Leaving the Planet in Good Hands
Friday, August 10, 2007
She’s young, smart and part of a new breed of environmentally conscious leaders. An MBA student at the Presido School of Management in San Francisco, CA, this semester her classes include topics such as Ecological Economics & Macroeconomics and Evolutionary Leadership, Collaboration & Systems Thinking. Meet Sheila Samuelson, an Iowa girl, author and an expert on Sustainability.
This new generation of leadership is quite frankly, a breath a fresh air. In my college days being an environmentalist meant attending protest rallies and canvassing neighborhoods for clean water petitions. Today, it’s about applying business models that demonstrate the economics of high efficiency, eco-friendly initiatives. Sheila talks frequently of the importance of “bottom up” consumer buy-in and providing information that encourages consumers to make a “green choice” versus legislating environmentalism.
She’s not just talk, either. Turning her passion and knowledge into usable tools started out as just a hobby when her boyfriend set her up with a blog, One Shade Greener, designed to provide eco-tips for modern lifestyles. From there she wrote her first book, the feel good heat: Pioneers in Corn and BioMass Energy.
Her latest project was a recently completed summer internship as Director of Information and Resources at Greensburg GreenTown. This is a nonprofit group that was created as a resource to help the residents of Greenburg, Kansas rebuild as a “Green Community” after the devastating May 2007 tornado. (Watch the blog for more on this story.)
For now, Sheila heads back to school. It will be interesting to see where she ends up next summer.
By: Wendimere Reilly
