Energy for Change rally draws more than 2,000

KFTC members joined more than 2,000 others in Louisville on Thursday for the Energy for Change: Interfaith Action for Clean Energy and Healthy Communities rally.

"It matters little where we live … dirty energy is polluting our air and water," said Mark Steiner of Kentucky Interfaith Power & Light told the crowd, many of whom were in Louisville from across the country for the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. "Dirty energy is making us and making our children sick."

Activist Tim DeChristopher said he grew up in West Virginia where people live with "fear under the oppression of the coal industry." But he was able to overcome his fear "when my actions aligned with my sentiments.

"If people stand against injustice, they will not stand alone," said DeChristopher, who spent 21 months in jail for blocking the leasing of public land in Utah to oil and gas interests. "There will be a community and movement to stand with them."

Other speakers included Kentuckians Kathy Little, Eboni Cochrane and Wendell Berry, and West Virginian David Miller who also spoke of the oppressive tactics of the coal industry.

"The companies have got us fighting each other," Miller said.

Steiner provided a hopeful note. "We are connected by one earth, by one air, by one water," he said. "We are the hope. We are the possibility for a clean energy future. The dream is a possibility if we have energy for change."