Tag: leadership

creativity

The Power of Local: How Community Energy Builds Global Resilience

Christa Avampato
Sunset Park Solar project at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Photo from Working Power: https://www.workingpower.com/case-studies/sunset-park-solar-upro

The news cycle frequently reminds us how fragile our extractive energy systems truly are. When we rely on distant supply chains and volatile markets to power our homes, a disruption on the other side of the world immediately impacts our local stability. We tether our daily lives to global anxieties.

But true energy independence looks entirely different. It comes from making nature an ally.

When we build symbiotic systems that harness the sun and the wind, we stop relying on extraction and start cultivating true resilience. Renewable energy does more than lower carbon emissions; it insulates our communities from global market shocks. The sun does not care about international borders, and the wind does not respond to market panic. They simply provide.

Across the country, communities are already proving that the best way to weather a global storm is to build a strong local energy ecosystem.

Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Right in our own backyard in Brooklyn, a grassroots organization called UPROSE is transforming the industrial waterfront. They spearheaded the creation of New York City’s first cooperatively owned community solar project on the roof of the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This massive solar array—a system that links hundreds of individual solar panels together so they function as one unified power plant—provides discounted, clean energy to approximately 150 local households and small businesses. Instead of traditional corporate ownership, UPROSE and the developer Working Power co-own the system alongside the community. They direct the revenue generated by the array into a community wealth fund, allowing residents to finance additional local projects based on their own priorities. This structure empowers Sunset Park residents to vote on spending the profits, such as funding additional local solar initiatives. Instead of waiting for top-down solutions, the neighborhood is building its own climate resiliency and keeping the economic benefits firmly rooted in the community.

Shungnak, Alaska

Inside the Arctic Circle, the remote Iñupiat village of Shungnak historically relied entirely on shipped-in diesel fuel to run its generators. This dependence made energy incredibly expensive (sometimes as much as $15 per gallon) and vulnerable to supply chain issues. Recently, the community installed a hybrid microgrid featuring a 225-kilowatt solar array and an advanced 384-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery system. These batteries are grid-forming, meaning they seamlessly take over the electrical load without a flicker. They provide a safer, longer-lasting alternative to standard lithium-ion options. This technology allows the village to completely shut off its diesel engines for hours at a time during the long summer days. The community has recorded stretches of up to 11 straight hours running purely on solar and battery power. The system saves the community 15,000 to 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually. This translates to well over $125,000 in savings each year, bringing true energy independence and resilience to the region. This project won Solar Builder Magazine’s Project of the Year Award.

Buffalo, New York

Upstate in Buffalo, New York, a non-profit called PUSH Buffalo transformed a vacant 1927 public school building into a thriving community hub. The renovated School 77 now houses 30 affordable senior apartments, a neighborhood gymnasium, and a local theater company. They installed a 64-kilowatt community-owned solar array on the roof to supply energy to the local grid. PUSH Buffalo offers the resulting energy credits directly to the buildings low-income tenants at a steeply discounted rate compared to the standard utility company. Furthermore, the tenants engage in a participatory budgeting process to decide exactly how to spend any excess revenue generated by the system. While they initially lacked the funding for battery storage, PUSH Buffalo actively plans to add this capacity. This future upgrade will officially turn School 77 into a microgrid and resiliency hub during extreme weather conditions.

The Togetherhood Takeaway These communities are not just changing how they get their power; they are fundamentally changing their relationship with the natural world. They are moving from an extractive model that leaves them vulnerable, to a symbiotic model that makes them remarkably strong.

When we make nature our ally, we stop being passive consumers of a fragile global market and start becoming active builders of a resilient local ecosystem that benefits all beings who call it home.

