April 17, 2020 at 03:40pm
The Empower Kentucky Leadership Network – a cohort of 40 grassroots leaders across Kentucky dedicated to growing a stronger movement for Just Transition and climate justice – had its first gathering in Bowling Green in early November 2019. Among many resources provided to the cohort during this weekend was the KFTC document “Appalachia’s Bright Future – Working Together to Shape a Just Transition.” This document was created in 2013, but is still frequently used to reflect KFTC’s work related to Just Transition.
During a generative group discussion at this first gathering, a member of the cohort pointed out that there were problematic aspects of this document. For instance, the document’s list of frontline communities whose leadership should be centered in a Just Transition did not include people of color. The document also included a photo of a KFTC member of color who had been a strong leader in KFTC’s just transition work, but the lack of actual content emphasizing the importance of centering racial justice made the image feel tokenizing in nature.
April 16, 2020 at 02:16pm
The Empower Kentucky Leadership Network–an ongoing cohort of 40 Kentuckians committed to building a stronger movement for climate and just transition–continues to grow and learn through monthly webinars and peer coaching calls.
February 24, 2020 at 03:12pm
In January, KFTC and several ally groups launched a paid media campaign – including 10 billboards plus radio, newspaper and digital ads in central and eastern Kentucky – calling on members of Congress to stand up for coal miners and communities by passing a package of Just Transition bills in 2020.
February 12, 2020 at 11:36am
Solar panels were recently installed on KFTC’s main office in London. This was the final step in a series of energy upgrades that the building had been undergoing in the last several months, which puts the office building on track to be completely solar-powered.
January 23, 2020
WFPL-FM Public Radio
Amid last year’s fight over net-metering legislation, a lobbyist working on behalf of utilities asked the regulatory agency that oversees utilities to weigh-in with a letter to lawmakers.
The Public Service Commission sent a letter to lawmakers a week later.
January 6, 2020
Lexington Herald-Leader
As the new year dawned, advocates of the potential economic benefits of solar energy, particularly in economically-distressed counties in Eastern Kentucky, renewed their concern over a controversial law that could dissuade businesses, individuals and non-profits from installing solar panels.
December 4, 2019 at 11:56am
When anti-rooftop solar bill SB 100 passed the state legislature in 2019, members of the KFTC New Energy and Transition Committee feared that the Kentucky Public Service Commission might have been inappropriately collaborating or communicating with monopoly utilities–the very entities the PSC is meant to regulate.
November 25, 2019 at 02:48pm
To be in a room filled with so much talent and passion. Openness to have difficult conversations, and brilliance in finding solutions to heavy issues.
October 28, 2019
On Earth
Taking care of those communities distressed by the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is an economic and ethical imperative.
The coal industry is dying. But we can’t allow the communities that have been dependent on coal to die along with it.
October 2, 2019 at 01:22pm
Louisville
As we stood under the blazing sun in Jefferson Square Park with our signs and petitions, Greta Thurnburg was delivering this quote to the United Nations, “You must unite behind the science. You must take action. You must do the impossible. Because giving up can never ever be an option.”
At the Louisville Climate Strike, attendees were ready to unite and take action. KFTC Chairperson Cassia Herron spoke of the importance of voting and fighting against political bullying. Generations young and old clapped and hollered in solidarity.
We knew that giving up on the planet and our future is not an option.
