This Week in MCJ (4/18/20)
News, help wanted, and other topics of note from the MCJ community.
This Week in MCJ is a free weekly email curating news, jobs, new MCJ episodes, and other noteworthy happenings in the MCJ community.
📨If someone forwarded this to you, sign up!
🙋🏽♀️If you have feedback or items you’d like to include, feel free to reach out.
👂Check out the MCJ podcast
🌳Join the MCJ slack
Hey all,
Another week of the pandemic down. I feel really fortunate to have a job (if you can call MCJ a job) that, other than the madness of being quarantined with two young kids, I can do perfectly well from home. I also, of course, feel fortunate that my family is still in good health (and sheltered and fed). I know many others are not nearly as fortunate, and I remind myself of how incredibly fortunate we are whenever we are starting to go crazy with cabin fever.
Speaking of jobs, now that I am 1.5 years into my climate journey (and coming up on a year of the podcast), we are finally starting to shift gears to focus on getting a sustainable business model in place. We don’t think MCJ will ever be a “big business” per say, nor are we setting out to make it so. But we do think it is important work and making an impact, and we would like to keep doing it and be in a position to put more resource behind these efforts and expand the offerings over time.
We signed our first two single-episode sponsors as a test (thanks to Wren and Arcadia!). We aren’t planning to put too much effort into the sponsor model, but when we find companies, foundations, etc that we identify with that are interested in helping support the these efforts and make their work more visible to the MCJ community, we are open to involving them in subtle unobtrusive ways (but the content of the pod itself will remain 100% objective).
We are also starting to think through what an optional subscription model could look like, for our most engaged community members. We have some idea for what else we could offer people to enable more tools and structure around their climate journeys, but we would be interested to hear from you if you have ideas or requests. More info on this soon, as the offering takes shape.
I always get a little awkward when it comes to getting revenue focused, but I am realizing that not having a business model is actually holding back the impact we could be having, which is motivating me to figure it out. We have so many ideas on the impact side, and can’t wait to show more of our cards, in terms of what we have in store. And rest assured, our plan is to add new offerings not take anything away, and the free MCJ offerings will continue and continue to be actively improved upon, as well.
Also, one additional note. Starting on Monday (the 100th episode!), we will be moving to a one episode-per-week schedule going forward, at least in the near-term. There are lots more topics to cover, but the pod takes a lot of time, and by switching to one per week it will enable us to move more aggressively into some of the expansion areas we are excited to explore. It will also enable us (and you) to delve deeper into some of the key topics explored on the pod via other mediums beyond audio, vs just jumping from topic to topic, as the pod has been doing.
Thanks for coming along for the ride! We are just getting warmed up (pun intended).
Jason
📼Episodes
Here are this week’s episodes you may have missed!
Episode 98: Ken Caldeira, Atmospheric Scientist at the Carnegie Institution (at time of recording, now at Gates Ventures)
Once called “my great teacher” by Bill Gates, Ken is a renown scientist who has performed and overseen a wide-variety of climate-related research at the Carnegie Institution. We delved into a lot of great topics, ranging from the latest climate research to the thorny socio-cultural obstacles that inhibit needed action.
Episode 99: Anne Simpson, Director of Board Governance & Strategy at CalPERS
A leader in the largest public pension funds in the U.S., Anne works to influence the governance at major corporations, ensuring they are factoring in sustainability and prioritizing risks such as climate change. In addition to hearing her articulate the impact large shareholders have on corporations, it was also fascinating to hear how a fund with a hundred-year time horizon feels the urgency of addressing climate risks in its portfolio today.
Note: Thanks to our episode sponsor, Wren, an easy way to offset your carbon footprint on a monthly basis. I have been a happy customer for 8 months, and am also a proud investor.
💼Jobs
Here are some jobs shared by members of the MCJ community that we think might be of interest to you.
