In coming to terms with the heartbreak of watching a solar company like Sungevity struggle, I'm looking at what made me love that place so much and why I fought so hard/stuck with it.
It's because this guy, Danny Kennedy, didn't just build a business, he built a place with a lot of heart and soul that attracted a special kind of employee. Particularly at the end there, I woke up every day feeling like I was fighting for my colleagues and contractors jobs. It wasn't about me, it was about the collective. Shit got pretty emotional for me.
In my on-boarding, Danny showed us the hidden stop sign in the Sungevity logo - a little reminder to all of us that amidst the daily slog of a job, we truly were working to stop climate change. The Black Lives Matter movement was just taking shape in Oakland and I remember him saying, "Black lives do matter, and I will be at that march." I also noticed that a solid portion of my incoming class was female - clearly they were proactively working to make a more inclusive space.
My heart swelled with pride that I had found a place of employment, that while clearly pushing to grow and become more corporate, still had that B Corp, mission driven edginess at its core.AND I was finally making a livable wage!
I just popped a thank you note in the mail to Danny for building a business that brought so many of us into solar. I thanked him for creating a space that helped me uproot to Massachusetts to manage a network of contractors, and then become a team lead for the sun warrior field managers. I thanked him for opening an office in Kansas City. Nothing brings me more hope than seeing the spirit of Sungevity (badass sfunsters) stick with the solar coaster, particularly employees in the Kansas City region. We definitely need that spirit to stay alive where you live and I'm so proud of you guys!!
"We need to challenge injustice and throw our bodies in the gears of the machine and organize people power to stop the outrages of carbon production, but we've also got to get better at giving a growing voice to yes. To tell the solutions. To be the change. If we can say the yes, share the how, then people will start seeing that there is opportunity in change that can serve their self-interest.
I've become pretty open to the fact that the profit motive is a great driver for change, rather than just being an obstacle.
Business is one of the tools by which this social movement will succeed. Movements and markets are part of the paradigm shift.
We'll have problems with capitalism, we'll have solutions with it too.
...Abundance is our narrative. Their propaganda machine makes us forget that we have a resource that produces more energy that we can now tap profitably in a month, than all the coal and oil and gas underground.
...We can create our own prosperity. With more solar rising to the rooftops of the world, we now see climate and energy discourse in a different light. There is an alternative.We can reject scarcity. Adopt abundance. And realize that the challenge of climate disruption is one about not the end of the world, but the condition of the world without end."
It's called the solar coaster for a reason. I definitely knew what I was getting into. Sungevity may be struggling, but in the long game, that doesn't really matter too much. What matters is that Sungevity helped shape an industry that is alive and well.
I might not be on the Gev train anymore, but I'm still as passionate and fired up as ever. While I plot my next move, I'm putting all that energy into my local indivisible chapter, https://nomadactivists.com/, (alma mater) GRID, and 350Mass. My career will stay focused on energy and climate justice.
It's because this guy, Danny Kennedy, didn't just build a business, he built a place with a lot of heart and soul that attracted a special kind of employee. Particularly at the end there, I woke up every day feeling like I was fighting for my colleagues and contractors jobs. It wasn't about me, it was about the collective. Shit got pretty emotional for me.
In my on-boarding, Danny showed us the hidden stop sign in the Sungevity logo - a little reminder to all of us that amidst the daily slog of a job, we truly were working to stop climate change. The Black Lives Matter movement was just taking shape in Oakland and I remember him saying, "Black lives do matter, and I will be at that march." I also noticed that a solid portion of my incoming class was female - clearly they were proactively working to make a more inclusive space.
My heart swelled with pride that I had found a place of employment, that while clearly pushing to grow and become more corporate, still had that B Corp, mission driven edginess at its core.AND I was finally making a livable wage!
I just popped a thank you note in the mail to Danny for building a business that brought so many of us into solar. I thanked him for creating a space that helped me uproot to Massachusetts to manage a network of contractors, and then become a team lead for the sun warrior field managers. I thanked him for opening an office in Kansas City. Nothing brings me more hope than seeing the spirit of Sungevity (badass sfunsters) stick with the solar coaster, particularly employees in the Kansas City region. We definitely need that spirit to stay alive where you live and I'm so proud of you guys!!
"We need to challenge injustice and throw our bodies in the gears of the machine and organize people power to stop the outrages of carbon production, but we've also got to get better at giving a growing voice to yes. To tell the solutions. To be the change. If we can say the yes, share the how, then people will start seeing that there is opportunity in change that can serve their self-interest.
I've become pretty open to the fact that the profit motive is a great driver for change, rather than just being an obstacle.
Business is one of the tools by which this social movement will succeed. Movements and markets are part of the paradigm shift.
We'll have problems with capitalism, we'll have solutions with it too.
...Abundance is our narrative. Their propaganda machine makes us forget that we have a resource that produces more energy that we can now tap profitably in a month, than all the coal and oil and gas underground.
...We can create our own prosperity. With more solar rising to the rooftops of the world, we now see climate and energy discourse in a different light. There is an alternative.We can reject scarcity. Adopt abundance. And realize that the challenge of climate disruption is one about not the end of the world, but the condition of the world without end."
It's called the solar coaster for a reason. I definitely knew what I was getting into. Sungevity may be struggling, but in the long game, that doesn't really matter too much. What matters is that Sungevity helped shape an industry that is alive and well.
I might not be on the Gev train anymore, but I'm still as passionate and fired up as ever. While I plot my next move, I'm putting all that energy into my local indivisible chapter, https://nomadactivists.com/, (alma mater) GRID, and 350Mass. My career will stay focused on energy and climate justice.
I'm amazed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that's both equally educative and engaging, and let me tell you, you've hit the nail on the head. The problem is something which not enough folks are speaking intelligently about. Now i'm very happy that I found this during my hunt for something regarding this. msn hotmail sign in
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