NAACP: Coal Blooded, Putting Profits Before People

For over 70 years, the US nuclear power and weapons industry has consistently targeted Indigenous communities for contamination and environmental sacrifice. The radioactive scars of nuclear colonialism affect Indigenous peoples throughout the lands of Turtle Island (also called North America) and the Pacific Islands occupied by the United States of America.

Our team formed the Initiative to address the persistent gap between grassroots communities at the frontlines of the climate justice fight and those sitting at relevant policymaking tables. We connect grassroots-led solutions with the best-available data, evidence, and scholarship. Through concrete technical policy tools and project models, we support frontline communities, justice-based organizations, and policymakers to foreground equity in a just transition to renewable energy.We designed this Workbook to address the question that frequently arises in the context of equity and energy policy: What is energy justice?

As your Environmental and Climate Justice (ECJ) unit begins to plan your energy justice project, you may decide that an energy cooperative is right for your community. A cooperative is a community-owned and managed business that is operated by and for the benefit of its members who use the electricity provided by the co-op. Energy cooperatives serve to ensure community access to clean and renewable energy, increase local employment and job training opportunities, and develop community wealth