Taking Action in Your Own Ecosystem Building a resilient local grid starts with small, deliberate steps, and you do not need to own a roof to participate. Here are four ways to start cultivating energy independence in your own community right now:

  • Find a Community Solar Farm: Platforms like EnergySage allow you to enter your zip code and find local solar arrays looking for subscribers. You simply connect your utility account and start powering your home with local sun, often at a discount.
  • Join a Solar Co-op: Organizations like Solar United Neighbors help neighborhoods band together to bulk-purchase solar installations, driving down costs and building collective community power.
  • Support Energy Democracy: Groups like WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance provide incredible blueprints for advocating for equitable energy policies in your city.
  • Advocate Locally: Connect with local chapters of the Climate Reality Project to organize around local infrastructure changes and demand clean energy investments from your elected officials.
creativity

The Blueprint of Reinvention: What Nellie Bly Teaches Us About Leadership

Christa Avampato
Nellie Bly, c. 1890. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

At the top of Women’s History Month, there’s no shortage of women who’ve shaped business in every sector and shown us the economic and human value of heart-centered leadership. When I think of women who’ve given us an example of women who can do anything, the first woman I think of is Nellie Bly.

History often paints Nellie Bly as a two-hit wonder. We know her as the fearless 23-year-old who invented investigative journalism by tricking police into committing her to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. She spent ten days there uncovering the abhorrent conditions and unethical reasons women were being imprisoned there. She wrote the exposé that sparked grand jury investigations and reformed mental health care.

We also know her as the 25-year-old who set out to beat a fictional record, traveling around the world alone in just 72 days with nothing but the dress on her back, a coat, and a single handbag the size of a toaster oven.

But at 25, Nellie Bly was just getting started. Over the next six years, she wrote 13 novels and three nonfiction books. Her most radical acts of leadership were still to come.

Leading with Care and Building an Ecosystem At 31, she married Robert Seaman, the millionaire owner of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. She retired from reporting to run his Brooklyn factory. She refused to be a mere figurehead; she rolled up her sleeves, learned to weld, and racked up 25 patents to her name.

When her husband died ten years later, the world expected her to become a quiet Gilded Age widow. Instead, at 41, she fully took control of the company and completely changed how a business cares for its workers.

She built her 1,500 employees an on-site gym, a bowling alley, and a library. She became the first person to pay a living weekly wage instead of paying people by the number of pieces they produced on the line. She knew if she treated people well, they’d be happier, more productive, and more loyal. She took care of her people, and she proved that a business thrives when it nourishes the ecosystem that supports it.

Doing the Work That Needs Doing Her trusted managers eventually betrayed her. They forged her signature and spent nearly ten years bleeding her dry, stealing millions. When she caught them, she went to war, spending years in one of the most bitter and expensive legal battles in New York City history. She refused to let them get away with what they did to her and her workers, ultimately losing her fortune, her factory, and her home in the fight.

By age 49, she was broke.

She didn’t have a mid-life crisis; she created a mid-life conquest. Determined to revive her business, she packed her toaster-oven-sized handbag and sailed for Europe just before her 50th birthday to find a financial backer.

World War I broke out days after she landed in Austria. She didn’t head for a bomb shelter. She saw a job that needed doing, talked her way onto the Eastern Front, and became the first woman to report from the trenches. The military even arrested her as a British spy for getting too close to the gunfire. She told the officers they were doing their jobs poorly, filed her dispatches, and kept moving. She never carried literal or emotional baggage; she took what she needed, left the rest behind, and moved faster than anyone else of her era.

A Legacy of Action Returning to New York at 55, she took a job writing a newspaper column and used it to launch an adoption bureau, placing hundreds of orphaned or abandoned children into homes. She personally vetted parents to prevent fraud and abuse, demanding high standards for the welfare of the children.

At 57, Nellie Bly got pneumonia and died in NYC. She wasn’t a millionaire anymore, but she was still telling stories, giving a voice to the voiceless, and terrifying corrupt politicians by standing up, speaking out, and writing about all of it. She effectively used storytelling as a form of social activism, forcing city officials to address the suffering of marginalized people including women, people with mental illness, and children.

The Togetherhood Takeaway We often view our careers as linear paths. Nellie Bly proves our lives have chapters, and they can all be fulfilling. You can be an undercover reporter, an inventor running a factory, a war correspondent, and a social justice advocate all in one lifetime.

