This year marks the 40th anniversary of a key battle in the early environmental-justice movement: the 1982 resistance to a proposed PCB landfill in Warren County, North Carolina. The landfill was carved out of a soybean crop in a predominantly Black community. It would store soil contaminated with. carcinogen-lacedOil that a trucker had illegally applied along 200 miles state roads was a cause for concern. Protests followed, and More than 500 arrestsThey didn’t stop the project. They helped to spark a national movement and a family legacy.
William J. Barber Sr. (educator and minister) was one of the organizers. He had moved from Indiana to North Carolina to help desegregate schools. His son, the Rev. William J. Barber II started preaching in Martinsville Virginia, where he helped residents to protest the. clandestine storageToxic waste in a Black neighbourhood. Barber II was a prominent civil rights leader and founder of North Carolina. Moral Mondaymovement in 2013 followed by a re-launch of the national Poor Peoples Campaign.
William J. Barber III, a 30-year-old grandson, continues the tradition. Barber III, who is based in Durham, North Carolina has advocated for a green-economy transformation that benefits both the environment and those who have not been able to share in America’s prosperity. His company, the Rural Beacon Initiative, which helps to leverage financing for clean energy projects in low- and moderate-income communities. This month, he joined the Coalition for Green Capital as its director. Chief consultantEquity and environmental justice. This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
I want to start by acknowledging that we are speaking in the birthplace of the environmental-justice movement.
It is. Warren County’s situation was directly related to a major moment in the larger environmental movement. Exposure of predominantly white middle-income communities at Love CanalPCBs and other chemicals led the legislature to mandate specific disposal methods. The issue in Warren County was caused by a company refusing to comply with the new legislation and dumping the toxic material along North Carolina’s highways. This is why I am so passionate about this work. If we don’t take care, even greater environmental movements can lead to more harm for frontline communities.
This ties in to a recurring theme of your work: Moving towards a reduction carbon emissionsslowing, or reversing global heatingis not enough if it is done on behalf of vulnerable communities.
One of the most scandalous examples is the carbon cap and trade program. This program was widely criticized across the country because it involved an unacceptable level of carbon emissions. Hotspotting is an issue. Incentives to lower GHG emissions caused certain plants to be shut down in more affluent regions. However, other plants in the portfolio were set up to produce more to make up the production loss. These plants were often found in poor communities. This is an example of something that, on the surface, seemed to be a win for global climate but was actually just another burden for communities already impacted.
You also need to consider who will benefit most from green jobs. These jobs are not sustainable, you have already discussed. Equitably distributed.
This is an extraordinary opportunity because of the amount of resources and collective expertise that are being directed towards transitioning to a clean-energy economy. We can’t have that opportunity and continue to operate in the business-as-usual mode. This means that we cannot have the same players, who because of their access to capital and influence, have dominated the energy sector up until this point. They can’t be the ones dictating the parameters or reaping the greatest benefits from this transition.
It is crucial that we consider the whole picture when considering what a just energy transition looks. To address climate change, yes, by reducing GHG emissions, but also to address poverty via clean, sustainable, and living-wage jobs. To promote racial equity by ensuring that the clean-energy workforce includes a portion of the racial population. OwnersIn a clean-energy economy, people of color are more likely to be employed. We must address gender equality, as climate has the worst impact on women and children.
We have metrics for the amount of GHG emissions that we want to reduce over a given time. We need other clear metrics. What percentage of people with different races should we see in our clean energy economy? Women? Disadvantaged Communities?
North Carolina is seeing an increase in the number of industries that claim to be environmentally friendly but have a high impact on low-income communities. Wood pellets are the most obvious example.The European Union defines’renewable energy’ as ‘green energy’.
These are American forests, which are often being shipped overseas to supply European energy demand. These forests are found in rural areas that are often already economically poor. They are located in areas that rely on this landscape for their sustenance. These are people who fish, hunt, and plant food. These plants are often located in communities of colorcommunities which have been inundated by the polluting industry in the past.
Biogas is another industry that is being promoted to be a sustainable alternative for fossil fuels. You were part of the effort to find an EPA investigationThere is racial discrimination in the way that the state allows biogas facilities at swine farm farms.
What we were seeing was that the narrative of biogas as a bridge fuel to a cleaner economy is actually a Goliath of collaboration among big ag/big energy. The factories that produce biogas are polluting. Already, they are poisoning rural communities of color with toxic chemicals, which are harmful to public health. This leads to economic disruption that causes generational trauma.
There are many studies.It has been shown that CAFOs are more often located in low-income and non-white areas. Schools for students with low incomes and schools not dominated by whites. These facilities can prove to be dangerous. They can leak in extreme weather conditions like heavy rainstorms and hurricanes. This has happened to us right here in North Carolina.
Because of the fact that biogas projects have a direct impact on frontline communities, there is a direct negative effect on them. The build-out results in more pipelines, digesters, housing entities, noise disruptions, and more trucks coming in or out. This is not something that should be discussed when North Carolina transitions to a clean-energy economy. There are many more efficient areas where we can invest like solar, wind power, and geothermal.
With so many disasters happening at any given time, what can you do to keep you on track and give you hope?
When I think about these crises, they are so vast that no single sector of society is capable of solving them. It’s impossible. It can’t be solved by the grassroots movement alone. It is not possible to solve it by yourself through community organizing. It cannot be solved by science and policy alone. It cannot be solved by government action alone. It is not possible to solve it by private investment.
Although it may seem daunting at first, I believe that this opens up a window of opportunity. We were forced to dismantle the walls that divide us as a society. We were forced into creative thinking about how we can collaborate with others of like conscience, of differing backgrounds and perspectives but with the same goal.
I am also inspired by the activism of emerging movements. Young people are coming together intergenerationally and interracially and demanding that we prioritise the voices of Black, Indigenous, Brown, and the poor. It is inspiring. It inspires me to believe that even though we stumble, claw, fight, and are humanly imperfect, we can make progress.