Is Racism Embedded In Our Decatur Energy Policies?

Most of us don’t want to think of ourselves as racist. Our Decatur 2030 Strategic Plan indicates we want a diverse community and that equity is an issue for us. But in our comfort, it’s easy to overlook the sources of our privilege. It’s easy to be unaware of our own ignorance. One of these overlooked areas is that of our climate and energy policy.

I’d like to ask a question, do we know where our electrons come from? The simple answer is probably not. Because we just turn on the switch, and it’s not something we think about, just like we don’t think about racism.

Electrons and electricity are fungible. That’s a big word for they come from sources that are interchangeable and this source can change. And yes, most of us get our electricity from Georgia Power. So we also don’t think about how it’s generated or the impact of that generation on Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC).

But there’s a reason they build coal, and gas plants in remote areas. Part of the answer is so that we don’t see the pollution being pumped into our air, water and land. Imagine having a black belching coal plant at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market. How would the air pollution affect our Decatur athletes or the asthma rates of our kids?

Where we get our energy does affect those that live next to generation plants. Not only does burning fossil fuels warm our planet and threaten our lives, coal ash is toxic and pollutes our ground water and rivers as well. It also affects People of Color disproportionately that live close to these plants.

What we don’t see is that our extractive economy uses up resources and creates pollution just like we use up people and disregard the consequences of pollution on people who are primarily Black, Indigenous or People of Color.

Miya Yoshitani of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network says it best. “Our economic system is dysfunctional, and racism is one of its main enablers. Neoliberal financialized capital does what it does because racism allows it to. The burdens and benefits of our economy are segregated based on racism. Industry profits off of products like oil and gas and displaces the negative impacts on Black and brown communities and poor, working-class immigrant and refugee communities. That’s incentivized by our economic system: profits for polluting are enormous and the economic benefits do not go to the people who bear the brunt of the pollution.”

What can we do about that? We don’t control Georgia Power or where we get our power, right? But we do.

How Decatur powers our city or schools is within our control. We can get our electrons from non-polluting solar. We can insulate our city buildings so we don’t need to use as much energy. We can shift to electric vehicles. We can provide job opportunities through smart policies that require local hiring. We can enable energy efficiency for low income or apartment dwellers through PAYS financing programs. We can have free electric circulator buses for our downtown area. And a dozens of other projects.

It is all within our control, we just need to do one thing. Help our city commissioners act to bring 100% clean renewable energy to Decatur. You can give input on the Decatur 2030 Strategic Plan here. If not, then we can’t really say we’re concerned with racism and equity for our community.

Thanks for making Decatur a great city.