As our institutions strain under the uprising in cities across the country, I’ve been struggling to comprehend the depth of racism in America. I understand why these moments of police violence, the senseless destruction of black bodies caught on tape, would spark a fire that rages across this country. I also know that the tinder has been building for generations and is about so much more than this one horrific moment. Every sector plays a part. Including clean energy. It's no secret that there are grave inequities in clean energy. In the spirit of this moment, I turned the microscope on my own sector to ask, how does racism manifest in clean energy? "I can’t breathe" refers to more than police violence. Black communities have been struggling to breathe for decades. "The right to breathe isn't just related to surviving interactions with police," said Alexis Cureton, former electric vehicle fellow at GRID Alternatives, an organization that works to bring clean energy jobs and access to low-income communities. "It pertains to surviving and being able to breathe clean air." Dozens of studies document the racial disparity in environmental impacts, and I've linked to a number of those below. To name a few, consider that in America black people: The impacts are also real. African Americans have higher rates of lung cancer and asthma, and are more like to have (and die from) heart disease. It’s no coincidence that African Americans are three times more likely to die from coronavirus than white people. To make matters worse, inequities in health care result in black communities paying almost twice as much in premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. In this way, the story of George Floyd is symbolic of many struggles in the black community. "A cop put his knee in the back of his neck and choked him to death, amid his cries for help. You can hear the dude calling for his mom," said Bartees Cox, director of marketing and... |