than human world” were not as separate as she had been taught. “She describes a turning point when reading Karen Warren’s Ecofeminist Philosophy (2002); she realized that the human world and ‘more than human world’ were not as separate as she had been taught.” She wanted to combine her love for people and planet, and realized that environmental justice was a way for her to do that.
One of the biggest environmental justice problems in the Twin Cities is the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). The HERC is an incinerator that burns trash and converts it into energy. While the energy it provides is “renewable,” it’s neither sustainable nor just; it actually produces toxic pollutants that cause health problems in neighboring communities, primarily low-income and communities of color. Michelle currently organizes to shut down the HERC with the Minnesota Environmental Justice Table. She has worked on art builds to create protest signs, circulated a petition used to persuade the county, and supports the development of zero waste legislation.
Michelle told us about another environmental justice issue she has organized around for almost a decade, which is the East Phillips neighborhood urban indoor farm. East Phillips is an ethnically diverse neighborhood in Minneapolis that has historically been polluted and experienced environmental injustice. The neighborhood has an unoccupied former Sears warehouse that residents planned to retrofit into affordable housing, an indoor farm, a solar array, and local business site. But the city wanted to tear down the building to erect a public works facility. A tear down would increase the release arsenic into the community, and the facility would bring more traffic emissions and sound pollution. Michelle has partnered with other organizers to support EPNI in their fight for the urban farm and helped to secure state funds to buy the site from the city.
Some of Michelle’s environmental justice work involves more traditional “academic” skills. She has written grants for food justice org Project Sweetie Pie; conducted early research for MN350’s Minneapolis Green New Deal (titled the People’s Climate and Equity Plan); and now facilitates internships with UMN grant team Minnesota Transform, for organizations like Tamales y Bicicletas. In her capacity as a scholar, she also testifies as an expert witness for bills related to environmental justice, like the Cumulative Impacts Bill or the K-12 Climate Justice Education bills that both passed state congress this year.
As for her teaching work, Michelle describes her classes as a “container” holding her passions for student mentoring, environmental justice education, experiential project-based learning, and community engagement. This semester, her students researched the efficacy of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act from an environmental justice perspective with the guidance of seven community experts. Michelle is affiliated with the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, from whom she received an education award for creating courses that combine environmental justice and sustainability. During the pandemic, she directed the Environmental Justice at the Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA), which she describes as “the best time of her life”. At HECUA, Michelle created an experiential environmental justice program where students learned from dozens of environmental justice advocates and received hands-on, place-based learning, from working in farms and forests, to canoeing and bicycle touring.
As far as the future of environmental justice movements, “Michelle expressed her belief that dramatic changes need to occur quickly. She quotes Michael Krause of Renewable Energy Partners who says, ‘We don’t need a green transition, we need a green transformation.'” Michelle expressed her belief that dramatic changes need to occur quickly. She quotes Michael Krause of Renewable Energy Partners who says, “We don’t need a green transition, we need a green transformation”. Currently, environmental justice is gaining momentum through in-person interactions and social media. More young people are getting involved in activism, environmental and climate justice are making their way into K-12 curriculums and higher ed, and in general, environmental justice has become a societal topic of discussion. At every level of government, there has been some implementation of environmental justice. Still: she warns of a danger when grassroots movements become assimilated into inherently colonial institutions. For example, while the Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest investment in environmental equity in U.S. history, the investment pales compared to other types of resourcing for fossil fuels or militarism. Michelle emphasizes that while the work being done through the government is a good first step, as long as new fossil fuel drilling and mining sites are being opened, we need to remain skeptical.
Curious, we asked Michelle what advice she would give to people ready to get involved in environmental justice movements. She encouraged everyone to experiment and try being active to find out what you are really passionate about. Don’t be afraid to try on different hats because the ones that fit might surprise you. She recommends showing up at community or municipal events to get involved. She hopes people leverage what brings them joy and are able to lean on the community around them, which she also believes are effective ways to avoid burnout. Finally, when it comes to figuring out how you can best contribute to environmental justice movements, Michelle recommended filling in a venn diagram from the All We Can Save Project which includes the three questions: What is the work that needs doing? What brings you joy? and What are you good at? The overlap between answers to these three questions can help people discover how to make meaningful, sustained contributions to environmental and climate justice goals.