If we’re in the midst of reconsidering our careers and the value of our work, Nellie Bly’s story holds valuable examples for all of us. When we look around and see work that needs doing, we can step up and make it happen. When we see someone who needs help, we can be that support. When history places us in circumstances to be of service, we can serve.

Nellie Bly teaches us our prime isn’t a decade; it’s a mindset. We always have agency; we always have the choice to use what we have, where we are, to do the most good that we can.

creativity

How to lead when we lose

Christa Avampato
Prospect Park, Brooklyn – Fall 2024. Photo by Christa Avampato.

On this difficult day, I have some things to say about gratitude, storytelling and leadership. Hundreds of thousands of people heeded the call ~100 days ago to not do something but do everything to try to help Vice President and Governor Walz win. I’m sorry neither of them took the stage at Howard University last night to say thank you, so I will. I’m abundantly grateful to all of you, and for everything you taught me during this campaign. You showed up, generously giving your money, time, and talents. That means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me.

On leadership:
It was a huge missed opportunity that they didn’t address supporters and the nation last night. Even though we didn’t know the final count, it was important to say something, anything, and then say they’d be back today to say more. We needed them, and they left without saying a word. That’s not leadership. It doesn’t matter how disappointed they were. We’re all disappointed. They had a real opportunity to maintain a connection with people and they didn’t. They went out the back door and sent the campaign manager to talk to the crowd at Howard and the nation. Vice President Harris will deliver remarks at Howard University today at 4pm. That’s too late. They missed the moment. And sadly, tragically, their opponents didn’t. There’s a lesson in that for us, too. Leaders have to lead, even when they lose. Especially when they lose.

On storytelling:
We have to take a long, hard look in the mirror, and at the words we said and didn’t say in this campaign. We need to meet the audience where they are, listen, understand, and work together to craft a better story for all of us. We didn’t do that and the election results show it. How things have been done on campaigns in the past no longer matters because we’re no longer living in the time of “how things are done.” We need better stories and methods. We need to be better listeners and storytellers. Plato said, “Those who tell stories rule society.” That’s true then and true now.

So that’s my focus moving forward – leadership and storytelling. I’ll stay curious, keep learning, improve my craft, and get better. I’ll continue to “be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder,” as Rumi so beautifully said. I will continue to, “walk out of my house like a shepherd” every single day. I will listen and love. I hope you’ll join me.

creativity

Are we thinking about leadership with the wrong metrics?

Christa Avampato
Photo by Steve Leisher on Unsplash

“We don’t elect a president based on policies. We shouldn’t. We should elect them for their character, because we don’t know what’s going to come up.” ~Retired Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, former National Security Adviser

When we consider hiring (or electing) leaders, we often jump to their experience and policies. General McMaster is asking us to consider who they are. We live in a highly dynamic world. From one day to the next, we’re experiencing dramatic and sweeping changes. New information is widely and broadly disseminated at lightning speed. We need leaders who can operate in this paradigm and help others navigate it, too. 

Rather than looking at a leader’s past experience, what if we think about how they approach the future? Can a leader adapt and adjust? Are they flexible? Do they have a learning-mindset? A grow-mindset? Are they thoughtful? Are they collaborative? Do they care about the people they serve and support? Are they surrounded by bright, eager, caring people? Do they exhibit empathy and compassion? Is love a core value, and how have they demonstrated the use of love in their leadership?

How might hiring (and elections) shift if we embraced General McMaster’s advice? What kind of world might we be able to build together if the strength of someone’s character was consider at least as much as their experience and policies? 

This switch undoubtedly makes hiring and elections more nuanced, complex, and time-consuming. However, given the state of the world and rate of change we’re experiencing, leadership has never been more important to the stability of our planet and society. We deserve to have leaders who are up to the challenges of today and tomorrow. To find and hire these leaders, we need to invest the necessary time and effort to find out who they are, what we care about, and how they can help us move forward together.  

creativity

Can ecofiction inspire climate action?

Christa Avampato
Created by Christa Avampato using AI.

