Stories from the Green New Deal: Keith

Keith's Story

When I got into solar, I was like, if the sun provides all of this endless limitless free energy, why isn’t it more accessible to individuals that can’t afford their bills? I know what it’s like when you can’t afford your electric bill, being in the dark and eating in the dark. I just knew that something needed to be done, I knew that it should be more accessible to those that really could benefit from it.

Then a friend of mine told me about this two week class on solar energy. I mean, I had seen a solar panel, but I had paid no attention to it, didn’t know what it was about or how it worked or anything like that. I call it my re-introduction to the sun. Cause I was like, “What? The sun does all this? And what? It’s free energy!” I was just taken aback. I was slightly embarrassed, but intrigued. I wanted to know more. I probably got on their nerves because I kept asking questions.

My first job, I was under-dressed to say the least, in the middle of a pig farm, trying to pour concrete, three hours outside of Minneapolis. But I didn’t even mind the cold cause I was trying to take everything all in. 

There’s a camp that I have that I started, a youth outreach program, it’s called Just B Solar. I wanted my kids to find out about what the sun can provide before they’re 30. It started with my nieces and nephews. We did like solar cooking and stuff like that. With kids, you know, their imagination is just wonderful.

I was one of the lead installers for the first community solar garden in the city of Minneapolis. It was installed on top of the Shiloh temple, which is on the corner of Fremont and Broadway. I was not only part of it on the teaching side and the outreach side, but helped build it and install it and design it. It was just totally feel-good work. I was also a member and a subscriber. The wonderful thing about that is that it’s generational wealth in a sense. I put my membership in my kid’s name. 

So I’m working on creating an employee owned co-op, a solar installation company where I have my vote and my voice matters. A solar worker co-op is the perfect solution, to feel like you are part of something bigger, rather than feeling like you could be easily replaced. Instead of complaining about it, we decided to do something about it.

No corporation owns the sun, no one nation, race, gender, whatever. That’s our sun, that’s everyone’s sun. And it generates the very thing that we need to survive. We know ways to make this more accessible and make it affordable and actually make it to where everyone can partake in it.

-Keith Dent, 2021