This Week in MCJ (10/17/20)
MCJ is growing up! (at least a toddler, instead of a baby) 👶
Hey everyone,
Life in MCJ-land has been insanely busy. The content and community were already a full-time job for Thai and I, and now the fund just added another full-time job, as of 10/1. The fund is coming along great, but it has been A LOT of work to build up the investment pipeline (and push our first investment over the line!), while defining our processes and keeping up with the content and community needs, in parallel.
The good news is we just added a new team member to help on the content side (see below), and this is just the beginning of us expanding the squad. We see such huge potential for the MCJ member community, and you can expect us to be staffing up and expanding our offerings a lot. We are in this weird transition period in the short term, but we are gearing up for battle. If you are at all worried about the community losing focus with the fund, I can assure you that our focus on MCJ content and community (and programs/events!) will only accelerate.
And on the fund side, we can’t wait to share more about the investments we are making, and the learnings we are getting along the way. We are doing exactly what we want to be doing, and plan on doing it for a long, long time.
Also, a little plug, check out a live MCJ podcast taping this week on 10/22, with Rodrigo Prudencio, from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund!
Have a great week, everyone!
Jason
👩🏻💻Introducing Sarah Adams, MCJ’s new content lead!
We’re thrilled to introduce Sarah Adams to the MCJ community. She recently joined Thai and I on the core MCJ team, where she’ll be managing our growing volume of content (the podcast, CTSS, newsletter and more). Here’s Sarah in her own words…
Hi everyone! My name is Sarah and I'm originally from Boston. Before joining MCJ, I spent the last couple of years working in development for a film & tv producer in Los Angeles. Lately, I've felt burnt out by the entertainment industry and increasingly anxious about the future of the world so I decided to make a slight life adjustment. Joining MCJ has given me an opportunity to combine media and environmentalism. I'm looking forward to learning more about the climate crisis and the steps individuals are already taking in the tech space. Excited to be part of the team!
📼Episodes
Here’s this week’s episode, in case you missed it.
Episode 126: Daniel Kammen, Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley
In addition to his professorship in the energy department, Dr. Kammen has parallel appointments in the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Department of Nuclear Engineering. He was appointed the first Environment and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) Fellow by Secretary of State Hilary R. Clinton in April 2010. He's the Founding Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, Co-Director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment and Director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center. He's founded or is on the board of over 10 companies and has served the state of California and the U.S. federal government in expert and advisory capacities.
We have a long form discussion in this episode about Dan's background, how his perspective on the problem of climate change has evolved over the years and how he thinks about the problem today. Dan's perspective is particularly unique given the diverse background that he brings, which is super interesting given the systems nature of the problem.
📼Climate Tech Startup Series (CTSS)
CTSS is a series for members, where we feature founders of early-stage companies, sharing their startup’s business and mission. Members can check out our recent episode below and find an updated list here.
CTSS Episode 13: Populus with CEO & Co-Founder Regina Clewlow
Populus helps cities leverage geospatial data from vehicle fleets to drive progress on transportation equity, safety, and climate goals. They empower cities to digitally manage private fleets' (e.g. Lyft, Uber, scooters) access to streets, curbs, and sidewalks through a digital platform that allows city policymakers to access data from private fleets, and communicate new policies back to operators (such as curbside loading and parking). Cities around the world, from Baltimore to Tel Aviv, leverage the Populus platform to manage their mobility programs. In 2020, Populus launched their curb and street management solutions, that provides authorized city users with the ability to create new street closures and curb policies which can be published to their public facing websites and partners. As transportation and road networks are rapidly changing, Populus offers a more digital and more flexible way to manage the future.
Populus Co-Founder and CEO, Regina Clewlow, walks me through a company overview and how they are providing digital solutions for cities to deliver on sustainable transportation and climate goals.
👋 Welcome New MCJers!
Below are new members who joined the community and introduced themselves in the past week. You can learn more about them on #introductions, where you can welcome them to the community.
A warm welcome to the MCJ Community!
Peter Taylor: Previously a private equity investor based in SF, Peter is exploring new opportunities in climate-focused investing.
Neil Chaudhary: Previously working in business consulting for Fortune 500 companies in tech, pharma, and healthcare. Neil is looking to pursue new opportunities in the food tech climate space.
David Jaramillo: A graduate student at UC Berkeley studying chemistry and materials science as well as Co-Founder of Verne, a hydrogen storage company. David is passionate about the intersection of science and clean tech and connecting with anyone who shares his interests.
Adam Goff: A Principal at 8 Rivers Capital and Policy Director for NET Power. Adam is excited to be a part of the community and provide his expertise on carbon capture projects and federal policy.
Dave Riess: CEO & Founder of Wunder Capital where he works to create growth within the commercial & industrial segment of the solar market. Dave is looking forward to being a resource in the solar energy space for fellow MCJers.
Jared Dunnmon: Currently a Technical Director for Artificial Intelligence at the Defense Innovation Unit. Jared is excited to connect with people from various backgrounds in the climate space.
