Daniel Blackman, Chair of the Sierra Club GA Chapter & EPA Regional Administrator

The North GA Blue: Getting into Good Trouble podcast covers democratic politics in North GA, the 9th Congressional District, and across the state of Georgia. The podcast comprises a Q&A/Interview format with various democratic politicos including county chairs, democratic operatives, politicians, and more. It is our mission to deliver crucial information to our listeners in a timely manner as we fight for community values and principles in the 3rd most Conservative district in the state. Our website is: https://www.fcdpga.com/podcasts

Our guests will highlight democratic activities and actions to work toward a Blue Georgia. The 9th Congressional District spans 20 counties across the region and covers a good deal of northern GA including Blue Ridge, Morganton, Fannin, Union, Banks, Athens/Clarke, Dawson, Elbert, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, and White counties. 

Our democratic party podcast also disseminates information and interviews powerful Democrats across the state of GA who are working to overthrow the suppression tactics of the GOP and ensure democracy and our values, grassroots efforts, and goals remain intact. 

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Meral Clarke: 0:17

Hello, and welcome back to the North Georgia Blue Podcast produced in distributed by the Fannin County Democratic Party. I'm your host Meral Clarke. And we're getting into some good trouble today with our special guest Daniel Blackman, Executive Committee Chair for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club and so much more. Welcome to the show. Daniel, we're happy to have you with us today.

Daniel Blackman: 0:41

Thank you for having me. I it's obviously there is a lot that has transpired since January 5, and Georgia is on a trajectory to have another impact in national politics. And obviously there's a lot going on in our state. I'm happy to hear your voice. Happy to join your listeners and looking forward to the conversation.

Meral Clarke: 1:01

Thank you. So let's let our listeners know who you are and why you're here. Daniel Blackman is a respected thought leader, policymaker and advocate committed to fighting for environmental justice, climate mitigation, public health and political education to uplift vulnerable communities. For over two decades, Daniel has given voice to the unseen, unheard, and unengaged communities left out of the dialogue surrounding the world's biggest challenges. Professionally, Daniel currently serves as Executive Committee Chair of the Sierra Club, Georgia chapter and he is also an executive producer at the production company conscious animal, which I really do want to talk more about. By the way. Daniel is also and going on with the accomplishments I could actually talk about this for days, but you are also an author, lecturer, policy advisor and community advocate with 15 years of expertise specializing in environmental issues, economic policy, and impact investing. He served as Senior Vice President for Environmental Affairs and sustainability at capital for two business advisors where he managed client relationships. Daniel has also worked with over 100 domestic and international communities and organizations to diversify the climate movement politically. Daniel Blackman was the 2020 Democratic nominee for the Georgia Public Service Commission where he garnered more votes than any other African American in Georgia election history. Congratulations. In 2016, he became the first person of color to run for office in Forsyth County, Georgia and the first democrat to run there in 30 years, he served with the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan and Power Africa initiative and served as an adviser to the Congressional Black Caucus and EPA on environmental justice issues. Daniel was one of 65 world leaders invited to Vatican City to discuss the global impact of the climate crisis ahead of the Paris Climate records. And I could go on and on, but I'll wind up right now with saying that you are a board member of the ACLU of Georgia and an alum of Clark Atlanta University. We are so happy to have you here with us today, Daniel, and with all these accomplishments, my goodness, do you actually have any free time to spend with your family?

Daniel Blackman: 3:33

You know, it's funny, I think it's how you plan things, and I've been married 19 years. And obviously marriage and raising children is work. But when you have partnerships to navigate through good times, and challenging times, and when you have a family and friends and support is quite frankly, that are willing to give sacrifice. I think it's one of those things where you take it on, and I would not have accomplished as much if you have read without a tremendously wide support and cast of people, some who I've known that have been lifelong friends and others who have sacrificed their time to help move many of those causes forward. So thank you for having me. And thank you for the conversation.

Meral Clarke: 4:13

We're so grateful to have you on the show with us always. So Have you always been a democrat? And if so, why?

Daniel Blackman: 4:20

You know, that's a good question. I would say no, not being a democrat doesn't mean that I was a republican or anything. I think there was a period early in my career where I was just trying to be driven. I think the innocence of anyone that transitions through this thing we call life. It was a thing where are me my mentors early were people like Maynard Jackson, Reverend CT Vivian, Reverend Joseph Lowery, john lewis, Reverend Gerald Darley, I mean I can go on and on these guys that literally helped push the narrative and the work of what we now know as the American Civil Rights Movement. They helped to build a have the infrastructure that many of us can stand on today. As a matter of fact, there's a quote that said, somebody planted the seeds for you to sit on the shade of the tree that you currently occupy. And for me, I think it was a transition of knowing and understanding what I supported, what I believed what my values were, and how I would be able to be involved politically. And I think that is what allowed me to align myself with more democratic principles.

Meral Clarke: 5:23

Fantastic. So that's what led you to run for office because in you ran to be Georgia public service commissioner and came very close in 2020. To replacing Bubba McDonald, you only lost by slightly fewer than 34,000 votes in the runoff, it was close,

Daniel Blackman: 5:40

actually, the final count was more closer to 14,000 15,000 votes. Wow. So we became very, very close. But you know, it's it's a lesson it's a valuable lesson. And we made tremendous strides. So I guess I would say no to was that what led me into politics, you know, my, the journey into the political space started there. But ironically, and I won't go too far into it for the sake of time and for the conversation, but my god daughter was a victim of human trafficking. And sorry, he's actually a survivor. Oh, you know what, I think that as hard as it is to acknowledge it, it's important for people to understand that these kinds of things helped to shape people. And we were one of the fortunate families who were able to have our family member rescue. So the reason why I said that was to segue into, you know, I think for years, I had a desire to be involved politically, I just didn't know where or how my voice could be most useful. And as a result, I think that being aware of challenges and being paralyzed in a sense of seeing issues that you really couldn't solve and seeing things that you wanted to have an answer for, that nobody could answer, it put me in a position where I started to take my space politically, seriously. And I just so happened, that environmental justice issues, were one of those issues. And two things that motivated me to run for office number one was too often, we know about mayors and governors and secretaries of state and we know about judges. But when it comes to like Labor Commissioner, Attorney General Public Service Commissioner, like those down ballot races county commission, Yes, right. Like, I think too often we find ourselves in a place where we don't see the significance or the value in it, because we just don't understand or know what they do. And as a guy that's still on the frontline of environmental justice issues. When I went through all these transformations, while my goddaughter was abducted, and you know, having been a parent and being in the community, I found my voice environmental issues. And I actually found a sense of peace and serenity, and I pursued it and just decided, man, I could help lower people's bills, I could help people build wealth, I can address broadband issues. so more people can be educated about everything from trafficking, to criminal justice reform to energy policy, and I just saw a space where it wasn't sexy. But it was necessary. And so yeah, that fire ran, you know, it was just a calling that was a combination of many different events.

