My Journey to Sustainability

Life is good. Today, I felt reflective, so I wrote down a few things about what I had been up to.

For as long as I can remember, I have been an environmentalist. Like so many things, this has different meanings to everyone. I’ve never lived in a tree or been on a hunger strike to protest, but I care deeply about nature, particularly our oceans.

Growing up in Miami Beach, I was exposed to swimming, and at the same time, I learned to walk. I spent my time in the pool or the ocean or walking along the seawalls of the bay across from where we lived. My first exposure to scuba diving was at 6 years old in the Florida Keys! I was skydiving with my brother-in-law, and he let me breathe from the “octopus” second regulator on his scuba tank. To say I was hooked would be an understatement. I discovered a new world and knew I would never be the same. I dove with him several times and became enamored with everything about Jacque Cousteau. When I turned 11 I drove my parents crazy until they relented and let me get my Jr. Naui scuba certification on my 12 birthday. This was the first day you could legally have it, and I could buy air! I did the certification in John C. Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and discovered how magical our coral reefs are. The colors, the fish, and the reef itself were breathtaking. I wish I could take you there and show you, but unfortunately, almost all of the coral there and most everywhere is either severely damaged or just plain gone. Global warming truly sucks.

Most of my life I have been blessed to be right on or very close to the ocean. When I was 10, my dad got me my first job working for tips on a fishing boat called “The Reward.” The owner was Capt. Judd and to me I thought he truly had the world by the tail. I just wanted to grow up and be a drift boat fishing captain, just like Capt. Judd. I was the first mate, Bobby’s helper; he was a salty old fisherman, and I was his second mate. I used to take a bus for 45 minutes to get there so I could scrub the deck before the fisherman arrived, and during the trips, I would untangle people’s lines, help people bait their hooks, occasionally bring in a fish or two, and quite often get the old fisherman their beers. The first summer I earned $25 dollars and spent it all on a swiss army knife that I used to look at everyday in the tackle shop. I still have it today!

I had a pet pelican that lived on the dock where the boat was. He couldn’t fly, but he knew me, and I fed him a whole fish almost every day. I called him Fred. I called most animals Fred at that time. The following summer, Capt. Judd wrapped a custom rod for me. It was my most treasured possession. A few years later, I lost that rod when my boat sunk a mile and a half offshore in the middle of the night…But that’s another story.

I spent time during college commercial diving, primarily for Sea Urchins and doing underwater work on boats. Sea Urchins play an essential role in helping keep the reefs from getting too much algae, but here in California, they can also damage the already fragile kelp forests. Anyway, I did it for a while, but it was incredibly dangerous then, so I moved on.

At about that time, a new synthetic salt made home reef aquariums possible! I wanted to build one for myself, but I didn’t have the money as a self-funded college student. So, I started a business building custom reef tanks for other folks. I used to go up to the LA wholesale market and purchase marine fish. I would take them home, quarantine them in my tanks, and then bring them to my client's tanks. At that time, my reef tanks were some of the healthiest and most beautiful anywhere.

I spent many summers as a San Diego lifeguard, thinking we were taking advantage of the City. I didn’t tell anyone, but I would have paid to do it as it was the most fun I ever had. The fact that they paid us to be at the beach every day was just epic. I could write a book about everything we saw and did as SD lifeguards. This is how jobs should be, where it’s hard to tell if you are working or playing because you are actually doing both.

I always shared my love for swimming. I had the opportunity to work with the city, teaching swimming throughout SD in low-income areas. We would set up a pool on a basketball court for a few weeks at a time, then move it to a new location and give classes all day. During that time in my life, I taught hundreds of people to swim.

So what about the environment? I had an e-commerce business that promoted and sold LED lighting. It was early on, and the lighting was super expensive. I had an ongoing promotion to “Plant a tree for free,” and I set aside a dollar from every sale to plant a tree. I sold tons of lights to cities, and more significant projects where changing light bulbs was expensive. I sold thousands of holiday lights as they work better and last forever. At the time, I struggled with the fact that even though I had the promotion to plant trees, and Led’s last longer and use a fraction of the energy, I was still not very environmentally conscious. You see, most lighting is made in China in factories that aren’t environmentally friendly. By shipping them by boat to LA and LA to a fulfillment center and then to a home or business, was I doing better by the environment?

This inflection on my own actions led me to study sustainability. I became vegan because I know that what I do matters as an individual, and that would be huge for the environment. I have not always fully maintained that lifestyle choice, but recently, I reaffirmed it for myself, and it feels really good.

I joined the board of a local Chamber of Commerce. I also joined a national chamber association and began to understand that the US Chamber of Commerce influences politics, which made me angry. The US Chamber is one of the most powerful lobbying organizations in the world and, as such, lobbies for things that are very much for big oil, coal, and big corporations. Often, these are things that companies wouldn’t want their names associated with. Another Chamber board member and I launched the San Diego Green Chamber of Commerce, and eventually, it became the US Green Chamber of Commerce. The fact is that doing what’s best for sustainability can also be very profitable. We never reached the level of lobbying power the US Chamber has. Still, there are multiple chapters now, and great people are running the organization with a new message for a sustainable future for all of us.

So fast-forward a while and COVID hits. I planned to take my LinkedIn marketing agency, which also does AI, and move to Costa Rica. I could live at the beach, surf, and grow my own food. With an internet connection, I could trade. What more do I need? I found someone to take over my lease, sold most of my stuff, and bought new luggage for the trip.

And then I took another look at what Jonathan Budd and Jim Bunch were doing at Powur. I had been watching them since the beginning a few years ago and hoping they would nail it. Jonathan is a man of vision and bold enough to just friggin go for it. Jim is a true leader, a huge part of the US Green Chamber, and a thought leader in environmental, personal development, and coaching. They both know how to motivate people and how to get things done. I see what they have built, and it is truly unique. Powur will end up being the largest energy company in the world and a true leader in helping to slow down global warming.

Costa Rica will be home in just a few years. Right now, I am completely stoked to be a mentor, recruiter, and solar champion for Powur. I also started an AI consulting agency as there is so much we can do with AI in business. When I was a lifeguard, I was surprised we got paid to have so much fun. Powur has created something truly unique and I believe in what we are doing: saving homeowners money, doing what’s suitable for the environment, and achieving personal abundance while helping many homeowners go solar.

Life is good.