Saturday 12 September 2015

MEET ADAM!

MEET ADAM!

Adam is a full time accountant in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He also has a part time business in income tax preparation. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg, he is currently taking an online program on Renewable Energy through the University of Toronto, with the intention of becoming a sustainability consultant. He has written for green tech blogs cleantechnia.com and solarlove.org about renewable energy. He also has his own blog site: adammjohnston.wordpress.com/


After seeing what happened with Hurricane Katrina (in 2005) and watching Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth (in 2006), it made me think about what we actually are doing to the earth. I think they were the main turning points for me to become an advocate on environmental issues.

Al Gore’s documentary put a lot of things into perspective. An idea that was once considered science fiction (climate change) now is slowly happening.

To me, become an advocate was not an overnight thing. Although I always supported green issues, I think it was a long process.

I guess first thing was that I decided not to buy a car. Cars are expensive and as a modest person, I get around by bus and bicycle. So I am happy with it. This was a choice that I made a while back, before university.

I bike or walk or use public transit to get around. In term of public transit in Winnipeg, while there have been some improvements, lots of work could be done, including adding more routes, expanding rapid transit, and providing better information to riders.

Public transit is one of the issues I care about.

I’m also interested in green tech issues.

I became interested in tech issues, and environmental economics, while attending the University of Winnipeg from 2008-2011.

I took courses on the environment, energy and natural resources economics.

I’m eager to see what’s possible, how far technology can go in pushing us towards sustainable development.  

I’m interested in how clean tech is changing the dynamics of energy, similar in a lot of ways to how information technology transformed everything.

I work full time as an accountant, and own a part time business, which involves preparing income taxes.

Currently, I am doing a professional development online program from the University of Toronto in renewable energy. I eventually would like to be a sustainability consultant.

I have written for a few clean tech websites, including CleanTechnica, and Solar Love, which allowed me to showcase my interest in renewable energy.

I find with environmental issues, it’s a re-commitment I keep doing. I do have moments of discouragement, and frustration.

But I just keep ploughing through.

It’s kind of like sports athletes who get frustrated at times when nothing goes right, but they often reload. Those athletes who overcome adversity are my favourites.

This is why I watch a lot of sports and play video games and cycle: to relieve frustration.


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