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’ve been in three murder mystery plays, and every time i’ve been the killer.

I actually entered Cornell as a theater major, but I still had to figure out what I wanted to do.

The first couple years of my life, my parents ran a motel near Moosehead Lake, in a town called Greenville, Maine. My mother likes to joke that I saw a moose before I ever saw a cow. My favorite thing to do always as a child, and even now, was reading. I would go find a book series and just take out the whole shelf.

I also really loved horseback riding. My horse was named Shalom and was really patient with me. I spent a lot of my time at the barn. My parents would drop me off and I would spend the whole day there. 

MOST OF MY CHILDHOOD, I WAS PART OF AN ORGANIZATION LIKE A VERSION OF GIRL SCOUTS BUT NATIVE AMERICAN-FOCUSED. 

We had a little one-room cabin in northern Maine, with no running water or electricity, up on a hill. We called it ‘the shelter’ or ‘The Last Resort.’ 

When I was little, my aunt and my mother would play a game they called Hansel and Gretel. They would drop my cousin Aaron and me off in the forest, then they'd run away and we would have to find our way back to the shelter.

I think they just needed a break, so they figured we'd be fine. The forest is pretty safe, right? There's only mosquitos and moose and black bears! They didn't even let us drop breadcrumbs — we just had to find our way back. 

ONE OF THE SEMINAL MOMENTS OF MY LIFE WAS IN FOURTH GRADE, WHEN I LEARNED THAT THE RAINFOREST IS BEING CUT DOWN.

I remember feeling really stressed out about that, thinking, ‘Could they just wait till I get older, then I'll go and fix it.’

Eventually, I decided to focus on environmental biology. And with a bunch of friends, we started a group called Kyoto Now! With an exclamation point — we were very serious. And we really pushed Cornell to divest from funds that weren't in line with what the Kyoto Protocol said.

When I eventually applied to grad school, it was pretty clear that I was very interested in public policy. Years later, I met the guy who founded Rainforest Action Network, and I told him this story.

He said, ‘Yeah, we sent out curriculum workbooks to teachers all over the country. And I never knew if anyone used them.’ And I was like, ‘My teachers obviously did! And that is why I pursued the career I pursued.’

ONE OF MY FAVORITE PARTS ABOUT BEING IN THE ENERGY INDUSTRY IS THE PASSION AND INTELLIGENCE AND DRIVE OF THE PEOPLE IN THE FIELD.

One thing that frustrates me is an assumption that the status quo is the best and only option. We need to decarbonize our grid. That's very clear. We're already behind.

My husband, Taylor Dodson, also works in solar. I met him at a solstice party thrown by Andrea Luecke of Cleantech Leaders Roundtable. He's six-four, has a huge red beard and long red hair, and wears really loud shirts, so he's always noticeable at CTLR events.”

Meghan Nutting, Executive Vice President of Government & Regulatory Affairs at Sunnova Energy International, and previously at SolarCity, is one of the top renewable energy lobbyists in America. She is a member of the Board and Executive Committee of the Solar Energy Industries Association. She once ran for the state legislature in Colorado and has learned six languages.