Tee McClenty fights for climate justice as the new executive director of MN350

Theresa "Tee" McClenty grew up in Camden, N.J. in a neighborhood she says was rife with gangs, drugs and prostitutes. McClenty's mother dreamed of a healthier environment in which to raise her children.

"So she picked a spot on the map and moved us all the way across the country to the Quad Cities, to Rock island, Illinois," recalls McClenty, now 54. "It was a culture shock to me — I was used to being around more people that looked like me."

Now, McClenty is determined to make healthier environments the norm for lower-income communities and communities of color. She spent 16 years working as an emergency medical technician, and most recently worked on outreach and health initiatives at NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center in north Minneapolis.

After years of watching people of color walk into the emergency room wheezing with allergy and asthma symptoms, McClenty is shifting gears to a role in which she can address the root cause: She's just starting her second month as executive director at the Minneapolis-based climate justice nonprofit MN350.

Years in labor organization leadership in addition to health care helped prepare McClenty for this role, in which she hopes to shift the narrative of climate change to climate justice. And that includes fighting for clean air in all communities, so that everyone can breathe easily. Sahan Journal's conversation with McClenty has been edited for length and clarity.

I came to college at the University of Northwestern [in Roseville] because I was able to do sign language, religious studies and nursing general courses. I loved it. I loved it more so than Rock Island. It felt clean here — clean air. The winters were as bad as I'd heard about, but they kept the roads [plowed], so I stayed.

It's more important to say climate justice than climate change. We're not going to move ahead if we're just focusing on resources for white people — even though I will say, also, white people are our allies, so we have to figure out, how do we partner together?

Climate justice is important to me personally not only because I worked on the frontline of the emergency room, seeing people at their worst, where there were a lot of allergies and asthma, but my own child suffered from those same two things. And the community that looks like me is hardest hit: Immigrant and low-income communities are hardest hit by the impacts of climate change. Some speculate that because of the climate crisis and pollution, the top four health conditions are allergies, asthma, autism and breast cancer. And the BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, people of color] community is hardest hit by those. Education and resources are not equally shared — that's why I wanted to get into climate justice.

This is just the start for MN350 — not just hiring me as director but having a staff that looks like the community we're getting to [help]. I think Minnesota can lead this way. We can engage more people who are not aware of the fight we're doing in the work of climate.

In the social justice movement, they say change is created by 3.5 percent of the population. That's our goal — to get 3.5 percent of people involved. But that means 3.5 percent of all communities engaged. If 3.5 percent excludes people of color, we're very likely to re-create the same system we have now. So it needs to be 3.5 percent of every community in Minnesota.

If you could reverse one thing we've done wrong for the environment, what would it be?

I would say the pipelines. One thing we've done wrong, we didn't really look at how it was going to negatively impact those communities. We oppose expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, including oil pipelines. Also, some of us are so fortunate that we don't have to worry, is our water clean? But that's a fear in some communities — is the water going to have a negative impact on my family long-term? In order to have safe water, do I need to buy filters?

Sometimes when I think about climate, I get overwhelmed because it's so big, like when I read the big national report about lakes and oceans and I was like, oh, it's irreversible. But I'm a versatile person, so I also get hopeful, because we're a smart people and we can figure things out. But I don't want to wait until it's too late.

This story comes to you from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota's immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for its free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox.