Kobi Naseck
I'm an experienced organizer and researcher with a background in solar policy, committed to environmental justice and energy democracy in my community. LinkedIn
My main skills and experience are in…
community organizing • public speaking • teamwork
event planning • project management • data analysis
Organizations and projects I work with & support
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#CAYouthVsBigOil
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Last Chance Alliance
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Reclaim our Power Coalition
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Schools and Communities First
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Sunrise Movement, as a Solidarity and Partnerships Team Lead
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Youth Vs Apocalypse
My lightbulb moment
In the Fall of 2017, before a historic Hurricane Season, I began researching the history of PREPA, Puerto Rico’s public electric utility, and the potential for sustainable solar power on the island. I came face to face with the reality of neoliberal policy that bankrupted and privatized the island’s resources, crippling its energy independence and the well being of its people. The effects of this privatization were only exacerbated in the aftermath of that year’s Hurricane Season. Seeing the disproportionate impacts of relief and aid that flowed readily to the Texas gulf, which suffered Hurricane Harvey, but were stalled reaching Puerto Rico post-Hurricane Maria, I could not ignore the need for environmental justice. Then, learning more about the stratified way that certain communities recovered quicker than others even in the Houston metro area really brought the issues of environmental justice home.
I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in the Spring of 2018, eager to join a progressive movement fighting the climate crisis. I went to work with an establishment environmental organization on a clean water campaign in the Midwest, but became disenchanted with its lack of a justice framework. Instead, the emphasis was only on the “deliverables” by which they defined success to their sponsors: doors knocked, phone calls made, flyers passed out, and money raised. These short-term deliverables don’t align with Jemez Principles and organized at large geographic areas rather than strategically with frontline communities to build a movement for long-term success.
I soon discovered that there was a new youth movement committed to climate justice that was getting results. After relocating to the Bay, I’ve been organizing with Sunrise to achieve a Green New Deal and on local and state-wide campaigns and coalitions ever since. I ground my relationship-driven work in the principles of environmental justice.
I am committed to reversing the climate crisis because I am committed to undoing systems of oppression that continually place the burden of the climate crisis on historically marginalized communities, indigenous communities, low-income communities, or communities of color.
Climate change in NorCal
(in addition to those listed above)
Asian Pacific Environmental Network, California, Environmental Justice Alliance, Color of Change, Communities for a Better Environment, Extinction Rebellion, Idle No More, Sunflower Alliance, Undocufund, 350.org, 1,000 Grandmothers,
and many more…
People I read & follow
Kate Aronoff, Mary Annaïse Helgar, Irsa Hirsi, Licypriya Kangujam, Elizabeth Kolbert, Naomi Klein, Jamie S. Margolin, Varshini Prakash, E.O. Wilson, and many more…
Climate media
90% comes from the above movement leaders' Twitter accounts
also, The Intercept