Hi Everyone!

My name is Lucy Hochschartner, and I’m the new Campaigns Director at Public Grids! I’m bringing everything I learned on the Pine Tree Power campaign in Maine to build our program to support local campaigns that not only win but can build the power this movement will need to guarantee universal, clean electricity access for all. I couldn’t be more excited to be here, because so much of my life has led up to this moment.

I grew up in the shadow of the climate crisis in the Adirondack Mountains. As early as elementary school, I remember realizing that we had the technological solutions for a livable future, but we lacked the political will to deploy them. It wasn’t until I graduated college in a global pandemic, moved to Montana to ski race, and happened into a movement of people fighting climate change, the far-right, and the corporate utility, NorthWestern Energy, that I understood why.

I will never forget meeting the CEO of our utility with a group of young people from the Sunrise Movement. This CEO was making more than $3 million a year — which meant that each week, he brought in more than the median household in Montana did each year. Someone asked, “How can we trust that you are serious about lowering emissions when you’re planning to build a new gas plant and keep the coal plant open?” His answer? “We’re not asking you to trust us.” His honest reply made the political equation for fighting climate change crystal clear to me.

Friends,

I want to talk with you about the positive vision for the electricity system we need in this moment of crisis, which starts with public power and ends with an infrastructure designed around care not extraction.

Something i say frequently is that public power is necessary but it is not sufficient to answer the entwined ecological and economic crises together. Swapping the owner of our current utility business model from investors to the state is the beginning of the change we need, and alongside it we must address the underlying tension of the green transition: it is expensive, with electricity bills skyrocketing every month and no end in sight, while most Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency expense.

As organizers in the public power movement, we have an important duty to advance a solution that can address multiple needs at once: increasing democratic control of the economy, increasing renewables and fossil-free energy on the grid, and eliminating energy poverty. The last one is more urgent than ever, and we must begin to address it this summer.

Friends,

Don’t give up. Yes, this authoritarian president is unleashing attacks on our civil rights and the U.S. government itself with illegal executive orders designed to overwhelm all of us. This matches the plans they announced two years ago. But the Trump presidency is unpopular. I encourage each of you to remember this and to join efforts to protect your local community, especially immigrants and trans people who are being targeted first and most.

What the Trump presidency cannot do is stop us from dreaming. Our opponents can’t stop our vision for public power anymore than they can keep you from dreams of a better life for yourself, your families, and your loved ones. Their vision is a future of fear, despair, and isolation. Our is a future with joy, care, and community, made tangible with an electricity system buzzing with justly sourced, renewable electricity for all. That’s what the future of public power is about, and that’s what Public Grids will keep building with you until we win.

In our last newsletter, i told you about the encouragement Public Grids received from across the country and around the world. This month we started to dig in. I spoke with dozens of ordinary people across the country, and my tally of possible public power fights now spans 13 different states and D.C. More are coming. Confidence in the future of public power isn’t false bravado; it is grounded in the research and actions of activists, organizers, and civic leaders already working to make our public power future a reality nationwide from the bottom up.

Friends,

The future isn’t settled, and it’s ours to win. Key figures in the corporate media have taken a conciliatory tone towards Trump and members of the Democratic Party leadership are taking a range of positions from a wait-and-see approach to an open embrace of Trump. I’m writing to tell you one thing with utmost certainty: the public power movement is not going back and we’re not standing still.

At Public Grids, that means continuing to present our clear vision for public power and economic democracy, aligning local control of the grid, the foundation of the energy transition, with the popular demand for public ownership and a just transition for workers and communities. Since our launch at the end of October, I’ve spoken to local activists, public servants, and organizers around the world for energy democracy who are pouring in support and partnership to make our work durable during this next presidency.

Public Grids and our movement partners across the country are ready for more investment to secure our movement’s power, capacity, and resiliency for the years ahead. If you want to invest in our future, no matter how large or small your contribution, please drop us an email at info@publicgrids.org today!