Decarbonize: The Clean Energy Podcast

As news organizations focus more attention on environmental justice, what steps can they take to ensure they’re truly serving the communities they cover? In this virtual panel discussion, we talk to both journalists and advocates from Energy News Network, Grist, and the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition about what equity in climate and energy journalism should look like, and what steps news organizations can take to move in that direction.
Panelists:

• Audrey Henderson, reporter, Energy News Network
• Rukiya Colvin, freelance writer
• Marnese Jackson, co-director, Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition
• Adam Mahoney, reporter, Grist
• Moderator: Ken Paulman, director, Energy News Network

Listeners can stay up to date on Fresh Energy's work via our once monthly email list, blog at www.fresh-energy.org, or by following us on Facebook and Twitter. You can support Fresh Energy’s work for a clean energy Minnesota by making a donation today!
Stay informed on what's happening regionally and nationally in the transition to clean energy with the Energy News Network. Subscribe to the Energy News Network's daily email digests and original reporting, covering the U.S., the Midwest, Southeast, Northeast, and Western regions. Support ENN's work with a donation.

Join Fresh Energy for a two-part episode as we discuss the state of coal in Minnesota.
Part 1:
Fresh Energy's Allen Gleckner and Isabel Ricker lay out the details on changes to coal plant operations, scheduled closure dates, utilities importing coal power from other states, and important ways listeners can get involved at home and with their utilities.
Part 2:
Fresh Energy's Anjali Bains and Justin Fay discuss what a just and equitable energy transition looks like in coal plant communities and across the state.
Resources:
Throughout the episode, we mention a few web pages and resources for listeners to check out.

• Minnesota Coal Countdown (https://coalcountdownmn.org) for keeping tabs on coal plants in and serving Minnesota.
• What's up with Integrated Resource Planning? blog post.
• Isabel's interview with FOX News's Tom Lyden about coal plant operations.
• Making sense of your clean energy options blog post about opting into wind and solar programs, and more.

Listeners can stay up to date on Fresh Energy's work via our once monthly email list, blog at www.fresh-energy.org, or by following us on Facebook and Twitter. You can support Fresh Energy’s work for a clean energy Minnesota by making a donation today!

At Fresh Energy, equity is a central pillar of our mission and a priority across the organization. Our Energy Access and Equity department is where the organization and the staff on today's podcast focus specifically on policies and programs that reduce the energy burden on under-resourced communities, increase opportunities for and access to clean energy jobs, and ensure our policy-based solutions—and Fresh Energy operations—are equitable in both process and outcome. And we're pleased to share that our Energy Access and Equity department is evolving!
In today's podcast, we're joined by Fresh Energy's outgoing lead director of Energy Access and Equity Ben Passer, incoming director Anjali Bains, our new director of Culture and Partnerships Janiece Watts, as well as Mari Ojeda, policy associate on the Energy Access and Equity Team.
Throughout our conversation, we reference a few blog posts on the Fresh Energy site, here they are:

• Energy Access and Equity at Three Years: A personal reflection from Ben Passer
• Fresh Energy launches reimagined and co-created community space
• New Energy Access and Equity leadership at Fresh Energy

And don't forget to register and join us for our October 14 Virtual Benefit Breakfast! We wanted to thank a few of our Benefit Breakfast sponsors for their support!

• Thank you to our title sponsor: Parable Wealth Partners
• And to our Innovation and Technology sponsor: Mortenson
• And thank you also to Atomic Data, Ever-Green Energy, District Energy St. Paul, Impact Power Solutions, Apex Clean Energy, Climate Generation, Conley Family Foundation, Design 45, Minneapolis Foundation, Chuck and Candice Nadler, Old National Bank, and Sunrise Banks.

