Who Inspires Me?

by Heather Burns-DeMelo

Being an entrepreneur isn't easy, and being an eco-preneur presents a whole other set of challenges.

While it's invigorating to do what you believe in, rewarding to be an innovator, and gratifying to contribute to positive change, entrepreneurs in the green space need courage, commitment and patience to make it.

Here are some who have inspired me over the past year:

1) Jay Whelan, CEO The Green Revolution. Jay took a break from the fast paced world of Wall Street to focus on his family and developed, funded and launched the first of its kind: an energy converter that fits onto exercise equipment (spinning cycles) to harness its energy and feed it to the grid. Now that's out-of-the-box innovation for ya.

2) Gil Friend, CEO Natural Logic. Simply one of the most brilliant minds on sustainability I've met. Thirty plus years of experience developing metrics to measure footprints and amazingly creative, articulate and charming to boot.

3) John Collins, PhD, CEO VeruTEK Technologies. John and his partner developed a plant-based surfactant that oxidizes oil, coal tar, and other soil and water nightmarish pollutants. No need to move buildings to clean up the soil either: you can pump it under buildings. Congratulations on recently winning an award from the Connecticut Technology Council!

4) Lisa Landone. Works at a small post office in Stamford, CT and organized a conference on greening the postal industry that was so successful, the national organization took notice and made change.

5) Mark Robbins, President, Windermere on the Lake. Built the first LEED certified and habitat managed community. Mark's vision and commitment to be a steward of the land caused him to go above and beyond what was expected, or had been done before within this type of land development. In fact, the water that goes out of the community leaves cleaner than when it arrived.

6) Christopher Kent, CEO Windstreet Energy Inc. Chris is a true social entrepreneur and uses his business to create positive change for people and planet. For example, he staffs his call center with people who are looking for jobs after being incarcerated, and has hundreds of success stories of men and women who have built new lives and are building our new, green economy.

7) Doug Moss, Publisher of E Magazine. Doug has dedicated nearly 20 years to The Earth Action Network, and its print publication, E Magazine. The content is some of the best around, and even the most seasoned environmentalist can reference E and find something cutting edge.

8) Kathryn Blume, Playwright and touring actor of The Boycott Play, her one-woman show about a first lady who convinces the women of the U.S. to go on sex strike to combat global warming. Kathryn is a visionary and one-of-a-kind activist.

9) Herster Barres, PhD Founder of Reforest the Tropics. RTT started off as a program of the UN and for the last few decades, Dr. Barres has worked to research the fastest growing trees that sequester the largest amounts of carbon. But perhaps what's most remarkable is the business model that he's been able to develop to make tree farming a win-win for locals, who used to use their land for raising beef cattle.

10) James Roby, President, CT NOFA, Owner of Roby's Organics in Berlin, CT, and master of the best damn organic garlic ever grown. Rain or shine, farmers are out there getting down and dirty and working hard to bring food from their farm (seed) to our (comfy) table. Organic farmers protect the integrity of our soils, water and food. Visit an organic farmers market today and support our local farmers.

 

Thanks to all of you for inspiring me and filling me with hope that we just might be OK after all!