Meral Clarke: 8:13

Fantastic. So you touched on what I'm going to ask you Next, which is what can democrats do to facilitate a better understanding of these down ballot positions so we can win in the future? And do you plan to run again?

Daniel Blackman: 8:27

Oh, boy, here we go.

Meral Clarke: 8:29

I'm sure you've been asked that a lot.

Daniel Blackman: 8:31

Yeah. I mean, the first question, it's not a slight towards the party or party leadership. But I think we've failed at building county infrastructure, whether it's Fannin County or Doherty County, or Muskogee county where I grew up what the Democratic Party of Georgia has done a really good job of is building up infrastructure within metro Atlanta. But when it comes to North Georgia, rural Georgia, when it comes to these areas, you know, I had a an ideology, at one point, I ran for the chair of the Democratic Party, and we ran on a space of a five Georgia's plan, which was rural Georgia, Coastal Georgia, Middle Georgia, metro Atlanta. Yeah. And so we ran on this idea that Georgia is very different based on our region, but that we were all inclusive and necessary to win. And while I think we are making strides, you know, so kudos to the folks that are doing the work, because I wouldn't have gotten as many votes as I got without the support from North Georgia in rural Georgia and other areas around our state. But for me, what the party has to do is we have to strengthen our local county structures so that we can build educational pockets. I'd like to see more regional partnerships with the state party and local Democratic Parties from a county level in educating voters around these issues. I mean, for as a matter of fact, if you look at what happened down in Glen County, Georgia, and you look at what happened with a model robbery, you know, that was tragic. But we need to understand the Attorney General's often determine how these cases persist, especially when they get national attention. I mean, the reason why the officers in the Briana Taylor case that was obviously not in Georgia, but the reason why they were not prosecuted was because the Attorney General made a decision. The reason why many of our communities that lack access to wireless broadband are in the position there is because we have five public service commissioners and a governor that makes policies and prioritizes. where their interests are, the reason why jobs sometimes are not given and strengthen in a way that accelerates our economy and struggles during a pandemic is because of the labor commissioner. So we need to connect dots, right, we need to, you know, as a party, simplify and make it less complicated to understand why going down the ballot is important, I can guarantee you this 2022, we may be excited about it. But I can guarantee you that this is going to be an information war more than a war at the polls, the more educated we are, the more educated those of us are from the highest points of our party, from elected officials, to county leaders all the way down to our regular, everyday hard working citizen education is going to determine the next leaders in the State of Georgia and around our country.

Meral Clarke: 11:13

How do we educate folks who don't believe in actual facts? And they're so ready to believe all the discs and misinformation coming from the current iteration of the GOP? How do we get the facts out?

Daniel Blackman: 11:26

No, I hear you. But you know, again, I I'm one of those guys that believes in that that analogy that when you point a finger, you have four fingers pointing back at yourself, I don't pay attention to what the GOP does as much as I pay attention to to specific areas I think would make us all better. Number one, we have to be as present and available in an election season as we are outside of election season. So the same work we put in to get us off and we're not collecting to bring me close to being Georgia's first statewide Democrat in almost two decades. The first thing we got to do is we got to be available. We can't just be available when it's a voting rights issue when the Braves or Atlanta loses the all star game. I mean, we got to be there right now. Right? And there were there's no cameras, what whether it's because the other side is trying to say oh, well, critical race there. No diversity and inclusion is a critical part of education. We cannot cherry pick the issue that we want to stand on. And I think that's happened too much, not just in Georgia, but around the country. Right. We got to let people know that we have their back when it's popular. And we have their back ones not we have their back when the cameras are on. Like the same way how we were all over the state during rallies when NBC News and The Washington Post and New York time and CNN and Fox and ABC and NBC the same way we were all front and center when all soft and Warnock were on the ballot and those cameras left. We still got to go to Augusta still got to go to make and you still got to go to you know Dawson to Raven got it. We got to be available, right? But then also, when it comes to your question about education, how do we fight misinformation, we fight misinformation, by training up the next generation of leaders building a bench and supporting people, as I mentioned earlier, from the county party structure, we need to, for example, strengthen our democratic party chapters on high school campuses on on college campuses. I give you an example. A couple years ago, there was an issue on equality that found allies and College Republicans because the young republicans didn't think as conservatively as their parents and their grandparents. They said, Look, you know, I believe in racial equity, I believe in justice, I believe in criminal justice reform. So we have to start rethinking the message overall. A couple of years ago, you may remember when the school takeover bill was in place. And there was a lot of misinformation around the school takeover bill. Remember that? What did we do? We hit the ground, right? We built a stronger grassroots effort than a political machine. And when you're able to do that doesn't matter if it's Fox or CNN or any of these networks, when you are able to communicate with people and find common ground. I live in Forsyth County, Georgia, right. The fact that I'm able to have a working relationship with damn near every Republican in this county, right, you know, they may not may not agree with me politically, but if I call ragdoll Zell who's a state senator, or Todd Jones, who's a state representative, and they're both Republican, they pick up the phone. And when I see crazy madness coming out with his voting rights bill, I call these guys and I say, look, you know, I don't agree with this. And here's what I think should happen. Well, the same way I can call them people like myself and others have to be willing to get on the phone and educate our counterparts around the state and that's what I'm committed to.

Meral Clarke: 14:37

That is extraordinary. And thank you so much for doing that. Because all politics being local, and this is why the down ballot is so you know, the down ballot races are so important, which is something a lot of people do not realize because we need to hold them accountable for their actions or lack thereof for the people of Georgia, right. So this is how you're doing it and I think it's one So pivoting back to another issue that's very important to many, many Democrats, what led to your passion for trying to save our environment? And what does the term environmental justice mean to you?

