Legacies of Coal: In Search of a Just Transition

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The Environmental Solutions Initiative and MIT Anthropology welcome the MIT community and the broader public to explore just energy transitions in coal dependent communities during a lunchtime presentation and conversation.

The event will begin with a brief overview of the ESI’s ongoing work from ESI Director John Fernández. Next, Technology and Policy Program master’s student, Yiran He, will present her thesis findings on energy transitions in Greene County, Pennsylvania. The featured panel discussion will follow with three invited guests from Greene County, who will join Associate Professor of Anthropology Amy Moran-Thomas for a moderated discussion on the economic and community challenges facing coal dependent regions as a result of decarbonization and the ongoing energy transition. Participants will also offer insights into how MIT might contribute its institutional expertise to increasingly urgent issues of climate justice.

This event is the first of two MIT Earth Month events marking the public launch of the ESI's Climate Justice Program. Climate Justice Program postdoc Briana Meier will provide brief comments on the program. Please register in advance. Lunch will be provided to registered attendees.

This event is sponsored by the MIT Climate Nucleus.

Speakers:

• John Fernández, ESI Director
• Briana Meier, ESI Climate Justice Program Postdoctoral Associate
• Yiran He, Technology and Policy Program Master’s Student, ESI Research Assistant

Moderator:

• Amy Moran Thomas, Associate Professor of Anthropology

Invited Guest Speakers:

• Mike Belding, Chairman of the Board of Commissioners for Greene County
• Veronica Coptis, former Executive Director of the Center for Coalfield Justice and current Senior Advisor for Taproot Earth
• Tonya Yoders, Greene County Community Organizer at the Center for Coalfield Justice