Photo Credit: Andy Pearson

Meet the Youth Climate Intervenors — a group of teens and young adults who take issues related to climate seriously. After all, young people are the ones who will live with many decisions made by politicians and governments today. This group of 13 amazing young people has decided to intervene in a potential pipeline that has been proposed in Minnesota — the new Line 3 pipeline.

The Line 3 pipeline isn’t new, but the company that owns the current pipeline says it’s time for an upgrade. That company (Enbridge) wants to abandon the 60-year-old line (which already sits under tribal land) and build a new, larger pipeline in a new route “near the headwaters of the Mississippi and the most pristine wild rice lakes in Northern Minnesota.” This is where the Youth Climate Intervenors come in. They’ve filed petitions to prevent Enbridge from gaining needed permits in order to build the new pipeline.

Here’s an excerpt from their petition:

“Our generation faces a daunting future, and so we are compelled to fight for our right to the privileges and stability that generations before us took for granted…The resources meant to be held in trust for future generations have been squandered away by the governments that are meant to protect us, and so we feel that it is both reasonable and necessary that we are granted a seat at the table to argue for their protection ourselves.”

Inspired by the anti-DAPL protests at Standing Rock, the group came together ready to take a stand for their beliefs and to protect the tribal lands in Minnesota. They filed a petition to participate in the legal process to oppose the pipeline and the judge granted their petition — which is a huge victory!

16-year-old Rose Whipple is a member of the group. She’s Native American and spoke to Teen Vogue about how the pipeline would impact her culture — with the new route running through wild rice lakes and near water supplies of native people:

“We eat it on a regular basis. The pipeline is taking that away from us, taking away from our [rice] beds that have already been desecrated. It takes away from a part of our culture. With these indigenous communities, it’s going straight through their water sources, going directly through lands and burial sites that we hold sacred.”

The Youth Climate Intervenors have submitted evidence, which will be reviewed in November, in order to fight the approval of the permits needed for the pipeline. Other groups in the area are also protesting the pipeline but if the permits are approved, there could be another Standing Rock — only this time for the Line 3 pipeline.

Members Rose and Brent presenting at the Minnesota Energy Fair // Credit: Youth Climate Intervenors Facebook

19-year old Margaret Breen told Teen Vogue that she expects that no matter what happens, their work won’t be over anytime soon. The Line 3 pipeline is just the beginning.

“I would like to look future generations in the eye and know I did what I could to protect those who live here. I believe this is the first step in the resistance to the pipeline.”

These young people are not only taking a stand for something that they believe in, but are trying to make an impact for their children and grandchildren. Rose and the rest of the group care about others and that’s why they are trying to make an impact.

“We’re actually people who are trying to make a difference. We actually care about the water and the earth. We’re not just doing this to get fame, and we do this because we genuinely care.”

Thank you to the members of the Youth Climate Intervenors for taking a stand and refusing to be deterred from your cause. You can follow their work by checking out their Facebook page and you can sign the petition to Stop Line 3 here.