Daniel Blackman: 15:13

That's a good question. Because I think the genesis of me getting involved in the environmental justice movement was really Hurricane Katrina. I was 25 years old when Hurricane Katrina happened. And I remember watching it on TV, but what sticks in my mind my church, we got to 15 passenger vans, and pastor asked us, he said, you know, would you guys be willing to go down? And if there any families in New Orleans that need to be relocated to Atlanta? Can you know, can we bring them back? And can we house them for a few months, and forgive me in advance for being a little graphic, but I remember going to New Orleans and Sam bodies floating in the water. And I remember seeing women with their children that had lost siblings. And I remember asking God said, you know, like, what happened like not that I was ignorant to the fact that there was obviously a flood right in a hurricane. But I was like, How did this happen? And I remember somebody said, Well, this is this global warming. This is climate change. And as an African American, you know, like our communities too often, were not taught about a lot of the challenges from an environmental standpoint, nor are we stared to go into areas such as science and engineering to understand how the levees broke, how, what what it means for sea level rise and extreme weather. And look, it's not just with black folks is weird, white, white kids, with Latino kids, Asian kids, the public school system has not done enough to really place an emphasis on the climate crisis. So for me, my entry point was that and then, a couple years later, very close friend of mine, Lil Turner Sandel, who's the daughter of Ted Turner, she came to me and she said, Daniel, I'd like you to meet someone, can you come by the house, and I go to the house, and it's Al Gore, and gore is literally at her home. And she's like, Yeah, well are screening this movie called Inconvenient Truth. And I'd love you to see it. So I sit down, and I'm watching this movie. And at the end, they asked me to say, you know what, well, what do you think we want to take this to black churches? And we want to take us to historically black colleges, because we want to make sure that everybody can see it not. And I said to him, I said, Mr. Gore, I think it's great, but I don't think that it's going to resonate with a lot of people in my community. And when he asked me why I said, because most of the people in communities of color, we're not thinking about polar ice caps melting. We're thinking about kids with asthma. We're thinking about our utility bill, we're thinking about contaminated water, polluted air, respiratory illness, with our with our elders. So you know, he sat down, he paused, I ended up ultimately helping and supporting and, you know, obviously Inconvenient Truth has been a hallmark of education in the climate movement. But in that moment, I understood that I had a voice to be a bridge between who I had access to and what I knew, and people that just didn't understand the problem. So environmental justice to me, means equity really simple, not when I think of justice, I think of equity treat us the same fact that 68% of communities of color are within 30 miles of a waste facility or fossil fuel burning facility is a problem. The fact that black kids in the United States get asthma seven to eight times the national average, because of air pollution, air quality, especially in our cities is a problem. The fact that most of us in our areas that live on the coastal line, predominantly poor people and people of color live in areas where the sea level is rising the fastest, we're seeing more extreme weather, the fact that these things are happening, and because of a person's zip code, or the color of their skin treatment is different. The resources are different. What we saw with the black community, when I think of environmental justice, I also think of land ownership. And I think of black farmers and their ability to grow crops. And the fact that for over 100 years, the USDA had discriminatory practices against black farmers, which is now why there's a billion dollar plus lawsuit, because the treatment of people of color, whether they're farmers residents, or they live there, and of poor white people in this country, it has been overwhelmingly exasperating. And I think that if I had not witnessed these things and learn the teachings of Dr. King, about non violent civil disobedience and about working and standing up for people that don't have a voice, I'm not sure I'd be in this space. But justice to me means that everybody has a shot. Everybody has equity, and everybody has the access to the same resources, regardless of their socio economic status for their zip code.

Meral Clarke: 19:32

I completely agree. How do we go about making that happen? Because I'll tell you something growing up in a public school system when I did, we never learned about any of this. I just learned about the Tulsa massacre three years ago. Yeah. Because I took it upon myself to read the books and do the research and learn more about it. So how do we go about changing this from a practical point of view

Daniel Blackman: 19:58

of me it's got to be fair. Listen, man, you know, we got to talk about it. My dad, God bless his soul. He was a United States Army Ranger Special Forces and tough as nails on the outside. And when he gets home, you know, he's just my dad. But my dad used to always have this saying that you could chew bubblegum in March at the same time, and was like, Yes, it's true. Growing up, I felt like that was the dumbest thing I ever heard. But as an adult, I understand it. Yes. Like, we can talk about equity, and environmental justice and criminal, we can talk about all these things, and do it in a multifaceted way, the way we educate people is that we take an unapologetic and realistic approach to it. And I'll use the critical race theory argument that I heard the other day when I think of these issues, like there was a parent that happened to be a white woman, and she said that she didn't feel that her children should have to be taught the dark history of America's past. And that's so wrong. Yeah. But my response was in my children shouldn't have to live it. No, like, let's be honest. So I think that when it comes to teaching, racial justice, or environmental justice or anything, we need to take our take it on head on, look, I tell my kids every day, there might not be the same kind of summers, when you get my eyes, there may not be the same beaches because of plastic pollution, I talk to my kids about making informed decisions, I talk to my kids about eating healthier, because we're living in a world where if we don't talk about it, we're gonna die from it. I'm not trying to scare people into being more conservative, I'm just being realistic. Like, I don't want to wake up one day, and I can't go to Miami Beach or to any beach, I want to be able to celebrate and say, you know, what we saw problem and we addressed it, like, there's a quote that says, we do not inherit the planet from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. So for me, when I think of educating people and teaching people, I think of just saying, this is a part of the world experience. I'm all for school and public education. But we have reformed the public school system, we are teaching kids to be workers, and not to be global citizens, right? I am all for math and science and social studies. And those are great, and they're extremely necessary. But we got to start teaching financial literacy, we got to start teaching critical thinking, we got to start teaching about environmental stewardship. So I think the way we do it is by just really taking it head on, and allowing teachers to teach, I think one of the things that and this may sound a little foreign, but I think we got to get away from standardized testing, and utilize our opportunities to really encourage that time. Like if you take that whole month of prep for a testing that we do sometimes, I think we need to focus on developmental education so that we can understand how to deal with the real world that we actually exist in, and also take what we've learned, combine those areas and be better and more effective at what we do.

