The COVID-19 pandemic has made worse many existing inequities across our communities. As we work to build Seattle back better, we have an opportunity to build a more just, healthy, and beautiful city.
Under a Green New Deal framework, we are working to eliminate our city’s climate pollution by 2030, advance environmental justice, and create good, green, well-paying jobs. We are doing a Green Worker Spotlight on three individuals who are not only rising to the climate challenge, but also continuing to lead their communities in solutions for all.
Edwin Wanji – Sphere Solar Energy
Recent solar workforce diversity reports show a lack of diversity in the industry. At Sphere Solar, Edwin’s team is working to make energy accessible and clean, and paving the way for people of color and immigrants in the solar industry to serve all members of the community, especially for vulnerable populations. This includes energy, water and waste infrastructure, transportation sector, supported by an inclusive and diverse workforce.
Solar Sphere has successfully delivered international relief projects in Haiti and Kenya, and are supporting a solar project with a local faith-based organization, leveraging grant funding resources from the local utility, and providing education and training for the historically BIPOC congregation.
Solar Sphere is working to advance a green economy from the clean energy, community resilience, and environmental justice standpoint, and hopes to increase capacity for providing strategic advisory support at the local, national and international level. Learn more here: https://spheresolarenergy.com/
Masra Clamoungou, Black Farmers Collective and Small Axe Farms
The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the need for improved natural resources and access to healthy food and green space where communities can grow culturally-significant foods and medicines.
Farmers and farmworkers play a fundamental role within the green economy by being aware of the ways that natural systems interact and through responsibly managing the use of these systems and resources to produce nourishment for human communities.
Black Farmers Collective is working to reclaim Black and Indigenous relationships with the land, improve BIPOC communities’ food sovereignty, and guide discussions about racial inequality. Learn more here: https://blackstarfarmers.org/
Stuart Vázquez, Eco-Lógica
Bringing information and education to support communities who have been most impacted by environmental injustice get involved in green living is critical for living a more sustainable lifestyle.
Eco-Lógica is the first and only bilingual magazine about environmental and sustainability education totally free in the Puget Sound area. Learn more about Eco-Lógica here, and leave a comment below about how your job helps protect the environment! https://ecologicamagazine.com/