About CTLR’s #HumansOfCleantech
Modeled after the New York Times' Humans of New York series, this is an idea by Peter Kelley and the RenewComm team for us to showcase our members!
Follow #humansofcleantech on LinkedIn for more in this series. #climatetech #energytransition #cleantechleadersroundtable
“I had an elephant come to my fourth birthday party and give all my friends rides.
“We lived in India for a year. My dad was doing his dissertation research on the treatment of mental illness.
“He then taught at Wesleyan, and when I was maybe 10, we became the client family for a solar house built by students. It was probably one of Connecticut's first.
“The students were very passionate about siting the house and preserving the stream. As a kid, I got to help think about the design and build walls and stuff.
“The solar didn't actually work that well, and we had burst pipes every winter for a while. So it was a rough experience when we first moved in. But it was a great adventure.
“My parents were hippies. They would take me on backpacking trips. A friend of mine joined us in the Saranac lakes, and we saw dead fish from acid rain. That was another awareness moment.
“I went to college without a high school diploma and without grades. Turns out a lot of colleges don't require diplomas. I ended up going to Oberlin.
“I joined a vegetarian co-op with 80 students, and I, in my freshman year, became a menu planner. Which was quite an undertaking, to feed 80 students!
“My first job out of college, I got an internship with the Quaker U.N. Office. My grandmother was Dutch, and at 21 she volunteered with the Quakers helping Jews before the Nazis invaded Holland.
"She got on one of the last boats to the U.S., not knowing anybody here, and the Quakers took her in and set her up.
“The internship was an incredible experience, and it furthered my engagement in climate work, because the Quakers engaged at the U.N. in a very Quakery way.
“They had an amazing brownstone up near the U.N., and brought in delegates for lunches. They would have totally off-the-record conversations to do some level-setting on information, and try to bring folks closer together.
“It was a tremendous opportunity, to be a fly on the wall listening to these delegates hash it out in this quiet, Quaker-style space.
“Later, working with the UN Nov-Governmental Liaison Service, I went to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. You had the big green groups from the North in dialogue and conflict with groups from developing countries that were pro-environment, but also pro-economic development.
“I've always thought addressing climate change has to be very people-centered, and has to look at the economic interests of all parties, particularly those more disenfranchised.
“And I think part of what we need to do is get good at having arguments and getting through it and being able to do solutions.”
Loren Blackford is the Acting Executive Director of the Sierra Club and a member of the Ceres Board. She previously led the Sierra Club and Sierra Club Foundation Boards, chaired the Foundation’s Investment Committee and served in other environmental and community development roles.
View other inspirational #HumansOfCleantech stories:
Meet Tom Weirich
Meet Al Subbloie
Meet Mahesh Konduru
Meet Ari Raivetz
Meet Cheryl Ginyard-Jones
Meet Raina Tillman Hornaday
Meet Dawn James
Meet David Magid
Meet Rich Kassel
Meet Meghan Nutting
Meet Chris Mathey
Meet Pat Sapinsley
Meet Chante Harris
Meet Patty Wright
Meet Kevin Doffing