JUST TRANSITION FUND

It's 2022. The Energizer bunny is finally running out of batteries... 

Time to rethink everything.

 

Sustainable energy.  A hot topic on a hotter and hotter planet.

And yet how many of us truly know what that means, and what it would take to realize it so that we don’t lose our transportation, our phones and computers, our comforts of home and hearth?

How many of us even know where our energy comes from?

The NYtimes made a handy state-by-state breakdown that might surprise you.

Check it out. 

 

If you click it, you’ll still see a huge amount of coal. 

Let’s be honest.  From just a standpoint of energy, coal is remarkable. 

This concentrated black sooty stuff from thousands of years of compressed life matter has powered whole generations and economies. It's how we make most of our steel, how whole swaths of people have survived harsh winters, has even been known to make a mean piece of New York pizza... 

 

Of course, it’s also toxic to people to ingest, pollutes our environment when burned, releases huge amounts of CO2 and is most definitely not a sustainable source of energy. Moreover, it’s extraordinarily taxing to mine— landscapes are literally torn apart in the process, destroying entire ecosystems and clearcutting forests... then once all the coal is taken, there’s nothing left to do but move on to the next deposit, leaving whole communities who relied on the economy coal supported left in the lurch.  And yet for much of our country’s history and even today in places here and across the world, it’s how most things have been powered.  

 

Easy enough to say coal’s bad and we should ban the stuff, right? Especially easy if it’s not an industry our families rely on to put food on the table— but to actually be able to keep up with our voracious power demands and not create economic sinkholes, we have to be creative, and have viable dynamic options to transition toward what's next.

 

That’s why this month we are highlighting

the Just Transition Fund!

Part grantmaker, part catalyst— the Just Transition Fund is the only national philanthropic initiative focused solely on supporting the frontline communities and workers hardest hit by the transition away from coal. 

 

Working with local, labor and tribal leaders, Just Transition Fund is creating an economic platform that provides direct support and transition planning that is sustaining, community-driven and effective.

 

We hear a lot about coal politically– often as a false fight between the environment and the economy. The Just Transition Fund knows that to actually transition to a clean sustainable power grid away from coal, it can’t just be a fight against, but a transformation from within– supporting coal communities and workers in building equitable and sustainable economies with good paying jobs.

Recently they have been instrumental in building the National Economic Transition Platform, a policy roadmap for national decision-makers built for and by the people and places hit hardest by the changing coal economy. From Appalachia to the Navajo Nation, this national coalition is working towards building sustainable, resilient, and equitable economic transitions. It should be said that things like this are not easy to do, and yet, this is doing it really well.

 

They also have a new campaign (announced last December at the White House) to raise $100 million to support and scale community-driven economic solutions in hard-hit energy communities. Check it out!

 

Learn More about the Just Transition Fund

Follow them on Twitter @JTFund

Connecting the basic needs dots ...

Keep chewing... If we rely on cheap coal to make the steel that makes our affordable housing, how do we transition without leaving out whole communities? If we successfully remove the coal industry from the US but still rely on other countries' use of dirty coal for most our goods, have we really transitioned?  Where does justice lay at the hands of companies that have exploited land and people and profited instead of held accountable for the harm?

 

As we say farewell to the era of coal power, acknowledging that its gifts are causing more harm than good– a moment to salute the magical soot and the many hands that have given their time, their value and their life to it. Now it's time to transition, justly.   

We’re excited to support the Just Transition Fund this month

and throughout the year through our Community Supported Action Fund. 

Thank you for your support now and always.

Join the Community Supported Action!

Photo Credits & Descriptions: 1. Homes Inc employee installs solar on their roof. 2.Checking out new economic development initiatives in Asheville, NC, supported by the Just Transition Fund Partner's at Natural Capital Investment Fund; photo by Robin McKinney 3. Participants take part in NewForce, an intensive tech training program in West Virginia supported by Just Transition Fund partner Generation West Virginia. 4. Sustainable agriculture operations in West Virginia backed by Just Transition Fund partner Natural Capital Investment Fund (c)Sam Levitan 5. Just Transition Fund Partner Tony Skrelunas of TribeAwaken.com speaks at a meeting in Navajo NationConvening for input for Economic platform

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