Jason Bing (left) and Charles Griffith (right) standing atop Miller Manor, Ann Arbor Affordable Housing, in front of their solar power display

Climate Action & Energy Equity

The Ecology Center brings a unique strategy to the energy debate, focusing our research and policy efforts on the human health impacts of a dirty energy system. From reducing air pollution and promoting electric vehicles, to increasing home energy efficiency and sustainable public transit, we see climate change and community health as the same fight. 

Those hardest hit by dirty air, unsafe and energy inefficient homes, and climate change are most often low-income people of color. That’s why environmental justice is at the heart of everything we do at the Ecology Center. By putting the needs of society’s most vulnerable members first, we ensure that our work has the widest possible impact. 

We’re not doing it alone.

We work with a small army of community scientists using portable monitors to track air quality in one of the midwest’s most polluted cities. 

We work with municipalities and utility companies to fund home energy efficiency upgrades to low-income households and businesses. 

Michigan’s auto industry has a unique opportunity to lead the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles, and to keep those new jobs here. Our electric vehicles program works to persuade Michigan policymakers and municipalities like Ann Arbor to help drive this change by investing in electric vehicles and charging stations, tackling climate change and pollution-related health problems simultaneously. 

The Ecology Center is building on its fifty year history of combining scientific research, community organizing, and public policy work to create a world where human health is synonymous with clean air and water, sustainable cities, and a flourishing economy where everyone has the opportunity to prosper.