Meral Clarke: 22:47

Critical thinking, I think is one of the more important components of all this because it seems to be lacking these days across across parties, actually. So it's so important. So pivoting back to that, tell us more about your work with historically black colleges. I know you've been a lecture, I know that you've done a lot of work with HBCUs. Tell us tell us a little bit more about that.

Daniel Blackman: 23:11

Yeah, well, I'm an alum of a historically black college. Yes. arc Atlanta. Yeah, my wife of the Spelman College so well, let me do this first, because I want to make sure I'm answering your question. Are you asking, like to just learn more about Which part?

Meral Clarke: 23:24

Are you working on changing curricula? Are you working on? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Daniel Blackman: 23:28

Well, we're working on is inclusion, we're working on cracks that align more of the institutions with workforce development. And you know, look, let's be honest, I mean, it You mean, from an environmental standpoint, the new administrator for the entire EPA as a black man and went to a historically black college, the Vice President of the United States is a multiracial woman that went to a historically black college right back. So let me kind of give a quick history overview. Historically Black Colleges were created because schools would not integrate black student right, right University of Alabama, or Georgia University of Arkansas, not just north within the south, east and the west. So when you look at what those challenges were wealthy families at the Rothschild family, the Rockefeller family, they started investing into these colleges. Some of them became land grant colleges through the US government, and they were established to make sure that African Americans could be taught at a level field and for years, institutions like mine, Clark Atlanta University, which graduated more professionals in library sciences than any other institution in the United States. And when you look at a college like Spelman College and Morehouse call for graduating engineers and policy advisors and all kinds of amazing people, it goes to show the importance of it. So what we're doing is we're introducing these institutions to the jobs of the future. I just wrote a very significant grant that partners the Department of Energy with the Atlanta University Center, which houses Clark Atlanta, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Morris Brown College, you know when you look at these different instance What are they lacking access, right? So that that's what we're working on access? How do you create pipelines so that these students that are studying physics can work for NASA, so that these students that are studying engineering can go work for the EPA or work for the Department of Energy so that these students that are getting degrees in political science can go on to work in the US Senate or in the within a presidential administration. So that's really been my focal point, because I'm excited to see where I've been able to go through the relationships I've made, and I want to pay it forward, I want to make sure that any kid that goes to an institution doesn't feel like they don't have a shot based on the cause they went to I don't care if you went to Kennesaw State, or if you went to Savannah State University, or fort Valley State University, wherever you go to school, you should have a chance to compete. And when you go to school, and you earn your degree, or you go to school, and you work hard and you become an entrepreneur, whatever your plan is for life, I think it's incumbent, for a student to be empowered, knowing that their degree wasn't just dead. But it was a it was a pass, it was Access granted, for them to be able to take on the challenges of the world.

Meral Clarke: 26:04

It's so important, and it's so important that we maintain that level playing field that allowed you to be an essential member of the Obama administration. Tell us a little bit about your work with President Obama.

Daniel Blackman: 26:16

Yeah. So you know, I was very privileged to work on about maybe three to five White House initiatives. Over the course of the Obama presidency, I was a part of Michelle Obama's let's move campaign, which we've got the NFL players involved with NFL play 16 work to address childhood obesity. I've met President Biden, then Vice President Biden through his It's On Us campaign, which was a campaign to end sexual violence on college campuses. And I had a vested interest in that because of the story I mentioned earlier, of course, about my goddaughter. And I wanted to make sure that any way to address sexual violence or violence against women could be addressed. We also had an initiative called every kid in the park, which I was very proud of, because most kids back to black kids and brown kids and poor white kids. Most of these kids have never left their zip code. Every kid in the park was an initiative that was partnered with a state and national parks around the United States to get kids from the inner city communities into the parks and into nature. And obviously having an environmental justice background, it was very important for me to support that kind of project. So yeah, you know, I had a chance to sit on high level meetings, I had a chance to work on criminal justice reform with surprisingly with people like Van Jones and newt gingrich in the same room, right, because we would be invited to these white house meetings and these planning sessions and funny story, former President Trump's criminal justice reform, Second Chance policy was routed out of an incubator that happened with the Obama administration through Van Jones and Newt Gingrich, who had initially come together, worked with President Obama to address the challenges with solitary confinement and criminal justice reform and over criminalization based on the schedule, great of colleagues in so many different areas. So I was able to sit on the front line, and a lot of who I am today is a result of how I saw the previous administration. Well, the previous before Trump, so the Obama administration, how I saw them bring people together. And I gave you a quick example, one meeting I went into, I remember that Mr. Obama had bought in some Silicon Valley leaders and some CEOs and some like emerging leaders around the Clean Power Plan. And I remember, everyone didn't agree. And I thought when I went into the room, it was like, he invited all people that were going to just hype out and pat him on the back. And he bought people in that said, Hey, you know, we love it. This is the greatest thing since sliced pie. And other people that said, this is full of you know, is full of crap, and my state's not going to do it. And so I was able to see him work to find common ground, navigate the challenges and make sure that while he had the final decision, he was willing to hear the dissension the arguments and also the agreements in the room. And that's one thing I've always admired about leaders not just being able to have worked around a presidential administration to, but to see what they are like when they're not on camera to see what they're like and who they are, when it's just them and six other people in the world. So it was it was a experience I'll never forget. And one quick story before Obama was elected. I was invited by Senator David Edelman, who I owe so much gratitude to he was the state senator that occupied the seat that Jason Carter ultimately got he said, Daniel, myself and john. Well, john lewis, he said, you know, Reverend Lowry, we want to invite you to come out and to meet this senator named Barack Obama. And I go to this hotel, and it was probably 300 seats, that chairs that were put out, and I think maybe 75 people came because no one really like everybody thought at the time. Hillary just had it in the bag. Of course, I remember. We went to this meeting. And Obama wasn't there. But Axelrod was there. And they were saying, hey, the senator is going to be coming. To do a rally and we need to get more young people. And I remember seeing Obama early and seeing how many kids came, I knew he was going to win, because I remember going to rallies. And in my lifetime, I hadn't seen someone that that commanded the presence of Kennedy or Kane. And Obama did. And when I saw that, I was like, I don't know what's going on, but I want to be a part of it. And the second time I saw him, was in person when he had become the Democratic nominee for president. And it was in Atlanta at wheat Street Baptist Church, another private meeting. And the words he said to that group was I can only go as far as those around me. And if you keep me accountable, if you support me, if you pray for my family, and I, he said that together will be elected the next president, and I believed him, it was really hard, because sure is hard to believe a politician. So when he said it, it made me feel great. So yeah, that was my very long story of that experience.

