Though we may not know the final social, health, or economic costs of COVID-19’s devastating and unequal fallout over the coming decades, we can begin to forecast and prepare for a greener and cleaner economy. However, we shouldn’t rely on economists alone to tell us what the cost of all the death, disease, and suffering have been. We must seriously consider whether the cost can also lead to gains made in our climate response, since we are still so far from our goal and have so little time to get there.
Our goal must not be to justify past inequitable impacts with formulas and equations. We must now expedite and eliminate the growing rate of pre-existing health conditions created by air pollution — which, like COVID, has wrought the most havoc on our most economically vulnerable communities. Revitalizing our economy with Renewable and Clean Energy is a synergistic and compatible goal with eliminating health inequalities. This particularly includes those health inequalities created by air pollution and complicated by unintended consequences from economist-created and corporate-leaning climate policies.
There are many pathways that could address our current socio-economic disparities. But only a comprehensive, health-focused, and racially-just clean energy approach will dissolve existing health disparities in low income communities. Such a plan also needs to carefully avoid the unintended consequences created by failed policies of the past. We can create a thriving life for all, but only if we transition into a clean and renewable energy economy in every neighborhood that doesn’t prolong suffering and expand death tolls in those areas. This includes every home, school, and hospital as well as the utility, transportation, construction, and industrial sectors.
To get there, an equitable renewable energy policy should target, invest in, and subsidize our most marginalized areas first. This will directly lead to thriving and healthier communities for all. Time and again we led with market-driven goals and were quite satisfied with selling new technology with rebates and perks for the early adopters (i.e. those who can afford new and expensive technologies). But this has failed to solve our climate or health problems. In fact, it only seems to have created more inequality.
Perhaps policy makers did not foresee these consequences. But ultimately these policies created clean energy for a few while causing more harm—like increased pre-term or still births, asthma, cancer, and lung illnesses in communities of color—even while reducing air pollution as a whole in California. Now, we know better and many studies tell us that we cannot keep turning a blind eye to our sacrifice zones.
Specifically, it is currently well understood that California’s Cap N Trade policy insufficiently regulated polluting facilities, like Oil Refineries. These industrial complexes were already disproportionately located in disadvantaged and over-polluted neighborhoods. This policy then allowed polluters to pay to pollute more in these disadvantaged areas, so long as they purchased pollution trading credits to do so. This is why these areas are now known as “sacrifice zones.”
Data now reveals that the greatest mortality and infection rates from COVID-19 are unsurprisingly in the most polluted and lowest income neighborhoods statewide and nationally. Studies also now point out that pre-existing health conditions caused by air pollution have created major vulnerabilities to COVID-19 and other viruses. It is clear that pandemic effects would be far more equalized if our communities didn’t suffer from pre-existing conditions related to air pollution. These zip codes also, by no coincidence, are located in predominantly Black and Brown communities.
We must now choose between a racially-just and equitable renewable energy future, or the harmful fossil fuel system of a bygone era. If everyone has access to renewable, affordable, energy efficient solutions and can be part of a work force contributing to the greening of America, we can begin to undo the damaging effects of climate change for all our populace. California must lead the nation out of this disastrous systemic failure, while moving towards a thriving and healthy society across the board.
Electrified and Equitable Future
Fortunately, California has already legislated the most advanced climate adaptation plan of any state in the nation. This plan outlines the projected impacts in considerable detail and urges governments, planners, chambers, and citizens to prepare now.
To ensure clean, equitable, and reliable energy systems, the state’s plan calls for large-scale electrification of three critical sectors: transportation, construction, and industry. This is not only essential to respond to the climate crisis and accelerate us towards net zero emissions but would also create jobs necessary to get us economically back on track post-pandemic. But before releasing investments and passing policies toward a Green Recovery, we must ensure that we prevent the exclusion of Black and Brown communities from benefitting.
Examples of racially proactive benefits include investing in and hiring from communities to enact green, clean, bio-med infrastructure and just equitable salaries for clean and green jobs to be created. California already boasts the fastest growth in its economy from renewable energy investments. This is all possible and all communities can begin to experience decreasing green-house gases(GHG’s) and overall pollution. The end goal must, again, be equitable health results.
Upgrading our energy system from dirty, polluting, health-destroying fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy (powered by solar and other non-fossil fuel-based solutions) will also make us more resilient against future disasters. We will have greater disaster preparedness because locally distributed renewable energy sources can connect to every neighborhood by micro-grids and advanced energy storage. We can also stop wasting potable and clean water for refineries and fracking —thus giving us the opportunity to finally clean up our ground water and focus on water reclamation for farming, drinking water, open spaces, and life itself.
The current fossil fuel-driven economic system has failed us. This is especially true of the most recent generations and our most vulnerable and racially segregated neighborhoods. This pandemic has revealed to us the urgency of transitioning to a renewable energy system for all, and how a renewed economic framework focused on creating thriving, healthy communities and workplaces can reduce — if not eliminate — those pre-existing conditions that Health Insurance companies don’t want to underwrite, another burden of health inequality on our most vulnerable.
We must avoid band-aid solutions with unintended consequences that, in the past, have been good for the elite who can adopt innovative technologies early on. We can re-emerge stronger, greener, and healthier. But only if we measure and track the gains in reduced air pollutants, social and racial equity gains, and define our progress by the health improvements for our most vulnerable. This is the time to make these decisions. Especially if we are to save our planet while eliminating health inequalities for future generations. Clean energy translates into a healthier life for all.