This week, I’m excited to once again join progressive leaders from across the US at the annual Netroots Nation conference. Netroots Nation is a meeting of the minds for advocates across the country. I’m going to be speaking with bloggers, newsmakers, social justice advocates, labor and organizational leaders, grassroots organizers, and online activists who are working to make our world a more just, inclusive, and sustainable place. It’s being held this year in St. Louis, Missouri, which also happens to be home to the corporate headquarters of some of the world's biggest coal companies.
Netroots Nation has made headlines for mobilizing its attendees to protest the unjust water shutoffs in the city of Detroit in 2014 and the unjust treatment of undocumented immigrants in Arizona in 2015.
As get things started here at Netroots Nation in St. Louis in 2016, the Black Lives Matter movement will be front and center at this year’s conference. After a hard and heartbreaking week, it feels more important than ever to come together for conversation and action to address the threats to black lives and our shared responsibility to hold leaders accountable to keep our communities safe, healthy and thriving.
As we know, the struggles to make our world more just and safe are linked to one another in many ways. There are many well-funded forces aiming to protect the status quo with all they’ve got, but we’re focused on building grassroots people power to disrupt the status quo and make our world better.
I’ll be joining other panelists on Friday morning for a discussion titled “Telling Winning Stories When the Opponents are Really Loud: The Fight for Clean Energy and the Clean Power Plan.”
St. Louis really is ground zero for polluters whose voices are incredibly loud. For example, Peabody Coal, which is headquartered in St. Louis, has been funding climate science denial for decades, as recently revealed in their ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Ameren Missouri, which operates many coal-fired power plants without modern pollution controls across the St. Louis metro area, is lagging woefully behind on investing in clean energy - a mistake that we estimate will cost Ameren ratepayers $4,600 per household over the next 20 years.
What gives me hope in the face of these loud polluter voices are stories like the Reverend Rodrick Burton’s of New Northside Missionary Baptist Church here in St. Louis. Three years ago, under Rev. Burton’s leadership, solar panels were installed on New Northside’s church and the congregation’s community center. Rev. Burton estimates the solar panels save the church $3,000 annually.
“I wanted this church to be a leader in the African-American community with regard to practicing sustainable stewardship by using the resources that we have,” said the Rev. Rodrick Burton, Pastor with New Northside Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis. “I really wanted us to have solar panels."
The St. Louis region is home to many coal-fired power plants, which are massive contributors to air pollution and climate change. Rev. Burton points out that St. Louis has some of the worst air pollution in the country. The toxic air pollution, combined with hotter days as the planet warms, contribute to more bad air alert days, which impact vulnerable populations like asthmatics and the elderly. The St. Louis region has already suffered more than 40 bad air alert days this spring and summer so far - just staggering.
New Northside Missionary Baptist Church has put its environmental stewardship into action beyond its solar panels through vocal support of the U.S. Clean Power Plan, the nation’s first comprehensive plan to cut carbon pollution from power plants by shifting to clean, renewable energy.
The Missouri Chapter of the Sierra Club and the local Missouri Beyond Coal campaign are fortunate to work together with Rev. Burton and New Northside Missionary Baptist Church to build support for the U.S. Clean Power Plan and get out the word to Missouri public officials to support climate action as well.
Even in the face of loud polluter voices, our stories - and our victories - can be louder. Please take a look at the video telling the story of Rev. Burton and our work to support the U.S. Clean Power Plan. Take action, share the video with your friends and let's make our voices loud for climate action.