A Moment for Energy Justice

The following is an excerpt from a piece I published in the Center for Progressive Reform’s human rights and environmental & energy justice blog series.
You can read the entire piece here.   

A moment for energy justice 

The 2023 Quebec wildfires delivered the planet’s latest do you hear me now message, regarding ecological collapse.  A hidden consequence of sheltering indoors to escape toxic smoke, which impacted air quality in locales around North America during a sweltering summer, involved increased household cooling demands.   

While heightened energy consumption, whether for summertime cooling or heating during winter, may just be an annoyance for wealthy households, low income households are faced with excruciating decisions: cool now and pay later when the utility bill comes due. These decisions operate within a racial context: in the US, Black and Native American households have energy burdens (the percent of income spent on energy services) that are more than 40% higher than that of white households.     

To have legitimacy, the overhaul of energy systems must center the most vulnerable places and peoples.   

We need energy justice now.  Energy justice mandates that renewable energy transitions center marginalized and historically overburdened households, as they face profound burdens from the prevalent fossil fuel-based energy system.  

These transitions can’t be led by access to technological advances alone (i.e.  more charging stations, more efficient rooftop panels or more geothermal installations) as energy justice isn’t solely about zero carbon emissions.  It’s just as concerned with a host of interconnected environmental, social and public health issues, including: safety (both for communities and workers), democratic decision making, workforce development and access to living wage jobs.    

We also have to center complimentary energy strategies such as conservation and weatherization.  These are as important as technological ones.  As are healthy community forests, which can stave off the impacts of urban heat islands and extreme temperatures, while providing a host of other ecological benefits such as air purification and flood control.  

Energy justice mandates that we unlearn power and that transitions be democratized.  Just energy systems involve resident education and choice predicated on locally appropriate pathways. The people must be equipped to prioritize their own renewable energy futures.  

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