According to the City of Ithaca’s website, the Ithaca Green New Deal (IGND) is a “government-led commitment to community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030 that focuses on addressing historical inequities, economic inequality, and social justice.” Since the IGND was passed in 2019, we have yet to see tangible action taken by the City to prioritize social justice in its implementation. In Justice50, a program within the IGND, the City commits to allocating at least half of the overall climate and clean energy investments made under the IGND to historically marginalized communities in Ithaca, referred to as Climate Justice Communities. While the City has agreed on a definition of these communities, there is far more work needed in order to follow through on Justice50’s promises and ensure an equitable green transition.
As leaders of Sunrise Ithaca, our local hub of the nation-wide youth climate justice organization, we demand that the City not only prioritize Justice50 going forward but also take additional measures in order to protect renters from rent hikes and possible evictions due to electrification costs.
Buildings are the single largest source of carbon emissions in New York State, contributing to climate change and threatening public health. Electrification—the replacing of technologies that use fossil fuels with technologies that use electricity as a source of energy—is the solution to this problem, but it is also a costly one. If the City is committed to climate justice, it will recognize that this cost cannot be borne by renters, who make up seventy-three percent of households in Ithaca.
The City cannot allow for electrification to cause rent hikes and unjust evictions. It must prevent an escalation of the housing crisis in Ithaca, further gentrification, and a widening of the wealth gap. This spring, Sunrise Ithaca is demanding that the City protect renters by capping rent increases allowed after electrification is completed.
Without Justice50 and renter protections, we fear the IGND will further strengthen social and economic inequity in Ithaca. Our transition to sustainable energy should benefit Ithaca’s residents, rather than address one problem by magnifying another.
Members of the Sunrise Movement marching through Providence, RI, to demand a Green New Deal, courtesy of Uprise RI