This Week in MCJ (11/28/20)
Time to move on from Slack?
Hey everyone,
Another busy week in MCJ-land.
Some updates below:
1) We had a make-a-thon event kick-off call, and are excited to get thing officially underway (details below).
2) We are still planning to experiment with a longer form post or two on specific climate topics, to see if those warrant a separate content offering as a complement to the main pod and CTSS (climate tech startup series). If you have topic requests you’d like to see us do a deep dive into, let us know.
3) As many of you know, Slack only keeps the last 10,000 messages visible on the free plan, and their paid pricing plan is structured in a way that is geared towards enterprises, and will never be viable to communities like ours. While we have kept hoping they would address this, the pain is getting more pronounced as our community (and comms volume) continues to grow, so we are starting to get more serious about finding an alternative.
4) Between the content, community, and capital (the new fund!), we have more on our plates than we can keep up with already. That being said, we continue to spot areas for potential expansion in the future, and can’t wait until we are ready to more fully spread our wings. In the meantime, trying to follow our own advice :)
There are many things to be thankful for this year, and all of the turbulence and difficulty we’ve been facing in 2020 just make those things more pronounced. But a big one for me is this community, and finding a problem space I am so passionate about I can’t imagine working on anything else.
Have a good week!
Jason
⚒ Make-a-thon Update
We’re organizing a community-wide event in December to foster collaboration, new ideas and action related to climate. All are welcome to participate and any types of projects are accepted!
On Friday, a large group of MCJers participated in a “kickoff” call for our upcoming Make-a-thon. For those who were unable to attend, you can view a recording here. One outcome of the meeting was that several MCJers shared projects for which they’re seeking collaborators for this event; you can view a list of projects here and reach out to the respective project lead if you’re interested in potentially working together.
The schedule for December’s Make-a-thon is as follows:
Today - Friday, December 4th: Interested participants have an opportunity to browse projects, connect with interested collaborators, and form teams.
Friday, December 4th - Friday, December 18th: Teams work on their respective projects, while being encouraged to solicit feedback and expertise from the community.
Friday, December 18th (Time TBD): We’ll host a virtual Demo Session in which teams can share what they’ve worked on and receive feedback from fellow participants and community members. Prizes in store!
You can stay on top of developments and pitch and learn about projects by checking out the #make-a-thon channel on the MCJ Slack. If you have any questions, please reach out to the organizers, Jeremy Jones & Thai Nguyen, via DM.
📼Episodes
Here’s this week’s episode, in case you missed it.
This week’s guest is Dr. Melissa Lott, Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. Melissa leads the Power Sector and Renewables Research Initiative. She has a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Texas, Austin and a PhD in Sustainable Energy Resources & Engineering from University College of London. Melissa briefly worked on the Council for Environmental Quality under President Obama in early 2009. After finishing her Masters degree, Melissa was a Program Analyst at the US Department of Energy and an Energy Analyst at the International Energy Agency. Melissa has been a Program Director at the Energy Transition Forum and spent time as a lead energy writer for the Scientific American's "Plugged In". Most recently, she was the Assistant Vice President of the Asian Pacific Energy Research Centre before being tapped for her current role. Melissa focuses on the intersection of power and public health. She has expansive knowledge of the energy sector and has seen many different approaches between industry, academia, and public service.
Melissa was a delight to speak with, as her research and expertise at the intersection of the power sector and environmental justice is a rare and super interesting combination. Those issues, after all, can’t be decoupled, yet they are often discussed and thought about separately. I learned so much from this one, and you will too!
Enjoy the show.
📼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.
🎧 We are testing an audio option for the Climate Tech Startup Series. You’ll be able to watch or listen to the episode. Let us know what you think!
CTSS Episode 19: Patch with CEO & Co-Founder, Brennan Spellacy
Patch is a platform for negative emissions. They have built an API to automate your sustainability goals. Patch integrates with businesses, calculates their emissions, and seamlessly compensates their environmental footprint by purchasing negative emissions from verified carbon removal projects. Patch works with e-commerce marketplaces, banking & payment companies, and B2B climate tech customers. Their goal is to make sustainability initiatives automatic and provide a diverse selection of carbon sequestration projects to their clients. Patch's carbon removal projects include biochar, forestry, mineralization and direct air carbon capture.
Co-Founder & CEO, Brennan Spellacy, walks me through the gap he saw in the carbon market and why he started Patch, how Patch works, and how he sees the future of the company, of carbon markets, and the best ways to address climate change.
🎓 Alumni News!
MCJ Alum and Founder of Otherlab, Saul Griffith, took to medium after some corners of the internet nominated him for Secretary of Energy. Check out his article If I Were Secretary of Energy. You can also listen to his discussion with Jason from July 2019: Episode 20!
