Energy Insecurity: The People’s Struggle for Power at Home

media release: UW Center for Sustainability & the Global Environment Weston Roundtable lecture, Room 1163.

Speaker: Diana Hernandez, associate professor of sociomedical sciences, Columbia University

Join Diana Hernández for a timely conversation at the intersection of climate change, energy justice, and public health. Drawing on insights from her new book, Powerless: The People’s Struggle for Energy (Russell Sage, 2025), Hernández will reveal how everyday households — especially in low-income, historically marginalized communities — are navigating the compounding pressures of rising energy costs, inadequate housing, and extreme weather.

Hernández’s research centers on the voices and experiences of those on the frontlines: households enduring unaffordable bills, unreliable utilities, and dangerous heat with limited protection. This lecture will unpack how energy insecurity is both a cause and a consequence of structural inequities and how the fight for energy justice is inseparable from broader struggles for health, housing, and climate resilience. Through compelling storytelling, original research, and a call to action, Hernández will invite the audience to rethink power — both electrical and political — as we confront rising temperatures and deepening inequality and to reimagine what it means to build a just energy future, starting not with technology, but with those most affected- the people.

Co-hosted with the Center for Demography and Ecology and the Center for Demography of Health and Aging

The Weston Roundtable is made possible by a generous donation from Roy F. Weston, a highly accomplished UW-Madison alumnus. Designed to promote a robust understanding of sustainability science, engineering, and policy, these interactive lectures are co-sponsored by the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE), the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Office of Sustainability.