Recently I was fortunate enough to visit with some longtime E2 members in Silicon Valley, where we got our start 18 years ago. I always love hearing stories of our early advocacy trips to Sacramento, seeing the camaraderie, and feeling the collective pride in helping to change our world.
Earlier that day, I had lunch in Palo Alto with one of our E2 1 Hotels Fellows. An East Coast transplant, she now funds innovative climate and clean energy projects around the world. And as one of our newest E2 members, her age and background adds a new dimension to our efforts – but she clearly shares the same passion and dedication to changing the world as our first members.
This new member reminded again how well E2 remains rooted in the principles sown in that foundational soil by the businesspeople who got us started in 2000, even as our efforts and focus are changing and growing in new ways.
These past few months really illustrate this metamorphosis – and in ways you can stay involved.
- In April, we launched the second year of our E2 1 Hotels Fellowship program, which (thanks to a generous donor in New York) awards 10 young businesspeople with a $20,000 stipend to develop innovative projects to advance our advocacy work across the country. See more here and send us your recommendations for E2 fellows and Emerging Leaders.
- In May, we launched our biggest national campaign ever, Clean Jobs Count. In addition to helping expand E2’s power, voice, and numbers — the campaign is focused on increasing the public’s awareness about the economic benefits of the clean economy and amplifying our jobs reports showing clean energy’s continuing job growth across the country. Help spread the word by taking the Clean Jobs Count pledge and sharing it with you network.
- In June, our E2 Rockies chapter held the first of many Clean Jobs Count related events we’re planning across the country. The Colorado Clean Jobs Count event featured Gov. John Hickenlooper (photo above) and coincided with the launch of our Clean Jobs Colorado report. Similar events and reports are planned in our eight other E2 chapters in the months ahead.
In September, E2 will be on the international stage again. Recently, E2 was selected by California Gov. Jerry Brown’s office to co-host an official business side event as part of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco. Our Sept. 12 event will feature John Zimmer, the co-founder and president of LYFT, former California state Sen. Fran Pavley, author of California’s groundbreaking climate policies, and other influential speakers. For more info please email [email protected].
At the Summit, E2 will also announce our next group of E2 1 Hotels Fellowship recipients. We’ll also introduce them to some of our pioneering members from the Bay Area – connecting yet another generation of E2 members with those who got us started in Silicon Valley 18 years ago.