Aired on 5/4/2018
The near-unanimous consensus among climate scientists is that the massive burning of gas, oil, and coal is having a cataclysmic impact on our atmosphere and climate, and is depleting the Earth’s natural resources, including its land, food, fresh water, and biodiversity.
Climate and environmental impacts are particularly magnified and debilitating for low-income communities and communities of color.
These communities often live closest to toxic sites, are disproportionately impacted by high incidences of asthma, cancer and rates of morbidity and mortality, and lack the financial resources to build resilience to climate change.
Watch SSF and Island Press in this 90-minute webinar about the emerging field of energy democracy, a movement that frames the struggle of working people, low-income communities, and communities of color to take control of energy resources and use those resources to empower their communities. Energy poverty is a shocking political reality in the United States and is more important than ever to combat as we face the impacts of climate change.
The webinar is led by Denise Fairchild, the inaugural president of the Emerald Cities Collaborative , and a co-editor of Energy Democracy. Denise has dedicated over 30 years to strengthening housing, jobs, businesses, and economic opportunities for low-income residents and communities of color, domestically and internationally.
Ashura Lewis is Communications Manager at One Voice, a nonprofit civic engagement organization based in Mississippi. One Voice organizes southern communities to transform rural electric co-operatives into authentic community-controlled energy providers. She contributed to the Energy Democracy chapter, “Organizing Energy Democracy in Rural Electric Cooperatives” in Energy Democracy.
Vivian Yi Huang is Campaign and Organizing Director at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, a nonprofit that organizes Asian-Pacific Islander communities to advance an environmental, social, and economic justice agenda. Vivian contributed to the Energy Democracy chapter, “Base-Building and Leadership Development for Energy Democracy: APEN’s Work in East Bay Asian Immigrant and Refugee Communities.