Sales, Software Development & Project Management at Clarity in Oakland, CA (job description)
Interested in sharing a job with the community? Use the button below to let us know, or just post it in #climatejobs in the MCJ slack room.
📰Recommended Reading
Below are interesting articles and content that we find interesting and/or that was recently shared by fellow MCJers.
Monica Varman: “ESG matters — more than ever before”
MCJer and investor at G2VP, Monica Varman recently wrote a piece on how ESG investing hasn’t dampened in light of COVID-19 and why it matters now more than ever.Foreign Affairs: “The Strategic Case for U.S. Climate Leadership”
Eric Schmidt recently shared this article on Twitter. The authors opine on how the U.S. can and must lead the world on climate policy. They enumerate a list of American advantages, underscoring that climate policy can be a catalyst for economic growth and opportunity and not an inhibitor.
Gizmodo: “Jay Inslee's Climate Team Dropped a Roadmap for a Post-Coronavirus Green Recovery”
This article details how the policy team behind Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s climate plan, a centerpiece to his defunct-presidential bid, have formed the Evergreen Collaborative and recently released a roadmap for pivoting the economy to a clean energy.
The Heat Beat: “A Historic Downturn Meets Historic Opportunity: Geothermal Development Will Save Oil and Gas Jobs”
This piece argues how geothermal energy represents an economic opportunity that will not only help the U.S. recover from the doldrums of the COVID-19 induced downturn, but also provide a path for oil and gas workers transition to a burgeoning industry.
Los Angeles Times: “Should we spend billions on clean energy? It worked during the last crisis”
This article centers on how, in this moment in which the government is injecting stimuli to bolster the American economy, a page should be taken from the Obama-era “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” to expand the clean energy sector.
🎟Events
Upcoming
MCJ Chats (April 19)
Nicole Kelner and Chris Powers host bi-weekly MCJ Chats in #communitychat. Next panel is on Grant Funding for Startups & Nonprofits on Sunday, April 19th at 3pm EST. Panelists are @Cody Simms (Partner + VP, Techstars), @Caroline Spears(Executive Director, Climate Cabinet), @Joel Armin-Hoiland (Founder & Principal, Climate Innovation Advisors), and Silvia Aguiar (Program Manager, California Energy Commision's Research Division). RSVP here by Sunday at 2pm.
MCJ Climate Study Group (April 21)
The MCJ climate study group meets bi-weekly to learn about and discuss climate-related issues & solutions. The group will be discussing grid flexibility, microgrids, and storage on April 21st at 8pm ET. If you’re interested in joining to learn about this area, drop your email here or join the #study-group channel in the MCJ Slack Group. (h/t MCJer Amy Wang)
A Taste of Techstars Sustainability (April 21)
What do investors look for in sustainability companies? Join me and investors from Prelude and Grantham Environmental Trust on April 21st for insights and advice. Register here.
Women In Climate (April 22)
Hannah Davis hosts bi-weekly virtual meetups in #women-in-climate. Next event is 4/22 at 12pm EST. Details in #women-in-climate.
Clean Energy Prize @ MIT Finals (April 24)
Join the world's largest and longest-running university clean tech startup competition for its 13th annual Finals, hosted virtually! Register now to watch the top 4 university teams compete for $100k in prize money at the Clean Energy Prize @ MIT, plus the winner will get featured in an episode on MCJ! Register here.
Thanks for reading, everyone! As always, feedback is welcomed. We can’t promise we will always get it right as we expand, but we can promise we will always try our best to and fix it quickly when we miss the mark. It is like a giant experiment, but one we are super excited about, and we hope you are as well. Also, special thanks to MCJ Chief-of-Staff Thai Nguyen for all of his help with this newsletter, and in general! It has only been a few months or so, but he has been an amazing addition to the team and is already indispensable. And thanks to Nicole Kelner as well, who has been volunteering her time and helping us work on some exciting improvements to the community experience. Until next week!
Jason