Envisioning a cleaner, greener, and more equitable future gives me hope. That vision led me to engage in SDSN USA’s Zero Carbon Action Plan (ZCAP) development process in 2020. I saw it as an opportunity to learn and to think more about renewable energy and transportation, aspects of environmental work that have not been part of my own professional experiences. My work has involved learning, teaching, and working to promote biodiversity conservation, education, environmental justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. My focus within the planning process was in reviewing Chapter 3. Industrial Policy, Employment, and Just Transition. While the report addresses some aspects of an equitable transition, much work remains. These questions will help to integrate equity into planning and implementation:
Who is most impacted by climate change and fossil fuel extraction? I have asthma and keep thinking of people who have a hard time breathing - coal miners dying of black lung, increasing numbers of children and adults around the country whose asthma is exacerbated by vehicle exhaust, smoke from wildfires, and emissions from factories and waste treatment plants, which are often located in low-income communities. During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic, the protests for racial justice, and the California wildfires made a larger number of people acutely aware of breath. Too often, those who cannot breathe with ease are effectively invisible. We need to work to identify those most at risk from air pollution and the compounding impact of hotter summers and more severe weather. We also need to understand what groups and communities are most at risk from severe storms, flooding, and other threats related to climate change.
What stories are we telling? Whose stories matter in framing an equitable transition? Most of us make sense of the world through specific stories. By including, learning from, and publicizing the stories of those most impacted by climate change and the extraction and processing of fossil fuels makes those people and their needs become more visible. The ZCAP describes the goals of one group of storytellers, a collective called Our Climate Voices. They use ethical storytelling principles to collaboratively tell the stories of environmental protectors. However, the members of this collective and the people featured in their stories did not actually take part in the development process. Engaging this collective and other storytellers would make policy work more vital and relevant to the general public. Their stories could inspire new policies, actions, and innovation.
What do students and the general public know about climate change and how they can help to reverse it? We need all students to be environmentally literate: ideas about climate change, environmental justice, and green careers need to be more strongly embedded within policies, standards (Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core Standards) and curricula nationwide. Since curricula are developed by states, this work needs to be led at the state level. Schools need to prioritize environmental solutions, green careers, and civic engagement. Schools and universities must prioritize more holistic, inquiry-based approaches in both K-12 and undergraduate contexts. Organizations that already support this work include the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) and their state chapters, the National Science Teachers' Association (NSTA), and the National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF).
Are we creating new opportunities for service and civic engagement? Volunteering with Zulene Mayfield and the Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRQL) while in college in the late 1990s shaped my own understanding of the cumulative impacts of environmental injustice. Integrating service and civic engagement into middle school, high school, and university courses helps young people to understand the importance of voting, engagement in the political process, and service to their community. Volunteers also extend the ability of underfunded grassroots organizations to serve local communities. Engaging and supporting local communities should be an integral part of policies and planning to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Are we investing in innovators, entrepreneurs, and early-career professionals? Green career programs within community colleges and in high schools are particularly useful, since they address existing inequities that make skilled careers inaccessible to individuals without college degrees. Organizations like the Greening Youth Foundation provide training for young people. We must ensure that young people and people transitioning away from fossil fuel extraction gain access to jobs and opportunities for advancement. Once they find employment, we must ensure that they feel supported and included within their companies. In writing this blog post, I spoke with one of my former students, Geena Peyton. Geena began working for a large renewable energy organization in the Midwest soon after graduating last spring. She has learned an enormous amount through that opportunity, including about the value that young people can bring to a field that is aging and lacking in diversity (gender, age, and ethnicity) – a topic that is addressed explicitly in the ZCAP just transition chapter. She noted that some people treat their work in the renewables field as a way to pay the bills – and that is important – many of those people have families, mortgages, and varied priorities. Work is a matter of economic survival and green careers can provide a critically important safety net. For many of the younger people in Geena’s field, their work is their way of guaranteeing the survival of their own children on a rapidly warming planet. Geena said, “I wanted to get in the industry because my future and the future of my children depends on its success.”
Do we have a clear vision of an equitable and sustainable future? Are the policies, projects, and activities we propose meeting the basic needs of all people? Are we enabling people and biodiversity to thrive? Are we providing opportunities for all people to pursue their dreams regardless of their backgrounds? An equitable transition means all of these things, and it is harder to work towards what we cannot envision. We should understand what is at risk but also what might be possible. We must work to understand the needs, goals, and potential contributions of teachers, innovators, farmers, healers, artists, activists, and professionals within the renewable energy sector and related fields. In a media landscape dominated by stories of corruption, scandal, and tragedy, it is difficult to find such inspiration. Two videos in the intercept are useful examples, illustrating the possibilities presented by the Green New Deal and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Who will have a role in influencing the transition from plan to action? It is important to include the voices of economists, scholars, and policy makers. However, there are so many groups we must include if the transition to renewable energy is to be equitable: activists, farmers, miners, innovators, teachers, students, and so many others. We must include the perspectives and ideas of individuals and organizations fighting for those who are most exposed, affected by, and vulnerable to climate change and fossil fuel extraction. There are many relevant environmental justice scholars, activists, and organizations (such as those listed below) whose work should be better integrated into policy and planning activities for a just zero carbon transition in the US.
What is the role of young people at each stage of this process? This is Geena’s question. Many of us were inspired by Greta Thunberg and youth-led climate activism in 2019. While there are only a few recognizable faces, there are young leaders in every school and every community. How can we most effectively utilize the energy, talent, imagination, and vision of young people as we work towards a greener and more equitable future?
Going forward, it gives me hope that America’s Zero Carbon Action Plan exists and that we have opportunities to extend it in ways that prioritize equity and justice. It gives me hope that individuals who center the environment and social justice will be leading the entities that can enact change, such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the Council on Environmental Quality. It is not only their professional experience, but their personal stories that will shape their potential to advocate for the historically marginalized, dispossessed, and underrepresented. However, it is not only these leaders who need to be at the table. We each need to take part in the transition, we must each ask questions, and we must each open doors for people who have had fewer opportunities in our communities.
Relevant Groups:
There are many ways to promote environmental justice and there are numerous individuals and organizations involved in this work. Here are some, but there are many others, including within government agencies:
This list from 1% for the Planet features a range of nonprofits fighting for social & environmental justice, with emphasis on equitable access to nature, service, food justice, regenerative agriculture, and education.
The NAACP has compiled a list of organizations promoting environmental justice, including those focused on activism and youth organizing.
The Indigenous Environmental Network involves indigenous led activism and includes a recorded series of webinars on Indigenous Women and Feminism. Both that site and Indigenous Women Rising feature leaders from throughout the Americas.
WE ACT works to support and organize residents of communities impacted by environmental injustice, and they describe their work here.
The Solutions Network provides grants, media support, and networking opportunities to grassroots climate changemakers and innovators.
Our Climate Voices is a collective of storytellers who focus on the stories of the people most impacted by climate change.
This post was written by Naamal De Silva, with contributions from Geena Peyton.
Read more about SDSN USA’s Climate and Energy work here, and access the Zero Carbon Action Plan via this link.