Two mismatched mugs sit 10 feet apart, full of hot water, steeping cinnamon, anise and pepper, their aroma filling the home with their sweetness and adding to the warmth of our conversation. We’ve grown weary of the responsibility of creating change and we’ve sat down to have a cup of tea and we wonder, “Who should be here with us?”
We know that Spencer is holding a big event to discuss the economic and energy security of all Utahns, but we don’t want to go. We don’t think it’ll be a place for us. We’re actually pretty sure it won’t be. You see, our friends got chased out in 2019.
So we’re here in a warm home, hashing out the details of our future and we can’t get past the glaring truth that we’re being fed some awful lies. The bright green future the leaders will be discussing at the upcoming economic and energy summit is covering up a soot filled tailpipe that lays waste in homes here and abroad.
Our tea grows colder as the weight bears on us, weary eyelids droop and heavy hands pick up our mugs. It’s exhausting to think of the cost of it all. What are the costs and how are they measured? Is the dollar equipped to put a value on the life of the solar producer?
Gary Hoogeveen, you say you want to talk about a diverse, affordable and clean energy future but what is diverse, affordable and clean about a new round of exploitation? The truth is that all of the green solutions on the table involve the abuse and exploitation of others.
Corporate interests drive capital exchanges that maintain profits over people, leaving communities ravaged with pollution and abusive labor practices. Corporate interests are celebrated under the guise that they are creating something so inherently good that it is infallible. How is this so different from the fossil fuel industries we so desperately need to leave behind?
Between sips of our tea, we savor the notion that every life should be afforded the opportunity to live out their dreams, undisturbed by systems of power disrupting their right to wellness and dignity, and we wonder what can be done.
We wonder if Gary and Spencer are tired, too. Could we invite them here? Could we invite them to this home along a small branching road just a stone’s throw from Liberty Park? Where they could hear the children playing and watch the neighbors pass by. We’ve got plenty of mugs. Gary (governor), Gary (Rocky Mountain Power), Spencer, Val, et al. could come, if they’d wear a mask, remove their shoes and leave their pens and deadlines on their wood grain desks.
It would be hard to have them join us, we know. It’d be hard to bear through long pauses, the awkward silences and the hollow words that would most likely follow. It’d be even harder to make room for them all. Because if we invite Gary, Spencer and friends, we’d have to invite Honesty and Integrity, too. Perhaps it’s a silly vision that wouldn’t work at all, but we’ve not got many more options; so we sent an invitation and they came and joined us at the table we’d set.
They sat and listened to the stories from our community, tales of how our economic and energy initiatives are tightly woven into systems that exploit, disregard, and serve death sentences to many. We asked, “Are these solutions being posed at your summit, solutions at all? How can you accept the violence they cause to the lives of our neighbors?” They choked on their tea.
The table neatly arranged with cookies and scones, tea cups and kettles, milk and sugar cubes, quickly was soiled with anger, denial, frustration and doubt. We had served a bitter tea. Unfortunately, the milk had gone sour long ago and the time for sugar had passed. Truth, love and justice don’t go down easily. They had to swallow this tea unsweetened and full strength and we watched as they drank every drop.
Now the tea is all gone, but the leaves settled at the bottom of our mugs have begun to outline the visions of what could become. We couldn’t have conjured the structures before we drank this tea together but now we’ve been inspired to co-create an honest energy future.
Up to this point, we’ve chosen to participate in these systems that exploit and corrupt. We know what must be done to make things right. We choose to do them or not. After this tea party, I’m not sure how we can turn away from this truth and the hope this truth brings.
Our power is growing. Together we can heal and repair the harm that’s been done. Together we can build a people’s economy, and a future for all of us.* The answers perhaps lie in courageously raising our collective voice, and serving up another strong bitter pot of tea.
*To learn more about serving the tea, check out the People’s Energy Movement here.
Colin Green
Colin Green is an environmental activist from Salt Lake City. He hopes to inspire folks to ask hard questions and come together to find solutions. His background is in peace building, environmental sustainability, and exploring the West’s wild spaces.
Franque Bains
Franque Bains is a storyteller, a passionate organizer, a google doc slayer and a grain-free aficionado. She is convinced that the key to happiness is bringing your ideas to life and helping others do the same. She currently works to build community through storytelling in Salt Lake City. You can learn more about her work at franquebains.com
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