When the City of Atlanta relaunched its Clean Energy Advisory Board this year, Georgia State University was well represented in Urban Studies Institute (USI) master’s student Avery Evans, who has joined 25 civic leaders from the public, nonprofit and private sectors to help build public support for the city’s Clean Energy Atlanta plan.
The board will work to provide recommendations that will help the City of Atlanta reach 100-percent clean energy by 2035 while ensuring its plans and policies are centered on equity, advance environmental justice and support data transparency. Working groups will address climate impacts, affordable housing, energy affordability, sustainable transportation and youth climate action — all through a community-driven approach.
During the board’s first meeting, Evans was named to the sustainable transportation group.
“Avery’s research interests in urban greenspace and agriculture, and their relationship to housing affordability and gentrification, align with the Clean Energy Advisory Board’s focus on sustainable justice and transformation,” said Michael Black, who nominated Evans to the board. Black, a principal senior lecturer in the Neuroscience Institute, is an affiliate of the USI, sits on the executive management team of the Center for Urban Transformations and chairs the Higher Education Learning Community of the Greater Atlanta United Nations Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development.
“We wanted to have multiples of our students on the board, but ultimately there could only be one from the university,” he said. “The city’s Clean Energy Advisory Board will be well served by Avery Evans.”
Evans entered Georgia State’s Urban Studies graduate program after working as a preschool teacher, urban farmer and session assistant for the Office of the Secretary of the Georgia Senate. She holds undergraduate degrees in international affairs and sociology and a minor in…
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