The ocean breeze, wine and delicious snacks are the secret to networking. I can’t think of a better way to build meaningful and long-lasting business relationships!
In April, Will and I (Alba), Master’s in Renewable Energy alumni and co-founders of Climatize, an app that enables you to invest in renewable energy projects from as little as your spare change, hosted the first-ever Santa Cruz, California Climate Consortium in collaboration with Santa Cruz Works.
What was it all about?
The aim of the event was to gather, connect, exchange ideas, and learn about local efforts in place to support the transition to a greener climate and economy.
My co-founder Will, kicked off the event with a touching speech about the detrimental effects of the climate crisis. He pictured the gathering as an opportunity to innovate, build more efficiently and show gratitude by making the most of what we have. He encouraged the counterparts to call out systematic wrongs and build an economy more representative of our constituent parts.
Learning from local experts
We were very lucky to count with the attendance of members of local climate organisations, industry leaders, government representatives, academics, and activists. Even Molly Wood, a famous American journalist, host of the podcast “How We Survive” as well as investor and inspiration for many has joined us!
We decided to allocate half an hour of the evening to presentations from five industry expert panelists. We learned about the work being done by the jurisdictions in the Monterey Bay region from Tiffany Wise-West, Sustainability and Climate Action Manager for the City of Santa Cruz. She touched on the need to bring in and keep the historically underrepresented and underserved people in the community at the forefront of all efforts.
The other top-notch speakers were Cruz Foam’s CEO and co-founder John Felts, Amy Gross, Sustainability Lead for Joby Aviation, Brandon Tinianov, Head of Strategy at Mynt Systems, the co-founder of Supply Shift, Alex Gershenson and my co-founder Will, representing Climatize.
Gershenson and Gross emphasized the importance of having supply chain transparency to be aware of how suppliers are impacting the lives of workers, the community, and the environment. Felts, former researcher at UC Santa Cruz and co-founder of Cruz Foam shared some exciting news: Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher are the company’s newest investors and advisors!
Food for thought
I felt deeply inspired by all the event attendees and their efforts to fight for a more sustainable future. It was definitely great food for thought. This has made me realise how essential collaborating and working together towards this common goal is. Only if we connect the different industry players will we be able to make a tangible impact. A couple of days of preparing snacks and sorting tables were definitely worth it. Already looking forward to the next gathering.
by Alba Forns, EIT InnoEnergy Master School alumna