A grid. A network. A convergence of lines. A web? At first glance, this image immediately inspires movement. I admit that the term movement is quite broad, but this image brings aspects of movement into play that then inspire larger questions about connectivity and infrastructure.
Taking a step back, let’s look at the figure. The photograph uses space beautifully, drawing your eyes across lines in a delicate yet dramatic balance of black and white. The more your eyes move from line to line, the more the image begins to represent a web. This photograph is an image of a high voltage transmission tower but taken from an angle that forces the viewer to be looking up and underneath, creating the image of the web. Yet, web is an imprecise description because a web inspires movement that transcends boundaries, that is not directly affected by the loss of a thread, that does not favor one thread or another. That being said, although this photograph presents a web within the tower, the infrastructure itself is part of an electricity grid which is largely unsustainable, vulnerable, and discriminatory.
Most of the U.S. electricity grid was built in the 1960s and 1970s and over time has become increasingly vulnerable to dramatic weather changes that have resulted from climate change. Ironically, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, electricity grids are also main contributors to climate change through CO2 emission that have been calculated to have reached 1,539 million metric tons which is 31% of total U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions in 2022. The government is currently discussing building a better grid that is more sustainable and environmentally friendly, but factors such as federal and state disparities continue to hinder planning for this future.
To make matters worse, the electricity grid system was built interlocked, meaning when one line gets hit during a storm or any other natural disaster, it creates a domino effect that causes blackouts across multiple electricity lines that can span across cities. Then ironically, because the grid system is structured in this way, sometimes there is a lack of connectivity between grid lines within the same state. The New York Times gives an example of how Texas could have suffered fewer blackouts during severe storms if the grid had more connections with the Southeast.
And that brings me to consider discrimination practices in electricity. I believe it is worthwhile to consider the implications of discrimination practices in Detroit considering that the photograph was taken in Michigan. In an article published in The Guardian, Tom Perkins quotes “‘DTE predominantly underserves an area that has higher percentages of Bipoc and people experiencing poverty,’” and discusses how wealthier and whiter communities in metro Detroit have newer and stronger electricity lines compared to lower-income and minority communities whose lines are old and outdated. The latter communities face more power outages during severe weather and have to wait longer for the power to come back compared to wealthier communities.
Where does that leave you within the interlocked grid masquerading as a web? The photograph encompasses a problematic reality of a faulty power grid within the framework of anthropogenic emissions, environmental justice, and infrastructure. And therefore, I continue to traces those lines in the photograph with my eyes and create grids and networks in my mind reminiscent of the anthropogenic web.
