Last month, Pittsburgh welcomed the 13th Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) for a multi-day conversation on the future of clean energy.
That same week, a series of events took place around the Clean Energy Justice Convergence. The highlight was a cross-country journey of Indigenous leaders from the Pacific Northwest who came to Pittsburgh with a sacred, cedar Totem Pole. Led by the House of Tears Carvers of the Lummi Nation, the delegation of 12 youth and elders delivered a message to the Ministerial participants in support of true, clean energy that does not depend on fossil fuels.
While here, the Indigenous visitors forged bonds with frontline residents in Southwestern Pennsylvania who’ve been struggling to have their voices heard. From the fracking fields of Washington County to the industrial steel towns of Allegheny County to the petrochemical buildout in Beaver County, people in environmental justice communities feel their concerns about the health and environmental impacts of industrial expansion have been ignored.
The Indigenous leaders’ message was simple: Fossil fuel extraction and energy systems have poisoned the health of people and the environment around the world. The needed response is also simple: We must shift investment to renewable, fossil-free energy. Solar, wind and other renewables are the most cost-effective way to decarbonize our energy sector, create new jobs, grow the economy, fight climate change and protect future generations.
“These journeys aren’t about us,” said Doug James, one of the Lummi carvers. “It’s about coming together with one heart and one mind, knowing that it’s this generation that can make their voices heard.”
It is far from the first time the Lummi have taken a stand. A nation that values the salmon fishing waters of the Salish Sea of northwest Washington State, they successfully stopped what would have been North America’s largest coal export terminal, proposed for the shoreline atop an ancestral village and burial ground.
The Totem Pole honors their way of life and the late Lummi Hereditary Chief Tsilixw (Bill James). It includes carvings of animals central to Lummi existence including salmon and orca. While the Totem Pole is considered a sacred entity of healing and protection, the real power comes when people gather around it during Lummi-led blessings and a laying of hands on the pole, Lummi say.
The Totem Pole made several stops in Oakland and Pittsburgh and traveled along with the Steel, Gas and Petrochemical Tours that were offered to Ministerial visitors by Physicians for Social Responsibility of Pennsylvania. The tours visited the frontline communities of Braddock and Clairton, as well as Beaver and Washington counties, giving visitors an opportunity to meet face to face with residents and learn from them.
Those who signed up for the tours included Ministerial staff, federal government employees, state and local leaders and community activists from outside our region. Several agreed that they were shocked to learn that people in Southwestern Pennsylvania suffer from poor air and water quality on the scale of third-world countries.
The Indigenous presence on the tours was affirming, giving local tour leaders a rare chance to experience solidarity and support. “Something busted wide open inside me knowing that families from Washington State and the Pacific Northwest had driven so far to stand with us,” said Edith Abeyta, longtime Braddock resident and member of North Braddock Residents for Our Future.
“We stood together in the shadow of the U.S. Steel plant in Braddock, on the banks of the river, and talked about the harms,” she said. “We were sad together. They couldn’t believe that none of us had ever swam in our river. It smelled so bad.”
“We don’t get this kind of support from our own people where we live,” she added. “It meant so much that we didn’t have to convince anyone in making our case or be attacked by anyone. They acknowledged and understood us.”
Pittsburgh could be a true leader of green energy and solidify its reputation as a powerhouse of innovation and technology by rejecting fossil fuel solutions. Instead, state and local leaders are lining up behind a proliferation of Hydrogen Hubs and Carbon Capture and Sequestration projects that will only prolong the harm that fossil fuel industries inflict on people and the environment.
“This is not just a Pittsburgh fight,” said Freddie Lane, whose Lummi name is Sul ka dub. “This is not just a Lummi or Standing Rock fight. This is all our fight.”
The time is now to pursue truly clean energy solutions that are proven, scalable and fossil-free that will get us over the bridge to a brighter, healthier future for everyone.
Debra Diamond Smit is the Director of Communications for the Breathe Project. She lives in Mt. Lebanon.
First Published: October 16, 2022, 4:00 a.m.
