Akilah Sanders-Reed

“I grew up in New Mexico, where the dire impacts of our already changing climate are impossible to ignore. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know about climate change--but I do remember realizing that communities around the world were organizing to do something about it, and that I could learn from and build power with them. Climate change is a symptom of rampant extraction, from the earth and from our communities. At MCEA, I’m grateful to be part of pushing back against the extractive corporate power that drives so many forms of injustice.”

Akilah has spent the last decade involved in regulatory proceedings and grassroots organizing to oppose tar sands oil in Minnesota. She has experience in non-profit operations, Public Utilities Commission advocacy, and youth-centered climate movement organizing, and has focused her work on building the organizing structures and technical analysis that can enable our movements to scale up and achieve big goals. Akilah holds a degree in environmental history from Macalester College, and enjoys spending time outdoors.