Members of a new, vibrant environmentalism
I have done so much since I started at the beginning of last week. I've read a LOT about all sorts of environmental stuff, I've gone out on site visits with some of the raters, and I've put together quite a few materials for builders, as well as putting out a mailing today. However, one of the most fun things so far has been getting to know the other people in my office. Let me introduce you to my new friends:
Megan is the only other person who's in the office as much as I am (9-5, five days a week), and her desk is right next to mine, pretty much. She's one of the friendlier people I've ever met; I don't know whether she just doesn't have bad days or somehow manages to be casually cheery in spite of them. She's young, too, only 5 years older than me. Went to Oberlin, but couldn't stay for financial reasons and now is almost done with her Masters in Regional Planning from UMass. Funny, that's one of the things I've been contemplating doing after I graduate.
Megan's responsibilities are on the one hand basic office management (answering the phone, keeping schedules, and knowing pretty much everything about everything), but also officially coordinating the builders that we work with. She was out on Friday, and coming back yesterday said "I was just out for one day, but it seems like I've got a lot to catch up on", to which I truthfully replied that she does a lot everyday.
Also, turns out the house I visited on Monday was her house, which is new and in the process of LEED-certification (going for LEED-silver). Turns out it's also the first zero-net-energy home in Massachusetts. Go figure. Lucky Megan.
The other two people who are most in the office are Peggy and Tomasin. Peggy was my contact at CET, because she knows my parents a bit, and she works with marketing of our programs. Oh, so we have a few basic programs that we facilitate:
-LEED certification
-EnergyStar certification
-Green Audits (all-around green examination for existing homes)
-Energy Audits (for existing homes as well, but just about energy use)
-MassSave and the New England Wind Fund (two programs through which people can basically purchase renewable energy from their electric company)
Tomasin does similar things to Peggy. She's in the office a lot too, but both she and Peggy have unusual hours due to meeting with clients at odd times. I don't know. Though I've done copying and the like for both of them, Megan's pretty much my direct supervisor. I have a pretty specific focus on green building, so I haven't interacted with people doing other things that much.
The three raters are Beth, Jonathan, and Bill. I still haven't met Bill, but I've gone on site visits with both Beth and Jonathan, and they're both really nice.
Finally there are Mark and John, who both split their time between the two CET offices. John is an assistant director of CET, and is in charge of the ReStore in Springfield. He is self-acknowledgedly the only one in the office who wears a tie. Mark is in charge of some program, but basically he is just capable of doing everyone else's jobs, so instead he coordinates things. The two of them are sort of the bosses in the office.
Everyone in the office is really laid back, and I just had this thought: in the office we have very diverse types of environmentalists, and yet none exemplify the stagnancy in the movement that we so recently appear to have cast off. There's a vibrancy in the work CET does that defies comparison to the immobility of environmentalism's past. Just a flash of profundity. If you're interested, I'll elaborate later; this is already getting too long.