By the time I turned 10, I was working on a drift fishing boat as a second mate, spending every day out on the ocean. Spotting schools of fish, untangling lines and scrubbing the decks were my typical days growing up in Miami, FL.
Those early years awakened in me an eternal love and fascination for our oceans.
The colorful coral reefs, the playful dolphins, the fishes, octopuses, crabs, and the birds swooping down to catch their lunch… all captivating me and eventually inspiring me to make a career in clean energy.
Later in my adult years, while working in city government, I quickly learned that our intricate and fragile ecosystems are under constant threat from big corporations and industries.
And in particular the U.S. Chamber of Commerce seemed to be perpetually at war with the environment.
Their policies gave a free pass to corporations to pollute our atmosphere with harmful chemicals and dump industrial toxic effluents into the ocean.
It was here I got my first taste at taking a firm stand against these destructive policies.
A group of us banded together to form the United States Green Chamber of Commerce, where we would give voice to environmental best practices to Corporate America.
We showed corporations and industries how green practices can not only be sustainable but also profitable and portray them in a positive light with their consumers. And while this first big step toward taking care of our planet made a difference…