As we approach winter, utilities like PECO make plans to prepare for weather disasters. But we need PECO plan for climate disaster! On Wednesday, December 11th we will be taking action at three PECO locations demanding it make a plan for climate crisis.

These are transformational times. In the last couple months, young people have been in the streets protesting political dominance, corporate exploitation, climate crisis, and indigenous sovereignty. As we bear witness to this global groundswell, I am reminded of the importance of our work.

Yesterday, over 60 adults and elders descended on PECO’s headquarters with a pressing question: “Climate is changing. Why isn’t PECO?” These activists, including educators and grandparents, were moved to action by the tremendous call of youth leaders around the world, and in particular the thousands of children who poured into the streets of Philadelphia this past Friday, for the #YouthClimateStike.

On September 26, 2019 over 60 teachers, parents, grandparents, and other adults and young people answered the call of youth climate strikers around the world and asked PECO executives a reasonable question: climate is changing, why isn't PECO? We expected an update on PECO's plans for addressing climate crisis and inequality in the region, but rather than answering us, PECO made it clear that its only plan is business as usual. Below are reflections from two EQAT members on the action.

If you're like me, you're inspired by young people across the globe, preparing to strike for climate justice.

I know I'm not the only one who feels called to follow their leadership.

Dear Chris,

As you likely remember, at the April 2019 Exelon Shareholder Meeting, members of the Power Local Green Jobs Campaign told you that we are under the moral weight of the climate crisis, which has killed people and will continue to kill hundreds of millions of people. We spoke about how climate catastrophe will compound existing racial and economic inequality, which as people of faith, we feel morally bound to fight. In fact, it was to address these interrelated crises that we began this campaign four years ago to challenge our electric utility, PECO, to use its considerable power in southeastern Pennsylvania to spur a just, solar energy transition in our region.

We can tell because we were informed late on Friday by PECO VP, Tony Gay, that PECO was cancelling a meeting we had scheduled with Exelon CEO, Chris Crane for today.

This past month, we sat down with PECO CEO Mike Innocenzo. This meeting was much like the meeting last month with PECO executives - where we were re-affirmed that PECO is thinking about our campaign and taking our presence more seriously than they have before.

On Tuesday, April 30th, EQAT members brought our truth and persistent demand for justice to Exelon’s annual shareholder's meeting, PECO’s parent company. Below are two stories on what some members bore witness to inside the meeting and what some members experienced while holding our space outside the meeting:

When I first moved to Philadelphia in 2010, EQAT was launching its first campaign, Bank Like Appalachia Matters. I'm a Quaker from the Appalachian region, and I had good friends involved -- it made perfect sense for me to join the campaign; but I didn't, despite numerous invitations. It felt too hard then to invest time, energy and hope in making change, for fear of the disappointment to come if the efforts failed. I was surprised at just how irrational and stubborn I found myself around this - against my own values!