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54 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 1 (2019)
Anti-Resilience: A Roadmap for Transformational Justice within the Energy System

handle is hein.journals/hcrcl54 and id is 7 raw text is: Anti-Resilience: A Roadmap for Transformational Justice within the Energy System* Shalanda H. Baker** Climate change mitigation and adaptation require a transition of the en- ergy system from one that relies on fossil fuels and is vulnerable to major cli- mate events to one that is dependent on renewable energy resources and able to withstand climate extremes. Resilience has emerged as a conceptual frame to drive both climate and energy policy in this transitional moment. For example, in the wake of major storms such as Hurricanes Harvey and Maria, policymak- ers have frequently called for greater resilience of the energy system and resili- ence of vulnerable communities impacted by the storms. This Article focuses on resilience at the system level. It argues that, in many cases, resilience of the energy system may actually reify structural inequality and exacerbate vulnerability. A hardening of existing energy infrastructure may also operate to harden existing social, economic, and environmental injustices that disproportionately burden the poor and people of color. Such situations call for new framings beyond resilience and transition toward liberation and trans- formation. This Article argues that, to facilitate the liberation of low-income communities and communities of color from the disproportionate impacts they face under the current energy system-and to foster a just transformation of the energy system-activists, policy-makers, and scholars engaged in the work of climate and energy justice must adopt a framework of anti-resilience: An anti- racist and anti-oppression policy approach focused on the greater social and economic inclusion of people of color and low-income communities in the re- newable energy transition. TABLE OF CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION .................................................. 2 I. ORIGIN STORIES: ENERGY, INEQUALITY, AND RACE .......... 9 A. Formation of an Unjust Energy System................ 10 B. Environmental (In)Justice ........................... 13 C. Unjust Transitions and the Rise of Climate Change Fundamentalism ................................... 15 H. SCHOLARLY NARRATIVES OF RESILIENCE .................. 20 A. Resilience as it Relates to Politics and Power ......... . 21 * I dedicate this Article to my father and the people of Port Arthur, Texas. ** Professor of Law, Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern Univer- sity. This Article could not have been written without the extraordinary research assistance of Andrew Kinde and Anastasia Doherty. I am grateful to Uma Outka and Shelley Welton for reviewing and providing comments on early drafts of this work and to the attendees of the University of South Carolina Just Transitions Workshop for offering guidance on the central themes presented here. The editors of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review provided excellent editorial assistance throughout the writing process.

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