Green.org sat down with Sara Miltenberger, Sustainability Consultant, Forbes Under 30 Scholar, and founder of Make Climate Cool, shares how she is using communication to make sustainability positive.
Sara, thank you for being here. Can you tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I have been very fortunate to have in sustainability industry for 10 years. I worked at environmental labs in college, only to become an environmental scientist before transitioning to corporate sustainability 6 years ago. It’s been amazing to see how the sustainability space has changed so much even in the last couple of years. When I first started in the industry, I was so cynical and depressed about the state of the world. Now, I truly believe in the power of positive climate change. I know that sounds crazy but I think that when you are upset with the world, it’s hard to think of creative solutions. What inspired me to start my consulting firm was working for Tesla in 2018. The company was in the most desperate push to survive, much less succeed and I loved the energy and team work there. We were making sustainability cool and I knew that was what I wanted to do with more companies.
What is a fun fact about you?
I play on a women’s golf league and I’m the youngest player by approximately 20 years. I played varsity golf in college and love the accountability and support of the women in my community, regardless of age!
Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today?
I think that ultimately sustainability is about people. My main concern is protecting people from major natural events that are aggravated by climate change and hoping we can offer some kind of green future to the next generation. This is a human problem. We caused it and we have to fix it. We can collect all the data and science and articles we want but at the end of the day, we have to implement change in a way that will work with our existing systems.
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
That is so hard to say. The industry is constantly changing with innovation. I want to think that sustainability consultants will become like accountants. You need them in your business to tell you what to do so you don’t make a mess.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
I always say there are a million and one ways to be sustainable. Not all of the options are going to work for you but there is always something you can do that you might even enjoy doing. It’s been cool to see the growth of homesteading in the last 2 years. People are growing their own food when they can and owning chickens for fresh eggs. I can’t run a mini farm where I live but I can bring reusable produce bags when I shop, compost and shop locally when I can.