Hooray for Solar Power and Advocacy, Amidst News Drudgery
Happy Fall, Y’all! I have exciting news this week (mixed in with all the heavy news), but some celebration and joy are required in times like these.
Hooray for Solar Power!!! Haw River Assembly had an amazing Sun Day. Sun Day is a day of action on September 21, 2025, celebrating the power of clean energy. The clean energy revolution is here!!!
Thanks to our friends at Triad Third Act for organizing an incredible celebration, our event was one of over 440 across the country (including rallies, fairs, art displays, EV parades, and houses with solar installations) showing people’s determination to enable the clean power of the sun to become the dominating, affordable, and liberating source of energy for the world. Our Triad event highlighted the interconnection of actions around justice, fossil fuels, voting, public lands, planting gardens, personal well-being, poetry, intergenerational solidarity, and much more.
I was proud to stand in solidarity with Margaret Rowlett (above, second from left), who is the lead organizer for Guilford Clean Power Now! Haw River Assembly joins the call for Guilford County to adopt a plan for the county to transition to 100% renewable energy!
(From left to right: Rep. Pricey Harrison, Margaret Rowlett, April Parker, & Aidan Loretz (me) photo by Guilford Clean Power Now!)
And BIG shoutout to public servants who are boots on the ground in their communities.
Representative Pricey Harrison (above, left) gave an empowering speech about the importance of engaging in local politics and supporting our city and state elected officials. Know someone who’s doing some good work as an elected representative? Give them a shoutout! They rarely get appreciation, and we can all use any motivation we can get to keep up the fight for our democracy and our collective future.
Candidates for public office, like April Parker (above, second from right), give me hope for our local future. Running for a nonpartisan city council seat in District 3 of Greensboro, April has been committed to learning all she can about environmental justice issues in her community. I’m grateful to work with all types of community leaders to keep our most vulnerable neighbors (human animals, nonhuman animals, and the more-than-human natural world) safe and healthy.
And an EVEN BIGGER shoutout to Haw River Assembly’s valuable volunteer: Courtenay Vass! I wouldn’t have been able to table successfully if it weren’t for her incredible knowledge and experience as a longtime Haw River Assembly community member. Thanks, Courtenay! You rock!
Speak out against the SSEP pipeline! Tell regulators to protect our streams, wetlands, and communities!
Dozens of people spoke out at the public hearings earlier this month on Williams Transco’s request for a water quality permit to try to move forward its proposed Southeast Supply Enhancement Project — a 55-mile, high-pressure methane gas pipeline that’s part of a huge expansion of fossil fuels in North Carolina.
You can still weigh in on this project before the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality decides whether or not to grant Transco this permit. The SSEP project cannot move forward without this permit. Your voice is important and will make a difference in the fight against this pipeline!
There are two ways you can speak out against SSEP:
Join the comment party on Sept. 29 to learn more about writing a personalized comment to NCDEQ, which will have the greatest impact. RSVP to join us!
Speak Out Against the SSEP Pipeline - North Carolina Comment Party
Monday, Sept. 29, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Online event - Register at bit.ly/422Nk1o
Hosted by Appalachian Voices, 7 Directions of Service, Haw River Assembly, and Clean Water for North Carolina
Sign the petition telling the NCDEQ to deny this permit!
The SSEP pipeline would cross more than 150 streams and wetlands in North Carolina, including watersheds that supply drinking water for more than one million residents. Transco plans to use a highly disruptive construction method for almost all of its water crossings. This method can degrade water quality and disrupt key wildlife habitat.
Tell the DEQ to protect our water and deny this permit!
Wanna get involved? Check out nossep.org for the latest actions and community meetings! Wanna learn directly from me and cause some good trouble in NC? Come join me this Tuesday in Oak Ridge for our Guilford NoSSEP Community Meeting.
Our next Guilford NoSSEP meeting will be the evening of September 30th at the Oak Ridge Town Hall.
Start: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 • 6:00 PM
End: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 • 7:30 PM
Location: Oak Ridge Town Hall • 8315 Linville Rd, Oak Ridge, NC 27310 US
Please mask up! Flu and Covid season is upon us, let's keep each other safe
Contact Aidan at aidan@hawriver.org to get involved.
What's on the Agenda?!
Discussing next steps for our organizing in Guilford and what the end-of-the-year permit process is looking like
Crafting comments to NCDEQ to deny 401 permit if folks haven't already
Discussing next steps for our well water survey in Oak Ridge
Giving out new NoSSEP stickers!
I’d also like to take a moment to congratulate a pretty incredible human who, for a long time, was purely volunteering in the climate justice scene before it became their full-time job.
Surprise! I’m giving myself a shoutout this week. I’m honored to have been awarded the 2025 Governor’s Volunteer Service Award for Environmental Stewardship in Guilford County! :D
Aidan Loretz, of Greensboro, is honored for exceptional commitment to environmental stewardship through their work with 7 Directions of Service. “Aidan hosts informational workshops and meetings that empower neighbors to participate in their impacted community. They have a passion for environmental justice and community participation as well as front facing leadership skills that inspire and enthusiastically spread awareness.”
You can read more about the Guilford County Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards here!
There aren’t enough words to express how grateful I am for the past few years of learning and unlearning that I have experienced due to standing in community with my 7 Directions of Service Team. Sometimes I can’t believe how fast I jumped from my volunteer internship in undergrad to now being employed by not only 7DS, but also HRA! Thanks to Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck and our own Haw Riverkeeper, Emily Sutton, I get to be a part of two incredible organizations fighting for Environmental Justice.
Thank you to all of my 7DS and HRA colleagues and mentors who consistently support, guide, and shape the work I do and the person I am. I truly wouldn’t be where I am now without you.
As always, this is Aidan wishing community care, light, and love.
Take care of yourselves and each other,
~ Aidan Loretz (they/them, she/her)