Season 2 Ep. 3 - Energy Democracy & Just Transition Solutions to Climate Change Stories from Home: Living the Just Transition Podcast

What are real-life examples of climate solutions that are just, equitable, community-driven, and lead to a “brighter, better world?” They are community-driven solutions that stop harm, undo harm, and heal not only the Earth, but how we are in relationship with one another.

In this episode we zoom in on “energy democracy,” a term describing a wide range of solutions that move away from a fossil fuel economy into renewable energies that also ensures energy is community-owned.

We look at the work of the following Climate Justice Alliance members: Kentuckians for the Commonwealth as they devise community energy plans, UPROSE’s solar park and clean energy development in Brooklyn, New York, and the Oregon Just Transition Alliance’s Clean Energy campaign that flips extractive economics on its head. Bonus readings in description.

Thanks to our guests, Basav Sen (Climate Change Policy Director at the Institute for Policy Studies), Cassia Heron (Immediate past chair of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, and a co-founder of the Louisville Association for Community Economics and the Louisville Community Grocery), and Elizabeth Yeampierre (Executive Director of UPROSE).

Learn more about the grassroots communities and issues featured in this episode:

UPROSE: https://www.uprose.org/

Oregon Just Transition Alliance: https://www.ojta.org/

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth: https://kftc.org/

The environmental disaster in Popal, India, that Basav talks about: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/07/the-worlds-worst-industrial-disaster-is-still-unfolding/560726/

UPROSE’s proposed clean energy industrial “GRID”: https://www.uprose.org/the-grid

Oregon Clean Energy Opportunity Campaign: https://cleanenergyoregon.org/

Portland Clean Energy Fund
https://portlandcleanenergyfund.org/about

Empower Kentucky, people’s energy plan: https://www.empowerkentucky.org/