Decarceration with Decarbonization : Renewable Rikers and the Transition to Clean Power

At the same time that the world was rocked by climate-related unnatural disasters, the social unrest sparked by the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin forced a long-overdue racial reckoning with regard to over-policing, mass incarceration, and other forms of state-mediated violence against people of color. Both these profound social challenges must be navigated simultaneously. And it does not take much beyond a glance to show that the twin crises are deeply entwined. Global (and domestic) patterns of energy extraction, generation, and consumption have placed inexcusable environmental burdens on the same communities of color that are facing state-mediated violence. Calls for a just transition involve recognizing these interconnections, and intentionally planning with them in mind.This article offers New York City’s Renewable Rikers project as an example of how this might be done, of how communities might combine decarbonization with decarceration, and in the process build a more just, more sustainable society. By putting racial justice and overburdened communities at the center of building a clean energy grid, Renewable Rikers offers a model for genuine and transformative change that confronts root causes of inequality and builds a better, fairer city. Together the Renewable Rikers coalition and legislation they helped pass offer a roadmap for how creativity and community collaboration can ensure that energy infrastructure decisions achieve climate and social justice goals at the same time