In Denver on October 7th, The Green House Connection Center and Sierra Club Colorado hosted a Pollution & Solutions Tour, taking medical professionals, impacted residents, elected leaders, and several people I hiked St. Mary’s with on a bus trip to the CoreSite Data Center in Denver’s Globeville, Elyria and Swansea (GES) neighborhoods, Suncor Refinery, and QTS Data Center in Aurora to learn and discuss the impact of pollution on the communities around these sites and what can be done. At Suncor, a notorious polluter, Earthworks brought an optical gas imaging (OGI) camera that shows air pollution invisible to the naked eye.
Harmony Cummings of The Green House is an amazing advocate and organizer who emphasizes the role of joy in doing community-based activism. With that in mind, the event emphasized not only how the neighborhoods around these sites are disproportionately burdened but also that there are actions local leaders and corporations can take to be better neighbors. Harm and hope were her watchwords.
Green House events always have art and movement, so this tour ended with a community celebration in Elyria Park with food, music, dancing, and togetherness.
This week’s newsletter is later than usual because I joined the Pollution & Solutions Tour as a volunteer with Sierra Club, and spent some time holding portable speakers, passing out flyers, and trying not to get lost. Mostly, however, I spent the day learning.
Our tour guides from various local organizations and the GES Coalition encouraged us to tap into our senses. What do you see? Smell? Hear? Feel? We smelled the Purina factory, the exhaust of diesel generators, and the oil refinery. We heard about the damage done by infrasound—vibrations not perceptible to the ear but still felt by the body. We felt the massive size of the data centers compared to the residential buildings around them. As someone pointed out, you can throw a paper airplane between the CoreSite data center and the affordable senior housing next door. Empathy was also emphasized at this event. Most of us would leave the area at the end of the day, but for impacted residents, these experiences are everyday life.
I was surprised to learn that Colorado is the third-largest oil-producing state in the U.S. with over 47,000 oil and gas sites. Suncor is our state’s only refinery, and having it so close to the city that you can literally drive through it with a bus tour is unusual, even if it has been normalized by Denver. All that methane, benzene, and other pollutants are being pumped into the city’s air.
I learned a lot about the harm pollution does in Denver’s frontline communities, hearing stories about its impact on schools, children’s bodies, mothers trying to care for them, aging populations, and quality of life. But if there was hope to be found, I think it was in the community members who turned out for the event, expressing their solidarity and love for each other and their commitment to fighting this fight as long as they can. Angelique Rodriguez encouraged us to look at the beauty of the people in these dark times and “let our light shine in these shadows.”
As the sun set over the mountains, back in Elyria Park, a small group gathered for burritos, music, dancing, healing, and community. The data center loomed across the street, but in the park, the people were recharging that inner light.
Written by: Kasey, YOU-tilities Volunteer
Originally published on her Life Among the Alpacas Substack