The Atlantic’s Climate Change newsletter, The Weekly Planet, released a piece on Stripe Climate featuring MCJ Alum and Stripe Climate team member, Ryan Orbuch. If you want to hear more from Ryan Orbuch and the Stripe Climate team, check out MCJ Episode 120 with Nan Ransohoff & Ryan Orbuch.
👋 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!
Julia Ling: Currently the CTO of Citrine, a start up accelerating the pace of R&D for new materials. She is here to learn about the different intersections between tech and environmental sustainability.
Brigitte Lee: Currently an engagement intern at Climatebase and an undergrad at Wellesley College. Brigitte is looking forward to meeting more of the community. She is interested in sustainable fashion through her study of CS and Economics.
Adam Eckstein: Currently working in Strategy and Ops for an HR tech start up but is hoping to pivot towards climate tech. Adam is looking for opportunities in the climate space particularly CDR and connecting with people in that field.
Anita Daminov: Currently a co-founder at Vaayu Tech, she is working to develop software to help online retailers track and cut their carbon emissions. Anita is looking to meet people with expert knowledge in the e-commerce space.
Sophie Sheeline: A Product Manager at FRESH, a bay area startup working on a preventative health production with a background in mechanical engineering within the medical industry. Sophie is looking to deepen her understanding of climate issues and solutions. She is also looking for opportunities to contribute to climate solutions full-time.
Michael Keating: Previously founded Scoot, the first electric mobility app in 2012. Michael is beginning his own climate journey and is excited to meet fellow MCJers and learn from the community.
Adam Vollmer: Founder of Faraday Bicycles, an electric bike company. Adam has also designed embedded products for Nike. He is passionate about decarbonization. Adam is excited to meet more community members and learn more about climate solutions.
Leah Kahn: Her background is in Environmental Science and Engineering with a focus on sustainability of the textile industry but she had spent most of her career leading B2B SaaS Marketing. She is excited to meet and learn from more the MCJ community.
Raphael Gueller: Raphael just started a software business called Sweep that aims to help enterprise companies tackle their emissions and compensate with the most effective solutions. He has a background in publishing and branding. He is looking forward to connecting with more MCJ members.
Noah Hart: Currently the founder and CEO of Tech Jobs for Good, a hiring platform. Noah is excited to help others find their next positions as well as learn more about the leverage points in combating climate change.
📚 Startup Resources
Calling Startups, Academics & Researchers Ready to Tackle the Planet's Toughest Problems! Climate change is demanding urgent action. We need deep and meaningful collaboration. The Techstars Sustainability Challenge brings together founders, nonprofits and universities with innovative industry leaders in sustainability. In this four-month challenge, they will connect the most promising applicants with industry-leading companies to build out real-world solutions. It's innovation with impact, powered by Techstars. Deadline: March 8, 2021. For more info check out Cody Simms’ post.
Low-Carbon Concrete Activism - The OpenAir Collective - a global network of volunteers advancing negative emissions-based climate solutions - is launching LECCwork to share lessons, resources, and tools with advocates across the country to promote low-carbon concrete in their communities. Check it out here!
💼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.
System Integration Engineer Lead at HyPoint (job listing) (careers page)
Program Coordinator and a Program Marketing Lead at The Rocky Mountain Institute. They are recruiting entrepreneurial climate warriors committed to building the sustainable, prosperous, equitable energy future! (job listing) (careers page - PC) (careers page - PML)
Associates at Spring Lane Capital (job listing)
Senior UX Designer at Sweep (careers page)
📰🎧Recommended Reading/Listening
Below are recently published articles and content that we find interesting and/or that were shared by fellow MCJers.
The New Yorker: “When “Creatives” Turn Destructive: Image-Makers and the Climate Crisis” (PDF)
The Wall Street Journal: “Europe’s Biggest Utility Company to Ramp Up Spending on Wind, Solar Power” (PDF)
Greentech Media: “Plug Power Raises $1B for US Green Hydrogen Infrastructure Build-Out”
The Wall Street Journal: “New Wave of Climate Tech Boosted by Biden Win”
The New York Times: “Permit Denied for Alaskan Mine Project: The Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine project, saying it was “contrary to the public interest””
The Wall Street Journal: “Investors Have a Local Route into China’s Hydrogen Plans” (PDF)
🎟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
Petri’s Founder Speaker Series with Adam Behrens, CEO and Founder of Mori (Tuesday, December 1st @12pm ET)
Petri is hosting their second talk of their Founding Speaker Series. This event with feature Andy Behrens, CEO and Founder of Mori. Sign up for the event here.
Kickstart Your Climate Contributions Event (Friday, December 4th @12pm PT)
MCJ Community members Merrill Feather, Jason Grillo, and Abid Saifee are participating in a free panel even about moving into work on climate. The full list of panelists includes: Abid Saifee, Maren Costa, Jason Grillo, Merrill Feather, and host Andrew Otwell. They’ll share their backgrounds and stories about moving into climate work, and talk about resources, etc. to help more folks get started. Register for the event here.
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