Meral Clarke: 30:57

That's a great story. And your accomplishments just become more extraordinary. They'll speak I am just in awe, I got to meet one of my civil rights era heroes, Reverend Joseph Lowery, whom you reference Yeah. And I almost fainted. As I got to meet him. I did. And if I ever got to meet President Obama, I would faint, I'm sure bring the smelling salts, because it would just be so fantastic. And such a wonderful experience to meet these truly extraordinary individuals that only come along, once or twice in a lifetime. And we're so lucky to have been able to do that. So do you have any plans to work with the Biden administration? Or is that something that you're concentrating on? Obviously, you're working with the Sierra Club right now. But it's all part and parcel of the environmental initiatives that we support and are trying to pass? So do you have any input with the new EPA leadership?

Daniel Blackman: 31:54

Yeah, I mean, well, certain things. I'm not at liberty to speak about, of course, but what I can say is that I have been very active with the President's transition team, the folks at the Clean Energy Task Force, it's in place looking, we know, obviously, having run for office with both Reverend Warnock and senator john, also, you know, both of the senators have been phenomenal. I've gotten the chance to support Ross offs work to for the battery storage facility in North Georgia, I've gotten to look at the work and be supportive of what Warnock is doing for agriculture in the State of Georgia, he's on the agricultural committee, and he's working hard to make sure those black farmers we talked about are disenfranchised. As the chair of the Sierra Club, I have worked tirelessly to address the issue going on right now. And you'll keep the gnocchi air quality issues, looking at municipal elections around the State of Georgia. So there are a lot of good things that are happening for the Biden administration, I would say that I have been in touch with them on some of the work that is going on. And look, the fact that administrator Reagan has returned science of the EPA is a monumental leap short, yes, thankfully, that the secret administration that didn't believe in science that literally took science and any reference science off of the EPA website. Yes, it just was madness. And look, we're going to disagree politically with Republicans and Democrats and independents. And I get that. But to deny something, you know, that that's, that's the equivalent of saying that there is domestic violence in the home. And someone's saying that it's my wife. So technically, it's not domestic violence. It's like, how ignorant is that? Right? I mean, abuse use, neglect is neglect. And when we have left in administration that removed over 125 environmental regulations that were put in place by the Biden administration has a problem when you have a former EPA director that denies climate change, and that is a former oil lobbyist, or was a former lobbyist. That's a problem. So I've been working to help to restore integrity to both the Department of Energy and the Department of Justice. And one area I'm very proud of, obviously, diversity and inclusion and making sure people of color are at the table is just working to make sure that we level the playing field as it relates to contracting and opportunities for minority owned businesses. But then also COVID. When we look at the EPA, I want people to remember the main reason why so many people in this country, especially poor people, and people of color in this country got COVID was because the majority of what we saw was based on standards that were not enforced throughout this country and lead to respiratory illness. Okay, and this wasn't just what the Trump administration Yeah, it wasn't just with the Obama administration has been gross neglect, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Died 61 days apart, fighting for the same cause for people. Dr. King had his poor people's campaign and was assassinated in Memphis. And Bobby Kennedy had left Appalachian and was fighting adamantly for the poor people in rural parts of our of our country, and he was assassinated since Kennedy and King we have seen this transition to a moving away from environmental justice and poverty issue. policies that can address poverty. And I think we have to return to that. And being big on quotes. JOHN F. Kennedy once said that an error does not become a mistake on Twitter refused to correct it. So I have worked hard to try to reverse some of the neglect that has persisted in our country through various forms of policies. So

Meral Clarke: 35:19

since you are now my new hero in civil rights activities, and environmental justice and racial justice, which is, you know, all part and parcel of a bigger problem, will you agree to run for governor Stacey Abrams? Because I would support you wholeheartedly, as many of our listeners would, I'm sure. So keep that in mind. Just ahead. Think about that.

Daniel Blackman: 35:48

You know, what's funny, I had a tremendous 13 month run for Public Service Commission, and I'm watching, you know, obviously, I've had phone calls, and I'm very flattered, I'm very encouraged to have heard so many people encouraged me to write and have somebody asked me about running for attorney general. And I said, Man, I'm not even an attorney. Like,

Meral Clarke: 36:10

you have to be a lawyer. Right?

Daniel Blackman: 36:11

Yeah. But all jokes aside, you know, I've given thought to, you know, what's in the best interest? And, you know, I look, I haven't made any decisions I have to answer today, I would probably, unequivocally say that I don't have any plans to run in 2022, I look forward to supporting a robust and qualified ticket. And I look forward to folks around this state, putting their name in the hat, you know, I think that every single primary should be contested. And I mean, that not just, you know, an election, I think that, hey, if we have two or three candidates for lieutenant governor, or two or three candidates for Secretary of State or whatever, you know, let's let's let it play out because iron sharpens iron, right? Like it makes us stronger. When we have people that are holding us accountable. I don't know what Stacy's plan or her agenda is, obviously she has made a name for herself, she has put infrastructure in place, and she's become a cornerstone of democratic politics in Georgia. So we'll see what the future holds to this state. And I'm not going anywhere, I'm gonna be around for a long time. I'll be 42 in July. And I feel great. And so as of now, I'm going to enjoy this family that I have. And I'm going to work to make sure that this administration, under President Biden, Vice President Harris's leadership is as effective as strong as committed as possible and at the State of Georgia has a chance to not only compete, but to be one of the foremost places that understands that every part of our state and not just the metro region critical and I hope that I would leave everyone with knowing that if we would pay attention to rural Georgia, to Coastal Georgia to Middle Georgia, if we would pay as much attention to these areas as we did some metro Atlanta, not only would our elections be stronger, not only will we have more democrats elected, but this state would be on a much larger and much faster trajectory towards success and prosperity. And I hope to be a part of that conversation.

