This Week in MCJ (5/15/21)
Marking one year with our members 🎉
Hey everyone,
A year ago tomorrow, we launched the MCJ Membership as a way to support the weekly podcast, and to give listeners of the pod a peer group with which to collaborate on their climate journeys.
We didn’t know what to expect at the time, as the idea of a membership-based Slack community seemed pretty novel in a world of large, ad-driven social networks. Since introducing the membership, we’ve been touched and inspired to read hundreds of stories (Thai has personally read and approved every one of them! 👏) from interested applicants and welcome well over a thousand members from around the Globe to the MCJ community. We’ve since heard too many stories to count of people making valuable connections in the community that move the ball forward on those members’ climate journeys, and on the impact MCJ’ers collectively are having on addressing the problem of climate change.
Initially, listening to the pod was the only entry point to the community. Something flipped along the way though, and while many community members are regular listeners of the pod, word of mouth has surpassed the pod as the #1 channel for new member acquisition. This tells us that what started as a way to support the podcast efforts has undeniably taken on a life of its own! And we are only just getting warmed up.
We are very grateful to all MCJ’ers for your help and support. After all, the community would be nothing without the members who inhabit it. In recent weeks, we’ve received a deluge of raised hands from members seeking to volunteer their time to help improve the MCJ Community and enrich the experience for fellow members. Prompted by this member interest, we set up the #volunteers Slack channel to help create visibility around opportunities for members to participate. If you are interested in getting engaged and building with us, feel free to join!
Also, this is not an exhaustive list by any means, but we do want to give a special shoutout to a handful of members who have generously taken an active role in the community of late: Charlotte Mallo (leading the #socal community); Maki Tazawa (fostering engagement and discussion in #dei-climatejustice); and the many folks rolling up their sleeves to help develop a better understanding of community insights (you know who you are!). We’re so appreciative of what you and many others are doing to help us build a community centered around support, inclusion, and action 🙏!
We are honored to be on this journey with you, and excited about what is to come!
Jason & the entire MCJ team
🎙Episodes
This week's episodes included an interesting discussion with Bruce Friedrich, Founder & Executive Director of The Good Food Institute, a global non-profit that promotes plant-based meat, dairy, and eggs as well as cultivated meat as alternatives to conventional animal products. I also had a lively conversation with Kristen Winzent & Merrill Feather, Co-Founders & Collaborates at The Regenerates, a brand and marketing consultancy focused 100% on building momentum for climate solutions.
✨Highlights
Climate News this week! On Tuesday, the Biden administration granted Vineyard Wind its final major permit. The Vineyard Wind project is the country’s first large-scale offshore wind project that could generate enough power for at least 400,000 homes. A first-of-its-kind study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows more than 17,000 annual deaths attributable to pollution from farms across the United States. The report pinpoints meat production as the leading source of deadly pollution. One in four cities cannot afford climate crisis protection measures. A survey of 800 cities, carried out by the Carbon Disclosure Project, found that last year about 43% of them, representing a combined population of 400 million people, did not have a plan to adapt to the climate crisis.
💼Climate Jobs
Jobs, fellowships, and career opportunities shared by members of the MCJ community. More opportunities can be found in #climatejobs in the MCJ Slack. Check out this google doc!
📚Startup Resources
Resources, accelerators, and grants for startups and individuals.
Joules Accelerator has opened the Cohort 8 application window. The application closes on May 31st, and Cohort 8 selection and decisions will be made the first week of June. For more information on how to apply & Joules Accelerator, check here!
Applications are now open for the second cohort of On Deck's Climate Tech Fellowship! The Fellowship is a 10-week program for deep experts to exchange ideas, accelerate each other’s careers, and build impactful climate tech startups. The fellowship costs $2,490 and there are scholarships available for those who need them. If you're intrigued, you can apply here.
👋 Welcome New MCJers!
You can learn more about new members on #introductions, where you can welcome them to the community. Don’t forget to check out the Member Directory, you can learn more about fellow members and find people to connect with.
Laura Kania: Laura is the co-founder of PodSnacks, a subscription newsletter that summarizes the latest podcasts in the climate space, starting with water.
Jake Poliskin: Jake is an investor at Mark Cuban Companies. He's personally interested in decarbonization and ag-tech companies. He'd like to connect with any entrepreneurs or investors in the space.
Jake Meyer: Jake is here to learn. Formerly head of product at Mighty (legal tech), Harry’s, BCG. Interest in software, food, ag, new tech commercialization.
Gabe Quintela: Brazilian born, currently living in Brooklyn. Formerly founded Envoy. Currently, uncovering climate tech solutions at Keep Cool and building community, and hosting events at Summit.
