Adobe Stock Photo
(TriceEdneyWire.com)—On Earth Day 1993, I delivered the first major speech of my life. It was in New York City’s Bryant Park, kicking off a nationwide tour to rally opposition to the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The crowd was about 10,000 people. I was there representing the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) and joining national leaders from the environmental and labor movements. I was 20 years old and it was nerve-racking. It was my first time speaking to a crowd that was not principally students. And helped me find my public voice, not just on the environment but on the rights of working people.
Now, 31 years later, Earth Day 2024 again marks a moment when the fate of our planet and the fate of working people in our country are tied together.
The climate crisis can only be solved with our transition to an economy based on clean energy. And that next economy is here.
Unlike 31 years ago, the landmark policies now shifting the economic landscape are providing powerful incentives for investments in the country and the planet. They are bills like the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Biden-Harris administration’s infrastructure law.
NAFTA’s incentives all pointed in the wrong direction for the environment (as well as jobs). It gave polluters legal backdoors to challenge environmental protections outside our courts. It made it harder for Canada to regulate fossil fuels. And it created pressure to increase environmentally harmful farming and mining practices in Mexico.
Now the incentives are pointing the right way. The IRA has $40 billion in tax credits to expand clean technology manufacturing. That includes a manufacturing production tax credit to support the expansion of solar, wind, and battery manufacturing and critical minerals processing. These four sectors are part of the foundation of the next economy. And this tax credit—only a fraction of the power of the IRA— will create more than 560,000 good jobs over the next decade. It also represents the path to keeping the US competitive globally by helping to bring supply chains to America.
E2 is an organization of business leaders pushing policies that are both good for the economy and good for the environment. As of last week, they report at least 301 major clean energy projects have been announced in 41 states and Puerto Rico since passage of the IRA.
The eight projects announced just last month alone will create at least 1,700 jobs and pump more than $3 billion into the economy.
E2’s federal advocacy director Sandra Purohit said, “the clean energy economy is once again showing no signs of slowing down. Federal clean energy investments in the IRA are working; they are spurring private investment, thousands more jobs in America’s resurgent manufacturing sector, and they will spark thousands more jobs in those communities to support the new workers and clean energy supply chains being built across the US.”
Critically, sectors other than manufacturing have an important part to play as well. Financial institutions must divest from fossil fuels to make way for clean energy. Aside from tax incentives, the clean energy transition itself offers a powerful incentive for this. As the transition picks up steam, fossil fuel companies are a riskier and riskier bet for long-term growth.
And companies across the board —whether they manufacture goods outside of green tech or provide services—can choose to make their own energy decisions greener. One example is the deal announced in January, between Microsoft and the solar panel manufacturer Qcells. Microsoft agreed to purchase 12 gigawatts of solar modules and Engineering, Procurement and Construction services over eight years. That is enough energy to power more than 1.8 million homes annually. It will help Microsoft hit its own sustainability goals and it will help Qcells—which has the Western Hemisphere’s largest solar manufacturing facility in Dalton, Georgia—create even more good-paying manufacturing jobs.
Every year, companies commemorate Earth Day by changing their logo for a day or putting out empty public relations messages. In some cases, they attempt to “greenwash” their own poor environmental records. This year, companies have the opportunity to take a more genuine approach and commit to being part of the clean energy transition. The IRA and infrastructure bill offer immediate financial incentives. Clean energy’s increasing resilience and affordability make it good for business in the long term. And it will create a windfall of good jobs, so it is an investment in the American worker.
(Ben Jealous is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club and a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.)
Part of the highway project—one of the earliest phases—involved directing stormwater drainage pipes into the community. Now, picture the elevated highway essentially placing the neighborhood in a bowl. There did not used to be flooding. Now it is rampant. And the state will not even own up to its highway expansion being the cause.
In addition to causing floods, the highway also cut off access to the neighborhood’s only fire hydrant. In 2020, there was a fire. Someone burned to death in their home. Residents believe their neighbor’s death would have been preventable with access to the hydrant.
This is not merely an example of poorly executed urban planning. It is reckless environmental racism. The same kind that has been responsible for creating so-called “sacrifice zones” across the country. Sacrifice zones are populated areas that bear a disproportionate brunt of health and environmental hazards due to their close proximity to sources of pollution and development. They are most often communities of color and low-income communities.
Residents of the Shiloh community are educated … they are business owners … many of them are veterans. They have advantages that people in some other neighborhoods sacrificed to development do not have. But simply by speaking up and advocating for themselves, Shiloh residents have become targets of racist hate. There have been incidents of racial harassment ever since the community started receiving news coverage of their plight. A chilling reminder of what white supremacy looks like in the deep South.
Pastor Williams has seen it firsthand. His restaurant’s clientele is mostly white. One customer told him that he and others had been told to boycott the eatery because Williams had been vocal about the crisis facing the Shiloh community.
Elba, Alabama also happens to be the hometown of Dr. Robert Bullard. Dr. Bullard is known as the “Father of Environmental Justice.” He literally wrote the book—actually many books, including one titled “Highway Robbery”—on environmental racism. And his extensive scholarship has earned him a spot on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Now, Elba has become a textbook example of the environmental harm of racist zoning and transportation policies Dr. Bullard has taught so many of us about. More than a mere twist of cosmic irony, it shows how pervasive the problem of environmental racism is—that the hometown of our nation’s great warrior for Environmental Justice, who has helped countless people and communities, is still vulnerable to its impacts.
Ultimately, the Alabama Department of Transportation and Governor Kay Ivey are the ones who have the ability and responsibility to fix it and compensate the community’s residents for all they have lost. So far all they have done is deny wrongdoing and dupe Shiloh residents into signing away their rights.
An ABC News investigation found the state “used an aggressive legal tool to prevent the residents—and future owners of their land—from the possibility of holding the state government accountable through the court system.” Pastor Williams and several other residents received settlements of $5,000 or less that the governor herself signed off on.
Dr. Bullard has said he hopes 2024 will be the year for justice for Shiloh. As Pastor Williams and others from the community continue to sound the alarm and raise awareness, all of us should be joining them.
(Ben Jealous is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club and a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.)
About Post Author
