Georgians featured in project highlighting “Voices for 100% Renewable Energy”
Environment Georgia
For more information: Anna Hofmann – (202) 461-2453
Today, Environment Georgia announced four Georgia residents as leading voices for clean energy. The Georgians are profiled in a national project, Voices for 100% Renewable Energy, featuring photos, testimonials, and videos from a wide array of individuals from across America – from academics, to mayors and other public officials, to community leaders, to business and non-profit leaders – embracing a massive transition to clean energy.
Georgians featured in the in the project include Rev. Dr. Gerald Durley, the Pastor Emeritus of Providence Missionary Baptist Church; Laura Seydel, the Director of the Turner Foundation; Marilyn Brown, a Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology; and Felicia Davis, the co-founder of the HBCU Green Fund at Clark Atlanta University.
“We’re inspired by people like Rev. Durley, Laura Seydel, Felicia Davis, and Professor Brown, who know we can, and must, shift to 100 percent renewable energy,” said Rob Sargent, Energy Program Director at Environment America. “We’re thrilled to share some of their stories through this project. Our hope is that it will motivate the many folks who know we need a swift, steady and complete transition from dirty to clean energy to lean into the effort.”
The people featured in the project cited a range of environmental, economic, equity, social, and health benefits from the transition to 100 percent renewable energy. Most focused on the urgent need to eliminate climate-altering carbon pollution. Others simply believe that it’s common sense and good economics to save energy and to harness unlimited, pollution-free energy sources.
Professor Marilyn Brown speaks to the health benefits of renewable energy, saying, “100% renewables would promote healthier communities by eliminating the ecosystem and public health damage caused by burning fossil fuels.”
Laura Seydel says, “If we care about the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren we have a duty to make 100% renewable a reality. We have the technology, all we need is the will to make a better future for the generations that follow us.”
Rev. Dr. Durley says, “As a veteran of the civil/human rights movement, I am convinced that it is a Constitutional right for all Americans to have clean air and toxic-free water. This can be accomplished when WE march and legislate for 100% clean energy from solar, wind, and alternative sources of energy.”
Felicia Davis, co-founder of the HBCU Green Fund, which finances projects on historically black campuses to cut energy and water usage, says, “In the tradition of my ancestors who built institutional quality buildings that continue to serve us today, I take the long view far beyond my own lifetime in working to increase the sustainability of Black colleges and the communities that they serve. As we retrofit, restore and build new structures we must also accelerate the shift to renewable energy. Unlike the past, technologies are available today and as we transition renewable energy solutions will continue to improve. Just as we let go of oil lamps and coal burning stoves we must now move from coal-fired plants to wind, solar, geothermal, and smart-grid applications. We make the future better by acting today so in addition to efficiency, renewable energy is definitely prominent to the sustainability mix for Black colleges.”
“For years, we’ve been told that pollution from dirty fuels was the price we had to pay for progress,” said Anna Hofmann, a clean energy associate working with Environment Georgia. “Those days are over. My confidence that we can make the shift to clean renewable energy has been boosted by the conversations I’ve had with so many people we’ve profiled in the Voices for 100% Renewable project.”
To view Voices for 100% Renewable Energy, go to www.100percentrenewable.org.
