St. Thomas senior Cari Monroe, an environmental studies major, is using what she has learned in the classroom to take a stand against the Dakota Access pipeline, which has been the subject of intense protests for months.

Monroe is enrolled in an “off-campus, out-of-the-classroom immersion program” this semester, where she is learning from her Native American professors about environmental sustainability and social justice. The class is through a program called Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs, an off campus study program. The pipeline has been a major topic of discussion in the class.

“We get into a lot of Native American stuff, which I had not known a lot about before,” Monroe said. “I had known it was a problem and the general (reasoning) of why it is bad, but we are getting into more of the nitty gritty aspects of why it is so problematic.”

Monroe and her classmates will join the protest at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in early November. The students are making a model of a low-cost, high-efficiency stove heater to bring and teach Native Americans how to make one of their own in preparation for the winter.

“The first thing we should ask is what we can do to help them and not show up taking pictures for your Facebook,” Monroe said.

The Dakota Access pipeline is a 1,000 mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline that will transfer crude oil from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota down to Illinois.

Some support the pipeline because they argue it would be a safer way to transport crude oil than by train or truck, and it would decrease U.S. imports of oil.

“Where the pipeline goes through is Native American land, which is problematic in a lot of ways,” Monroe said. “They have to dig up land to build the pipes, but a lot of the land is sacred or burial grounds and they haven’t been asking Native Americans.”

The Dakota Access pipeline worries some for its potential effect on water. The people who are protesting the pipeline are referring to themselves as “water protectors” rather than “protestors.”

“The pipeline goes through some waterways and Native Americans rely very heavily on water in terms of spiritual ways and other life-sustaining ways,” Monroe said. “If the pipe breaks it heavily, heavily pollutes this water that they rely on.”

The pipeline will travel through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois– but not Minnesota. But Monroe believes that the issues the pipeline raises are still relevant to Minnesotans.

“If it pollutes the water, it doesn’t directly affect us, but as Minnesotans especially, I feel that we really value our water and nature spaces,” Monroe said. “So we can understand how bad it would be if something went wrong with this.”

A unique aspect of the protest is the uniting of over 100 Native American tribes who have come together to protest. Standing Rock Reservation is the primary location for protests, where construction is still happening.

“They understand – everyone understands – how bad this would be for the people and for the environment,” Monroe said.

The protests have been going on for a couple months with many arrests. Protests are continuing right now as the pipeline is about 60 percent built.

“They are trying to get awareness so that the pipeline is stopped. It is already halfway built, but they don’t want it to be finished,” Monroe said.

“A lot of people don’t know about it, which is sad, because it is such a huge thing surrounding Native Americans and Native American culture,” Monroe said. “I don’t want to see corporations taking advantage of people and the environment.”

Lydia Lockwood can be reached at lock0052@stthomas.edu