Meral Clarke: 38:04

And it needs to be there. There's absolutely no doubt. So speaking of climate change, in your current work with the Sierra Club, what are your thoughts on clean energy and fossil fuels? And how does Georgia compare to other states in that arena in fighting climate change? Is it too late to stem the tide of climate change? What are your thoughts on that?

Daniel Blackman: 38:24

My answer I'm gonna give is probably the most political thing I'll say today. And as far as like, I don't really have an answer for all of the challenges that we face. But I know is that the United States has an infrastructure problem that has contributed to the climate impact. What I know is that from a pollution standpoint, if the south eastern United States were a country, we would be the 11th most polluted country in the world. What I know is that the coal last problem in Georgia is overwhelming, and it's causing mass contamination to our waterways. As a matter of fact, a Republican woman in Juliet, Georgia called me one day she called me the last month of my election. And she said, Daniel, I am a Republican. I have voted Republican my entire life, but I'm going to vote for you in January and she said, I'm going to vote for you because the creek that I used to plan that my mother used to plan that her mother used to plan is contaminated. And now my children and grandchildren can't play in the same creek that I played in because of coal ash, Georgia, has severely neglected our brothers and sisters in our poor zip codes. At one point, Albany, Albany, Georgia, and Doherty County was the fourth most concentrated area for COVID outbreak cases. When I think of climate change, and I think of the State of Georgia, and I think of where we are, it bothers me to know that the Georgia that I grew up in which has never been perfect may not be the same Georgia my kids grew up in from a livability standpoint. I mean, right now, in Georgia, we averaged about 20 dangerous heat days, right? Like literally about 20 days out of the year, and they've increased every single year. And dangerous heat day is literally one of those days where we see heat stroke, heat related illness, heat death, when you look at where we are now, and then you fast forward to just 2045. I know some people might be saying 2045 I mean, that's like, that's a lot away. No, oh, it's around the corner. And the, in the projection, right in Georgia, is that by 2040, we're gonna go from 20 dangerous heat days to 90, right, 90 dangerous heat days out of 365 days a year. Terrible. That's a problem. That is right. That's a problem. And I think that we have to be honest about why that's happening. Right. The bottom line is the policies we've had on public transportation, the policies we've had around a mission, we look at the challenges, right, and I give you give some people some indicators, right? When you have extreme weather, we think more so of just water damage, water, flooding, stuff like that. But look, now you have an increase in mosquitoes, right? And when he knows they can transfer disease, right? Like, literally we're at a point now like between 1980 and 1989, there was on average about what 140 days of, you know, mosquitoes just causing hell and havoc, right? And now we're at 157 days or 158 days from that, and we don't think about that, but mosquito bites in Georgia by itself, right? Like, I think that the fact that 76% or 78% of some crazy number of states have reported increased mosquito bites for every year for the last 20 years. I mean, that just goes to show what that means days above 95 degrees challenges we face with our aging population, Georgia is one of the fastest growing aging population states, you know, these are all issues that we have to deal with. So I think number one, we've got to have plans in place cities like Atlanta, where folks are moving into Georgia at rapid rates moving into rural areas and suburban areas, we got to have transportation plan, yes, the Biden plan, which currently calls for $2 trillion, the republicans are trying to shave it down to 900 billion, I think we actually need, you know, three or 4 trillion. But you know, we don't want to, we don't want to put our country too much further in debt. But our infrastructure is crumbling, we need roads and bridges up to par. We need public transportation, we need broadband expansion. These are all things that I think aligns with how we're going to be able to address these issues. Because if you're not educated, then you know you're going to have a tremendous challenge. In preparing your city or your state, we need to have robust plastic pollution policies that protect areas like Savannah, Georgia, we need to have more robust policies that protect areas where farmers are hit a couple of years ago, Hurricane Michael destroyed blueberry and pecan crops in Georgia. So we have to look at these issues and stop denying the science Stop acting as if extreme weather is not causing a much greater problem and start empowering and supporting these counties in these cities and these elected officials to be able to work together and build a comprehensive plan that move Georgia in the right direction and not be able to suffer. And I'll say this in closing in Georgia, just to put this in perspective, I talk a lot about Atlanta, I recently read something and said that that Atlanta was the 19th fastest warming city like cities that they literally have a ticker, right? That they're tracking on cities that are reporting heat days, Atlanta is number 19 as the fastest growing city for heat more than 310,000 people in our state alone. 10 point 2 million people in this state are suffering overwhelmingly, because of extreme heat. You want to know about some muggy weather, some humidity, some bad heat, you go down the middle Georgia, and South Georgia, middle of the summer, and you will understand that these areas are going to be impacted by drought, and they're going to be impacted by violent weather and it's not gonna go down, it's gonna get stronger, and we got to be prepared.

Meral Clarke: 43:58

Speaking of droughts, what are your thoughts on water shortages, which is bound to happen, right, as climate change

Daniel Blackman: 44:06

is not bound to happen. It's already happening. Right? Right.

Meral Clarke: 44:09

And how do we stem that? How do we how do we work on making sure that people have water which is essential to life?

Daniel Blackman: 44:17

You know, it was scary. I had this conversation a couple of years ago, and I don't think people understand is like, you know, I remember when I was a kid watching Back to the Future. And I remember seeing things like cell phones with people on it and floating hoverboards and all this stuff. Every kid at one point wanted to be Marty McFly. Yeah,