Yu Chen: Yu is a NY-based technologist (ex-Google, MIT) who's built software and hardware products. Now exploring ideas in the blue economy space.
Kasia Mikoluk: Kasia is an ex-fintech GM / Head of Growth who’s making a transition into climate tech while also moving from San Francisco to Stockholm.
Dr. Stafford Sheehan: Stafford is the co-founder and CTO of Air Company where he leads a team scaling technology that transforms CO2 into carbon-negative products.
Cory Waltrip: Cory is an MBA’23 candidate at the Stanford GSB with a joint MS in Environment & Resources. Former IBMer, excited to work as a climate-tech operator.
Ryan Rutledge: Ryan has led scouting and business development with Joules Accelerator since 2016. His latest venture is Antlia Energy. He is here to meet startups and investors.
Cimberley Catherine: Cimberley’s background is in startup & NGO consulting & in the Impact VC space. She has a passion for climate tech & joined MCJ to surround herself with inspiring, ambitious people.
Jessie Capper: A Digital Product Manager w/ experience in marketing & sustainability, Jessie is hoping to move into climate tech and is excited to learn about related topics from MCJ.
Vid Micevic: Currently, a Venture Selection Analyst sourcing game-changing growth-stage ventures at Unreasonable Group, Vid is looking to speak with other investors and VCs in the space as he builds out the pipeline for their programs.
Kristin McDonald: Kristin invests in seed-stage climate tech companies at Eniac Ventures, she is excited to be a part of the MCJ community.
Nathan Wyeth: Nathan just launched Link to provide EV-curious car shoppers with a single, friendly service to try, find and love their first electric car. He is excited to explore the MCJ community.
Biao Boey: A former frontend software engineer who's now a solo investor, Biao is new to climate tech but hopes to learn as much as he can.
Alisa Valderrama: Alisa is the co-founder and CEO of FutureProof Technologies, a venture-backed climate analytics startup that aims to make climate change actionable for financial professionals.
Nathan Maton: Nathan is a community builder, product manager, and data scientist interested in how we can supercharge sustainability through leadership development, organizational culture, and personal growth.
📌Community Board
News and initiatives from members of our community. MCJers mentioned can be DMed in Slack.
🏃Join a three-week Climate Sprint, where you and a team of 3-4 other people will dive deep into a specific climate topic and meet regularly while brainstorming as a team, conducting interviews, and doing research. Sprints for this upcoming round begin on May 24th, with topics ranging from carbon removal to regenerative grazing to urban heat islands to residential heat pumps.
🌍MCJers are meeting up around the world! Meetups are in the works for those in #nyc, #socal, #canada, and #australia. If you live in any of those areas, check out your local channel in slack.
👩🏫MCJ May Office Hours! Mentees can expect a 30 minute 1:1 session with the mentor of their choice. For more info on the mentors and how to sign up, check out this post in MCJ Slack.
🎟Climate Events
Check out the MCJ Calendar! We encourage members to host community events such as expert Q&As, book clubs, topic discussions, location-based meet-ups, and more! If you want to add your event to the calendar, email us the details at events@myclimatejourney.co. For third-party events, please use the #events channel in the MCJ slack!
Upcoming
MCJ Australia Virtual Meet-up (Monday, May 17th @ 9 am AEST)
Join MCJers in Australia on a zoom meet-up! This is the first MCJ Australia meet up and it won’t be the last, join the #australia channel for more info on future events. For more info about Monday’s event check out this post!
MCJ NYC Socially Distanced Meet-up (Wednesday, May 19th @ 6 pm ET)
MCJ New Yorkers are meeting up in person next week. Check out Alec Turnbull’s post here!
Icebreaker: Meet an MCJer (Thursday, May 20th @ 6 pm CET)
European/African friendly time! Meet MCJers through several 10-min 1:1 casual conversations with a fellow community member, facilitated by the video chat platform Gatheround. RSVP here!
Member Orientation (Friday, May 21st @ 3 pm ET)
A weekly event to help onboard recently joined and existing members to the community. New MCJers can expect an overview of the community, events, and programming, RSVP here!
MCJ SoCal Socially Distanced Hike (Saturday, May 22nd @ 4 pm PT)
Join MCJers from Southern California on a hike this weekend! More on where to meet in Charlotte Mallo’s post here!
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
🗓Stay up to date with the MCJ Events Calendar
🐦Follow us on Twitter
🤳 Follow us on Clubhouse
👂Check out the Podcast
🌳Become an MCJ member