Profile
Bending a Senator’s Ear
A young activist heads to the Hill to learn how to fight global warming and save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
By Julie Leibach/Photograph by Katherine Lambert

The ride is bumpy in the tiny subway car that runs through the bowels of Capitol Hill. Although Kate Sinner, a sophomore at Minnesota’s College of Saint Benedict, struggles to maintain her footing in a pair of sophisticated black boots, she is otherwise cool and composed. She’s with her home state’s U.S. senator, after all, and confidence is an asset.

Call it the mark of a born lobbyist. On this sunny day in late March, the blonde Fargo native with the turned-up nose has intercepted North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan on his way back from a caucus lunch in order to discuss important environmental bills. But what makes the encounter particularly memorable is that it’s Sinner’s first time on the Hill as a citizen activist. At 20, she’s also the youngest of 13 eager attendees at a three-day Audubon-sponsored workshop designed to teach people how to lobby on global warming, renewable energy, and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“What do you think about Senator [Barbara] Boxer’s bill?” she asks, referring to potential legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, her big blue eyes never straying from Dorgan’s. 
 
The advocacy workshop is right up her alley. The granddaughter of former North Dakota Governor George Sinner, she has always followed a political bent. Having recently declared a major in environmental studies, she has become keenly aware of urgent issues like climate change. “Everything connects to it,” she says, mentioning droughts in Africa and the status of migratory birds in the United States. “But I don’t think we’re reacting enough as a society.”

As a founding member of “echo,” her school’s new environmental club, she and others in the group encouraged students to participate this past winter in a monthlong intercollegiate event called Campus Wars, which was aimed at reducing energy use in Minnesota schools. Her college was able to cut its use of electricity, despite the fact that the event coincided with a particularly cold month, with plenty of subzero temperatures. “[College students] are much better at social networking. They know how to reach people in ways others just don’t,” says Derek Larson, chair of the environmental studies program at Sinner’s school, who also attended the workshop and puts considerable stock in text-messaging and blogs. “They’re savvier about technology.”

For his part, Senator Dorgan seems impressed. After assuring Sinner that climate change and renewable energy would be addressed in Congress, he accepts the letter she hands him outlining the bills she’s supporting. As soon as he poses for a quick photo, he’s gone, and Sinner’s first day of lobbying is over.

“All the way to the airport, [Kate] kept saying, ‘I’m so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open.’ But she kept talking the whole time,” says Larson. Sinner now envisions returning to Washington, perhaps as an activist interning with an environmental group. “I definitely feel more connected, and I don’t think that will go away,” she says. And there’s another bonus to attending lobbying events: “My professors are really excited that I go,” she says with a laugh. “They’re supportive of me actually missing class.”
Back to Top