Meral Clarke: 44:37

I remember it. Well, yes. And I remember watching

Daniel Blackman: 44:40

the Jetsons right. Oh, yeah. And now we literally have cell phones that are supercomputer. You know, I mean, so I think the challenge that we have to understand is the same way how we saw innovation in the past, we're now seeing some of the things that we never thought we would see right look to billion people globally out of the 7 billion people on this planet have access to to unclean water. Right, right. I mean, the fact that we live on planet that must have water to survive is a huge, huge, huge situation we have to be aware of my good friend who's a director of atmospheric sciences with the University of Georgia, Dr. Marshall Shepard participated in a CI wargames. And he told me he said, then, you know, we went to do war games and he said, the wars were start over two issues, food shortage and water shortage. He said they did a scenario where what would trigger a third world war? And he said that what would trigger that not the financial markets collapsing, not a global pandemic, not a nuclear threat, but water storage and food shortage. I want people that are listening to this to put that into perspective, right? Just by statistic, I think it's something like there's a water depth in this world every 21 seconds. And when you when you put things into perspective, my family's from the Caribbean, Barbados is where my family's from my grandfather was a diplomat to the United Nations. Sea level rise is a huge issue for me, because it has a direct impact on the Caribbean islands that are represented by a lot of folks that immigrated to this country. True. But when I think of the water crisis, when I think of these challenges, what scares me the most is the fact that we think we're going to always have access to clean water. We think that we're going to always have access to resources, when we don't realize that we are over loading and we are pulling the resources out. We're cutting trees down, we're drawing water out. If you look at nuclear plant Vogel alone, right I ran for the Public Service Commission. Most people just say well I'm against nuclear. I'm for clean energy. They don't look at the the line factors. One reason why I went so hard against the expansion of nuclear plant Vogel is because we currently take out 80 million gallons of water a day 80 million gallons of water a day just to cool the nuclear towers that plant Vogel, that is a staggering number. staggering number a day. Right. And the ecosystems in the center river site have been compromised not just by Vogel because there's contamination due to tritium and and other areas that we don't have time on this call talk about but what happens when folks water in Burke County and Waynesboro and Augusta and Savannah and the center river site what happens when water is contaminated? What happens when the water we rely on and Lakeland America cities like Atlanta, what happens when those waterways go through drop? We saw it when Governor Perdue I don't know if y'all remember when Governor Perdue prayed for rain. I told you that wasn't that long ago. And I remember what happened to Lake Hartwell, I remember what happened to like a colony. Remember what happened to Lake Lanier, we don't want to see it again. But we're going to increase because we are overwhelmingly disrupting our planet. And we're not replenishing its resources. Water is not something that we just wish for. And it comes down because drinkable water and rain in different areas, we have to educate people back to one of your original questions on these issues, if we're going to get people to stand behind us and deal with what's going on. I'm very concerned, I'm very, very concerned about the fact that so many people lack access to clean water. And what that means globally, when you don't have access to clean water, when you don't have access to water in general, you deal with drought, farmers, not just in America, not just in the south, but around the world can't grow crops, when you can't grow crops You can't eat, he can survive. And when you can't survive, his plant no longer exists, right? And we have to address those issues.

Meral Clarke: 48:31

Right? Absolutely. And and I'm sure those are all initiatives that you're working toward with the Car Club, which Thank you. Okay, personally, I want to say thank you to you, because it's so important in your right people don't take it seriously because you know, we're ADHD these days add we don't pay any attention to anything that's not right in front of us at the moment. And it is so critical, not just for the people alive today, but their children and their grandchildren. And how do we, I guess their education, but republicans don't actually believe in climate change, right? Can we do it by ourselves? We can't.

Daniel Blackman: 49:11

We can't do anything by ourselves. We can try. We can come close. I mean, and I'll give an example. I hope no one takes it the wrong way. But a single mother or a single father can raise a kid. But I think we would all agree that when a kid has two parents, right? In a house, it's a lot easier. I mean, heck, I got a baby that cries every day, it's a lot easier to have support when you went to Ramin, and I like to use that analogy, because it's can we run the company as Democrats or as Republicans? Yes. But can we run it more effectively, more efficiently and as a better place for all of us, when we work together? You're damn right. And I think we need to address those issues where we have gotten too comfortable in trying to solve these issues, and I look Republicans, I think that the challenge is because a part of what you said just to correct a little But it's a little misinformation. One of the things is that most Republicans have them. A lot of Republicans have been climate deniers for a long time. I think that the challenge and the disagreement isn't the solution. Most republicans don't believe that it's just manmade and different areas. And yes, that's the problem. Like we have to address that. But when I speak to Republicans that are in leadership position, they say, Daniel, you know, we, you know, I agree, but we got to have a market argument for it. So they're looking at the financial markets, always they're looking at the market renewables. And I don't agree with that, necessarily. If I have to work with a Republican, to try and understand the economics of the climate crisis and look at regulation, try and shift things around. That's what's called a statesman. And we need more states man to be able to run our country, because I think like, for instance, right now, and I know it's easier to campaign in the talking in this to govern. Right now, I think the damage has, unfortunately become repairable when we witnessed with our own eyes What happened on January 6, and there are those who represent the republican party to say it didn't happen. That's the problem. It's reality denial.

Meral Clarke: 51:10

Basically,

Daniel Blackman: 51:11

it's not just climate denial, it's denial right now. It is. And so I think that there are a segment, I don't agree with everything that Liz chain has done, I don't agree with everything that Mitt Romney has done, or you know, who's in columns, but when these people give any credence to things that are going well, and when they make plans or have ideas, I think that in a perfect world, we would be able to work together. But I think unfortunately, we're living in a time where in our country, these areas have been compromised. And instead of us having a political system based on bipartisanship, we unfortunately have an area where it's us now. And even if you look at George Washington's last speech, right, that He gave His president, he said that this country must be aware of political factions. He said political factions are the fastest way that we will destroy ourselves within and he the first president of the united states that said this. And he knew, because he said that no one that this issue, if it was not addressed this issue, it did not take he would cause a collapse. And I encourage everyone to read what George Washington's farewell address, just Google. And it's just a letter that he wrote before he left. And he talked about having served over 20 years and what he had seen and what worked and what didn't work for me. I think that I had to learn myself. And you mentioned I wrote a book earlier, I wrote a book on nationalism. And the reason why I wrote my book is because nationalism, not patriotism, nationalism has been so extreme that there is really no longer a place for country. I think that nationalism can look, it's called nationalism without compassion. But I based my book off of Mahatma Gandhi's seven social sins. And what those were, was Gandhi said, Look, everyone's not going to be religious, but everyone is going to be human. And while there are seven deadly sins based on religious ideology, he said, there are seven social sins that we must all be aware of and address. And those were wealth without work, knowledge, without character, religion, without sacrifice, commerce without morality, science, without humanity, pleasure without conscious politics without principle, which is the big one. And I basically wrote a book and each of his principles was a chapter. But the last one was nationalism without compassion. And I put that in there because what we saw during the Trump administration, I think, and I probably cut some slack when I'm about to say here, but I don't think Trump was problem. I think Trump was a symptom of a problem that had persisted in the United States for a long time. And he happened to be the idiot, that became the scapegoat, right. And I intentionally use idiot because of some of the things he said, and some of the things he did. It's like the guy that throws a brick into a crowd, right in a theater. Exactly. And then runs when the riot starts it's like, don't do that. You don't yell fire, fire, fire. Hi, I was just playing and then someone gets trampled and loses their life. And you're like, Hey, I was just a joke. No, it wasn't no. Right. So I don't know. I mean, optimistically. I'd like to say that some of these folks are aging out and these ideas and principles will die off with their with them leaving office, but I think that cancer is cancer. When cancer spreads throughout the body, it's hard to recover. And when it gets to stage four, that's pretty much when we start thinking about life we are and what it meant. And all of us have been touched by cancer. I don't know if we're at stage four, but we're pretty close. And we're at a point where some of the damage is irreparable. Some of the hurt is so deeply entrenched. That we may not be able to recover across the board. But my hope and my belief is in the greatest natural resource that this country has, which is our children. And Frederick Douglass said that it's better to build strong children than to repair broken men. And we are living in a time right now where if we will invest into our kids, regardless of the color of their skin, or their zip code, they will have to pick up a lot of broken pieces, but they're a lot smarter than us. And I think that if we're able to do it, and we're able to bring them together, we may not be able to salvage everything, but we may be able to say this experiment called America. And this idea called democracy just beautifully

