“Holding ground is not about standing still. It’s the steadiness that lets us plant trees that will shade people we will never meet. It’s speaking at city hall even when the room feels unfriendly. It’s spending a weeknight learning a bill so one can explain it in plain language at a neighborhood meeting. It’s volunteers who bring snacks and make new people feel like they belong. This is how movements endure: one reliable act at a time.”
– Kamau Wilkins, co-chair Sierra Club North Star Chapter
This year, we witnessed the strength of our community in action. Sierra Club staff and members across Minnesota showed up to protect our air, water, and future. Thank you to everyone who volunteered, organized, listened, taught, and cared. Together we held ground for the planet and for each other.
We Organize with Thousands of Minnesotans
In 2025, we hosted 295 events across the state, including:
- 115 activist events: From rallies and legislative hearings to city council meetings and Public Utilities Commission sessions, we showed up to make our voices heard.
- 96 strategy and learning gatherings: We built community while learning, planning, and even mending clothes together at art builds and team meetings.
- 75 outings: We sailed with youth and veterans, sketched in parks, and hiked with neighbors.
We Defend Climate Progress
Winning a bill or funding isn’t enough. We have to keep showing up to protect those gains from fossil fuel interests and big polluters. This year, we proudly defended:
- Rochester’s commitment to 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
- Millions of dollars for biking, walking, and transit, plus a groundbreaking law requiring highway projects to consider their climate impact.
- The community solar gardens program, which brings locally owned clean energy to communities across Minnesota.
We Fight for Water, Forests, and Clean Air for All
From Lake Superior to the Mississippi headwaters, from our prairies to the Twin Cities skyline, we serve as a watchdog for Minnesota’s air, water, and wild places.
- Our Water and Wetlands Stewards Team helped shape the DNR’s new boater education curriculum, submitted public comments, and wrote editorials on issues from road salt to sulfide mining. They’re also partnering with allies to tackle nitrate pollution from fertilizers.
- We advocated for our forests and wilderness, urging U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith to defend science and reject rollbacks to environmental protections.
- In coalition with frontline communities, we’re pushing to accelerate the shutdown of the HERC trash burner, meeting with county commissioners and organizing volunteers to finally close this dirty, harmful facility.
We Elect and We Resist
Protecting our planet and our democracy go hand in hand. We support leaders who share our vision for clean energy, healthy communities, and justice for all.
- We endorsed 17 environmental champions in local elections, focusing on key suburban races.
- We joined rallies like “No Kings”, hosted Resistance in Action events, and welcomed new Sierra Club volunteers who stood up for science, democracy, and the rule of law.
We Show That a Better Future Is Possible
We’re not just resisting harm; we’re creating the world we want to see.
- We hosted Minnesota’s first-ever Degrowth Summit, bringing together youth, international experts, and community dreamers to imagine a future driven, not by endless economic growth, but by care, balance, and well-being.
- Our Zero Waste Team came together to make Twin Cities Sun Day Festival and the Zero Waste Coalition Fest true zero-waste events, collecting, reusing, and proving that systemic change and joyful community action go hand in hand.
- We connected more than 1,000 Minnesotans with the outdoors by introducing kids to sailing, helping veterans find healing on the ice, and hosting 37 volunteer-led outings that built community and deepened our love for nature.
We’re Looking Ahead
As we move into 2026, our work continues:
- Defending our legislative wins, because progress only matters if we protect it.
- Pressuring state agencies through our People Not Polluters campaign to enforce environmental laws and uphold science-based decision-making.
- Powering democracy in the 2026 elections, because the future of our planet depends on it.
We’ll keep showing up. We’ll keep holding ground. And together, we’ll keep moving forward.
