GRID Alternatives Outreach Coordinator Katie Webster discovered a love for nature and animals growing up in Adairsville, Georgia, but upon graduating from Auburn University with a degree in Marine Biology in 2015, she realized that she wanted to eschew scientific research for environmental work that would create more immediate change. She discovered GRID Alternatives through a contact at her Americorps CivicSpark position with the San Luis Obispo Air Pollution Control District office:
“I wanted to do something that was going to make change happen because I feel like climate change is really urgent. The definition of GRID’s work is really empowerment. We are literally giving people power with solar energy. (Our clients) become a model for their community because it’s right there on their roof and the neighbors can see that.
We need to keep pushing and working together and getting back to our roots. I want to plant a vegetable garden, bring it back home, work with my neighbors and have more community. Think globally, act locally: the change that happens is really on a local level. No matter what happens at a national level, you can still make good changes in your state, your city, and in your neighborhood.”