David Ascher: Spent most of his career in software and consulting across non- and for-profit companies. David is excited to connect and learn.
🔦Member Spotlight: Julia Drapkin, CEO and Founder of ISeeChange.org
We’re taking the opportunity to share the climate journeys of your fellow MCJers. This week’s member spotlight features Julia Drapkin.
I never grew up wanting to be a CEO. My early career started in archaeology - I was the youngest member of the Harvard archaeological field school in high school (I spoke Mayan and geeked out on hieroglyphics and GIS). I later became an award-winning journalist reporting on climate change for over a decade - I covered the Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in the same year.
From archaeology I learned the fundamental relationship to our environment is at the heart of our architecture, economics, politics, culture, and daily habits. When our environment changes, everything changes. From journalism, I realized the fundamental disconnection between decision makers from the most knowledgeable assets- people on the ground. Individual insight and equity are at the heart of the climate investment opportunities we are missing. The company I’ve created, ISeeChange, is in service to renewing these critical connections.
ISeeChange crowdsources community stories and microdata to inform infrastructure designs, validate models, facilitate public partnership, and encourage behavior change. We started out as a public media platform, but soon realized we could co-create the missing data and evidence needed in multi-million dollar public infrastructure projects and climate adaptation. It was a new business model for facilitating public connection, inclusion, trust, and evidence without monetizing attention.
With successful client programs (in New Orleans, Miami, and Boston) and users across the globe, we are now preparing to scale and raise our first investment round. Our data has already proven critical in flood, heat, and other climate modeling. However, it is seeing interest in dialogue from our city clients, partners, and residents that gets us really excited. We are currently co-designing our software as a service offering with municipal health and public works departments, multinational engineering firms, and community stakeholders. . We are laser focused on scaling our impact and revenue. We welcome you all at MCJ to join us at ISeeChange. Tell us what you see and what you want to see change.
💼Climate Jobs
Here are some jobs shared by members of the MCJ community that we think might be of interest to you. Many of these opportunities and the MCJers who shared them can be found in #climatejobs in the MCJ Slack.
Marketing Generalist, Marketing Intern at Wren (Remote in time zones close to PST) (careers page)
Head of Forest Carbon at Living Carbon (Remote) (job listing)
Director of Sustainability at Spin Scooters (San Francisco) (job listing)
Various Roles in Engineering & Design at Wright Electric (careers page)
Sustainability Guru, Equal Access Advocate at DC Green Bank (Washington, DC) (LinkedIn)
Various at Octopus Energy (careers page)
Director of Government Relations, Chemical Engineer at Planetary Hydrogen (careers page)
UX Designer, Head of Product at Nori (careers page)
Project Manager (FOAK Climate Infrastructure Deployment) at Prime Coalition (U.S. based Remote) (job listing)
📰🎧Recommended Reading/Listening
Below are recently published articles and content that we find interesting and/or that were shared by fellow MCJers.
Foreign Policy: “Everything You Think About the Geopolitics of Climate Change Is Wrong”
The Guardian: “Revealed: the 20 firms behind a third of all carbon emissions”
The Wall Street Journal: “Coronavirus Pandemic Speeds Shift to Cleaner Energy” (PDF)
The Atlantic: “A New Way of Thinking About Climate: Introducing Atlantic Planet” (Sign up for The Weekly Planet Newsletter)
🎥Watch List
Below is a curated list of recently released films, tv shows, and other watchable media that we find interesting and/or that were shared by fellow MCJers.
Netflix released Sir David Attenborough’s newest documentary, David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, on 10/02/2020. In his own words, it is David Attenborough's witness statement as an inhabitant of planet Earth.
🎟Climate Events
As a reminder, we have a MCJ Events Calendar, where you can view and post events for the rest of the MCJ community to attend. When posting an event, please refer to this checklist.
*We’re highlighting a few upcoming events below; please refer to the events calendar for a complete list.*
Upcoming
Co_Invest Cleantech 2020 (Thursday, October 22nd at 3pm EST)
Join Clean Energy Trust on the cutting edge of cleantech innovation for a free and online event. Hear from Clean Energy Trust's early-stage cleantech portfolio companies, their newest investments, and sit in on a live recording of the My Climate Journey podcast with Jason Jacobs interviewing special guest Rodrigo Prudencio, who leads investments for Amazon's $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund. Register here to attend.
Cleantech Open Presents: Global Forum 2020 (Friday, October 23 11 AM - 3 PM EST)
Cleantech Open, the world’s largest cleantech accelerator, is hosting the Global Forum, its flagship annual event. Meet 100+ of the most innovative cleantech companies creating solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges, and network with over 400 industry leaders, cleantech entrepreneurs, sustainability experts, investors, and partner organizations. The event includes a series of shark tank-style pitches from the regional winners of this year’s Cleantech Open accelerator program, a Showcase Expo, an awards ceremony, and lots of networking opportunities. Sign up here.
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