Meral Clarke: 55:42

stated, thank you so much. And a great way to I wish we had more time I was going to say, a great way to end our podcast, I could talk to you for another 15 hours. And we still wouldn't cover everything that you know, everything that's in your head, oh, man, you are just amazing. So if someone wants to get involved with saving the environment, and consequently climate change, and everything else, can you share an email address for people to contact?

Daniel Blackman: 56:12

Yeah, if you want to email me, you can email Daniel, for ga@gmail.com, that's d a m, e, l, F, O r, and then ga spelled out@gmail.com. You can find me online at Daniel Blackman calm, that's da nlblackman.com. And I am the current chair of the Georgia Sierra Club. So there are a lot of articles that I've written. There are a lot of statements that I've made. And I'm here to serve the people of this state and the people of this country and I want to work with folks to make it a better place for everybody. So thank you for affording me the time to be able to speak to you.

Meral Clarke: 56:49

Oh, absolutely. But very quickly, before we go tell us a fun fact about yourself something that our listeners might be interested in. That's not political or work related. Tell us a fun fact about yourself that we may not know.

Daniel Blackman: 57:00

Oh, goodness, oh, man. pay a bunch of intelligent stuff. And then people ask, simple fun fact about me. I'll give you I'll give you three. How about that? Oh, that would that would be great. number one. Number one. I grew up in the 80s. And there was one of my one of the scariest movies that I thought as a kid was Stephen King's Cujo. I have a nine pound Yorkshire Terrier named Cujo.

Meral Clarke: 57:25

So it's the little ones right? It's always

Daniel Blackman: 57:27

a little Yeah, that's one Fun fact. Another fun fact is that one of my favorite movies of all time, wait for it is the Devil Wears Prada. Really? That is one of my favorite. I would not have guessed that. Nobody would guess that. I mean, like there's certain movies that are called classics, like the Godfather. Just certain things I grew up watching that are just like favorites, right? The Shawshank Redemption or like, certainly, but if the Devil Wears Prada comes on, and my wife and I are in bed, we're stopping what we're doing. Watch the devil. We're proud. I don't know why, but it's one of those movies that just just did something to me. And then lastly, the last thing that I think would, I don't know if I would say it would surprise people as much. But I used to work in the music industry. When I came out of college, I was working with arysta Records, I had a chance to work for Clive Davis, his label, and I worked and really cut my teeth early in radio and music working in secondary markets. And I was working to become a music executive. And I met Maynard Jackson and john lewis at a very important transition. And I was either going to go into interning with a big record label, or helping Shirley Franklin get elected. So credit where I am today to the election of Mayor Shirley Franklin. That's what drew me away from music. Thank

Meral Clarke: 58:50

goodness. Thank goodness for us, selfishly, progressive democrat. Thank you. And is that where conscious animal came from? or What is that?

Daniel Blackman: 59:02

No, no, no conscious animal is a much deeper thing. And just real short for the sake of time. I'm in Forsyth County, Georgia. And there are a lot of stories that can come out of our site and other places in the state. from an environmental justice standpoint. I've always wanted to do documentaries. Oh, wow. That's another fun fact. And I started working on a documentary two years ago on climate change. And you know, I met a phenomenal gentleman who's become my partner, Jonas, oh, Rob, and Chad Ostrom, who said, Look, we're producing content, and you're a phenomenal guy. We'd love to work with you. And I had written what's called a treatment, I wrote a script. And I basically was like, I'm writing I thought it was going to be a book and I was written this idea, and I'd love to do it someday. And they said, Look, why don't you look at doing it as a documentary and Jonas who started off with doing work and ultimately worked with Oprah and so many other people, and my other partner, Chad, who had done commercial work, they just basically were like, Look, let's take a leap of faith. Let's start a production company. Let's start Telling stories. And so I started co founded a company that is established to tell the stories that challenge the comfortability of a lot of people. And I hope that we can create content that will inspire a lot of people can't wait

Meral Clarke: 1:00:14

to see that. I'm looking forward to it. And you are truly a renaissance man, sir,

Daniel Blackman: 1:00:20

Hey, I'll take it off. But that's one of the nicest things I've heard. Right. So it's true. Oh, man. No, I appreciate it. And, you know, we need more of these conversations. And now that the world is opening back up. I mean, we're still not out of the clear with COVID. But it's good to have human interaction and to hear your voice. And I hope that this conversation can, you know, inspire a lot of new listeners.

Meral Clarke: 1:00:45

Well, we hope you'll come back and see us again, and thanks so much for joining us today and sharing more about all of your crucial work, which is incredible. I'm Meral Clarke and on behalf of our team, I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the North Georgia Blue Podcast. We hope you'll listen next time when our special guest will be Betty Holland Chair of the Dawson county Georgia Democratic Party. To learn more about the Fannin County Democrats in the work we're doing Please visit us online at Fannin County, Georgia democrats.com and consider sharing the North Georgia Blue Podcast with your friends and family. Join us next time as we get into some more good trouble.