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Oct 29, 2026

The ballot box is one tool Barb Freese uses to fight climate change

By Sarah Horner, MCEA Director of Media Relations and Public Engagement 

Barb Freese was fresh out of law school and working as an environmental lawyer for the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in the 1990s when she began work on a pivotal case. 

It was a first-of-its-kind state proceeding that sought to better understand electricity's environmental impacts, including CO2 emissions. Coal industry representatives traveled to Minnesota to defend their product. They testified that burning coal wasn’t harmful and that worries about it altering the climate were unfounded. 

MCEA Climate Attorney, Barb Freese, talks with her grandchilden in front of the St. Paul city skyline. Barb says her work is motivated by her desire to protect people in St. Paul and across the world from the worst impacts of climate change
MCEA Climate Attorney, Barb Freese, talks with her grandchilden in front of the St. Paul city skyline. Barb says her work is motivated by her desire to protect people in St. Paul and across the world from the worst impacts of climate change.  Photo courtesy of Ben Swanson-Hysell

Even then Barb could spot the spin. 

“It really ended up changing the trajectory of my life,” Barb said.

Since then, she has devoted her career to fighting climate change, including the last several years as an attorney at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, where she works to persuade state regulators to move away from fossil fuels and toward carbon-free energy as fast as possible. 

Other achievements include authoring two books on climate change, helping shut down coal plants, and helping draft the landmark climate law Minnesota passed in 2023. 

It’s no wonder climate change is motivating her vote in the midterm elections. 

“It is appalling that we have a federal government that is pretending climate change isn’t real and undoing all the good work we have done in the past to address it,” Barb said. “It’s also sad to me that it isn’t a bigger issue this election, but of course I understand why because we are also fighting to protect our democracy and rule of law.” 

Barb hopes the next class of state legislators will strengthen Minnesota’s Carbon Free Law and pass a Climate Superfund bill that would require fossil fuel companies responsible for the climate crisis to pay for its damages. 

At the federal level, she wants legislators to first restore tax credits for renewable energy and reinstate regulations on fossil fuel plants that accelerate the climate crisis. 

“Those are the first steps, but these rollbacks have cost us years of progress, so we are going to have to reduce emissions even faster now if we are going to have a chance of meeting our greenhouse gas goals and preventing the worst effects of climate change. 

With the mounting challenges facing the country and world, Barb knows tackling the climate crisis may have lost some urgency. She wants people to know that curbing its harms is still not only possible, but essential.

“The threat of climate change spinning out of control is still absolutely there,” Barb said. “Every step we take to reduce emissions makes the future less threatening. We absolutely have to keep doing this work.”

As dire as it can sometimes feel, Barb said, we have tools and technologies to address the crisis that we never had before. In many ways, she’s never felt more clear-eyed about the work ahead.

“Yes, what's happened on the federal level is disheartening, but it’s also incredibly motivating to work harder at the state level. Thankfully, we have some good laws in effect in Minnesota, and MCEA will keep trying to make sure they are used as intended and implemented with as much strength as possible.”