Time: 7:00pm

Kent Minault will talk about community organizing around the Bull Run TVA power plant coal ash ponds and working with the victims of the Kingston TVA coal ash spill cleanup. He will also speak on electric vehicle charging stations in Los Angeles and Knoxville and their relation to energy equity.

Kent started out acting, touring with the award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. He joined the Diggers, organizing street rallies and serving daily free food in the park. They organized the first Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic, which has a descendent that continues to impact the community today. In the ’70s, Kent worked as an Actor/Organizer for the SF Art Commission, which led to an acting career where he worked with his union to defeat anti-union ballot measures.

He volunteered with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. After a huge victory getting Los Angeles off coal, he joined the LA County Electric Bus Coalition and within a year got LA Metro to transition to electric buses by 2030. He organized three Electric Vehicle events in Watts and helped found the Watts Clean Air Committee, which installs rooftop solar and helps residents enter union apprenticeship programs. He’s organizing an EV event in East Knoxville in collaboration with SEEED, a prominent EJ organization.