Tune in to Part 4 of Fresh Energy's "Intersection of Energy and Community" webinar series!
The transition to an equitable, carbon-neutral economy will bring big changes to our communities. State and federal policies, utility programs, and the overall evolution from a world powered by oil and gas to a clean electricity-powered future, play out in our neighborhoods, workplaces, and homes. But it’s not just communities adapting to change. Cities, counties, and local institutions are often leading through model projects and Climate Action Plans to shape a new reality.
In summer 2021, Fresh Energy hosted a webinar series to raise the question: How can we dramatically reduce carbon emissions in a way that improves our communities and benefits everyone?
Panelists:

Margaret Garascia, Associate Director, Research and Innovation at Elevate Energy
Margaret Garascia is Senior Manager for Research and Innovation at Elevate Energy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to designing and implementing programs that lower costs, protect people and the environment, and ensure the benefits of renewable energy reach those who need them most. As part of the Elevate research team, Ms. Garascia conducts research on whether low- and moderate-income households are equitably served by renewable energy programs. In addition, she coordinates Elevate’s research, policy, and demonstration projects on building decarbonization with a focus on the affordable housing sector. She also conducts quantitative and qualitative research on topics including energy insecurity, water affordability, and residential energy use. She was lead author of a report on the multifamily building stock in Chicago and the potential for energy savings. She has presented and written on the relationship between energy efficiency, health, and wellbeing in forums including Electricity Journal, Retrofit Magazine, American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, and others.
Keith Kinch, Co-founder and General Manager at BlocPower
Keith Kinch serves as General Manager and co-founder at BlocPower. Keith received his undergraduate degree at John Jay College and his graduate degree at American International University. He spent eight years as a community organizer, and two years as Deputy Field Director in New York State for the Democratic National Committee under President Obama’s grassroots arm Organizing for America. He helped advance key pieces of legislation such as the Affordable Healthcare Act.
In the summer of 2016, Keith led the Solarize Brownsville campaign where more than 200
homes were outfitted with solar panels. Solarize Brownsville brought together community
Margaret Cherne-Hendrick, Lead Director, Energy Transition at Fresh Energy
Margaret Cherne-Hendrick steers Fresh Energy’s work to decarbonize our economy through the transition of end-uses currently served by fossil fuels to efficient, equitable, carbon-free electricity. She leads a team of staff shaping and driving solutions that use beneficial electrification, efficiency, and other carbon-reduction strategies to dramatically reduce emissions from the building and transportation sectors. She also leads Fresh Energy’s work on carbon sequestration and low-carbon fuel standards as well as actively evaluating other opportunities to move Minnesota toward an equitable carbon-neutral economy by 2050. In addition to Minnesota policy work at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, State Legislature, and administrative channels, Margaret leads Fresh Energy’s involvement in multiple key partnerships and is a primary architect of the Midwest Building Decarbonization Coalition.

Appalachia and Wyoming are dramatically different places, but they also offer each other cautionary tales, success stories, and reasons for resilience and hope. Last year, the Energy News Network and WyoFile captured this complex story in a six-part investigative series, Reckoning in Coal County, now available as an ebook or paperback.
Fresh Energy, Energy News Network, and WyoFile hosted this virtual panel discussion on April 22, 2021. Throughout the conversation, we explore the cultural, political, and economic obstacles faced by rural communities hoping to survive and thrive in a world without coal.
Featuring:
Mason Adams, journalist, Floyd County, Virginia
Shannon Anderson, Powder River Basin Resource Council, Wyoming
Heidi Binko, Just Transition Fund, Virginia
Dustin Bleizeffer, journalist, Casper, Wyoming
Moderator:
Ken Paulman, Senior Director, Energy News Network
Listeners can stay up to date on Fresh Energy's work via our once monthly email list, blog at www.fresh-energy.org, or by following us on Facebook and Twitter. You can support Fresh Energy’s work for a clean energy Minnesota by making a donation today!
Stay informed on what's happening regionally and nationally in the transition to clean energy with the Energy NewsNetwork. Subscribe to the Energy News Network's daily email digests and original reporting, covering the U.S., the Midwest, Southeast, Northeast, and Western regions. Support ENN's work with a donation.