Baby, it's cold outside

Both risks and benefits co-exist within the environment that we live, work, study, and spend time in. The question is, how have the risks and benefits been distributed across the Twin Cities? Depending on the resources we have inherited and/or possess, Minnesota can be a peaceful place filled with benefits and opportunities, or it can be a violent place filled with risks that threaten the human ability to survive and thrive. From “blighted housings” that threaten the health of occupants during our extreme summer and winter seasons to long-existing food deserts in Twin Cities that were well exposed last year by COVID-19 pandemic and protests for George Floyd, Twin Cities have been seeing how acutely social issues intersect with environmental in/justice issues.

Our project seeks to reflect the experiences of frontline, refugee communities in the Twin Cities. Whether it was part of the secret bombing strategies and pesticide that made home uninhabitable, the long-learned tools on acquiring food that are not transferable during the Minnesotan winter, or the lack of public transportation that result in frostbite, refugee’s relationship with Minneapolis and St. Paul highlights how Minnesotans' lives have been, and will contiue to be, shaped by the extreme changes in the environment. This exhibition will walk you through the last 50 years of Twin Cities through the eyes of people who were not born in the state, and often without the knowledge and resources to handle the volatile weather.

The exhibit will be formatted into three sections: past, present, and future. The past will focus on the history of first generation experiences in Minneapolis and St. Paul, using oral history interviews and replicated historical documents. The present will focus on current issues and community practices utilized by first and second generations (and beyond). The future will feature an interactive panel where visitors can respond to a variety of prompts regarding refugee experience and climate. This section also provides an avenue for visitors, including refugees and non-refugees, to share their own stories and knowledge. This might be your story, your relatives and ancestors’ story, or your neighborhood’s story. (At the same time, what is written here are a few, curated examples -- the narratives and the historical experiences stretch far beyond this digital mini-archive.)

Before we start, here are some curated excerpts from interviews with immigrants who moved to Minnesota, which were collected by Minnesota Historical Society. Does this remind you of your own experience? Scan the QR codes to listen to the actual voices and leave your own response.

I told him that I was going to move to Chicago. He invited me to come to Minnesota instead. When he asked me about the reasons why I wanted to go to Chicago, and I explained that I wanted to open my company there, he said, 'You will have a better opportunity here in Minnesota.' He felt it was unexplored by Latinos, and a lot of needs of the Latinos were not met yet. I had bought my ticket to go to Chicago already, and he suggested that I should change it and come here for at least a week. He mentioned that if after staying here for a week or two I didn’t like it, he could drive me down to Chicago. I accepted, and I arrived here to Minnesota on January 7, 1991. (Interviewer: Wow. In January.) Yes, from California, from Los Angeles, California. It was a big change. But I liked it.

from Lideres Latinos Oral History Project:  Interview with Ramón León 

(Interviewer: So, you arrived in the dead of winter in Fargo. I used to live in Moorhead; I know what that place is like in winter. What was that like?) It was very cold, let me tell you. When I came it was spring. It was not winter, but the temperatures were in high 40's and 50's. People were going in half sleeves and like that. But, I was trembling. (laughter) So, when I walked, people would say, "What a beautiful day" and in my mind, I was thinking, "Jeez, its so cold!" At 40-50 degree in India, that's so very cold. And, at the same time I came in the spring, there came a blizzard! And that told me what winter can be like in North Dakota. That blizzard dumped about 12 inches of snow even after I came. I arrived in February. That was quite a chore.

India Association of Minnesota Oral History Project (Phase 1):  Interview with Ram Gada 

In India I never saw snow. I had never seen cold like this. I remember we rented and moved to a townhouse the week after we arrived. My son was going to school, so I wanted to make sure he was on the right bus. I was holding my daughter who was 2 years old. She didn't have mitten on, although I had a jacket for her. It was not very warm, but it was all we had when we came here. She started screaming and I said, "Rema, what's the matter with you?" She just gave me her hand. I didn't realize she was getting frostbite. I had never experienced anything like that. My husband said, "Don't take her out in the cold weather without mittens." She was really screaming the whole day because her fingers were blue. (Interviewer: Were you wearing mittens yourself?) No, I wasn't. We came at the end of February, and we couldn't find anything because the stores were all sold out. We had borrowed some from Hockness's but they didn't have the small size for her. 

from India Association of Minnesota Oral History Project (Phase 1):  Interview with Bash Singh 

At the present moment, we are facing multiple challenges simultaneously. Extreme variation in climate has been happening during the last two years alone. After you endured the winter of 2019 when the polar vortex took over the Twin Cities, you saw the highest precipitation in Minnesota's recent history. Then, year 2020 began with unusually warm winter that interrupted normal farming, foresting, and fishing practices. It should not come as a suprise that Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources found  three climate trends :

1. Minnesota keeps getting warmer and wetter
2. More damaging rains
3. Cold weather warming

The disruption in livelihood caused by extreme variations in climate will have different impact, further straining the already precarious and vulnerable positions many Minnesota residents are facing after COVID-19 pandemic. Extreme cold weather will no longer be the only issue that old and new Twin Cities residents will be facing.

Here are some digital resources for you to ponder over.

• Hmong American farmers make up " more than 50% of all the farmers in metropolitan farmers markets " and also supply vegetables for  West African ethnic markets  that most other non-Hmong American farmers do not grow. Due to the closure of farmer's market in 2020, Hmong farming community has been  struggling .
•  Ice fishing in Minnesota is cancelled for two years in a row , which will have significant impact on fishing industries based on the Great Lakes region overall
•  Climate refugees : "The climate crisis has already created millions of invisible refugees and could create up to 1.5 billion more in the next 30 years. But under international law no country is obliged to take them in."
• Newsweek asked if we will be seeing ' internally displaced' Americans moving northernwards  very soon, due to chaning shorelines of seas, lakes, rivers, and other large bodies of water
•  September 2019 Climate Strike in Minnesota :