While on vacation I wrote my first full piece of ecofiction for a climate fiction writing competition. It’s a short story (5,000 words) that provides a slice of life in New York City in the year 2200, and grew out of the research I did for my University of Cambridge dissertation.

It’s told through the eyes of a journalist walking his dog who by chance meets the 90-year-old former mayor who galvanized the rebuilding of NYC after it was destroyed by floods caused by climate change. Biomimicry figures prominently in it. I tried to incorporate humor, heart, and redemption alongside the heartbreak, loss, and destruction. Ultimately, it’s a story about leadership, community, and vision.

No matter the outcome of the competition, I enjoyed writing it and plan to do more with these characters and in this genre. The predominant channels and messages we’re using for climate storytelling now are not generating the scale and speed of the changes we need. Fiction can play a bigger role is painting the picture of what a world transformed can look like, what it will take to get there, and how we might work together to make it so. The fandoms around fiction can be a unifying force for good, which is exactly what we need, now more than ever.

(I created the images below with AI, inspired by the story I wrote.)

creativity

The Most Creative Look to the Future

Christa Avampato
From the UN Global Pulse . https://www.unglobalpulse.org/

Too often our society is quick to label people, to put us in a box as creative or not creative, and that term is not always used as a compliment. Regardless of our profession or where we work, we are all creatives. Our imagination is the most powerful tool we have to build a brighter future.

UN Global Pulse, The United Nations Secretary-General’s Innovation Lab, just published “The Most Creative Look to the Future” that offers learnings and recommendations about how creative practices can help the UN embrace uncertainty and complexity through peace, unity, and collaboration. The creation of the UN itself was a bold creative act borne out of darkness and difficulty, and continues to be a work in progress in a complex and complicated world. This publication is valuable for organizations of any size and type. My favorite take-aways from it:

– Our imaginations give us a way to connect with one another, even those of us who have been previously disconnected.

– Creativity helps us to give voice to emotions and values, and offers us a new way to see others and to be seen by others.

– Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of technology, allowing us to describe and grapple with complex systems to model change and play out a wide variety of scenarios.

– A more peaceful, sustainable, healthier, and happier future begins in the imagination, and we can imagine ourselves and our world into a better state.

– Imagination is a team sport, and becomes richer and more meaningful when we collectively pool our creativity.

The publication concludes with further resources and frameworks that organizations can start using today to embed creative practices into their work and teams. In the new year, I’m excited to share these with my teams as we begin to shape our future work together.

You can download a free PDF of The Most Creative Look to the Future here: https://christaavampato.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/the-most-creative-look-to-the-future.pdf

creativity

Let love lead

Christa Avampato
Dinner at Selwyn College. Photo by Mitch Reznick.

I’m flying back to the U.S. now after a week at University of Cambridge / Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) with passionate, intelligent, and inspiring classmates, presenters, professors, and the CISL team. This time I grew as much personally as professionally. I was able to ask questions, have discussions, and voice ideas I’ve previously struggled to articulate. I couldn’t have done that without my classmates and friends who listened, provided kind and constructive feedback, and offered their ideas, perspectives, and experiences. This is a gift I carry with me now. I’m so grateful for all of it.

Humour, play, creativity, and imagination played a role in many of our classes and social activities, and they helped bring joy, light, hope, and optimism into this challenging field. The work we do, on this course and in our lives as we attempt to tackle climate change issues from many different angles, is intense. It can also be intensely fun.

On a personal note, I began the week thinking of my stepfather who was my Dad-by-choice. My family lost him a year ago exactly on the day this workshop at Cambridge began. I honoured him in my pecha kucha presentation by sharing the last words he ever said to me in-person. I went to see my family right before our first workshop in September 2022. He said to me, “Hey, I know you’ll work hard at Cambridge, but please try to have some fun over there, too.”

My Dad knew me well, and it’s been difficult to lose someone who was always in my corner and read every piece of writing I’ve ever published. I could feel his spirit with me all week, encouraging me to embrace laughter and love whenever possible, especially during challenging times. Love and laughter serve as resources to help us stay with the trouble. They make us resilient. When we lead with love, we can open people up so that we deeply connect, collaborate, and create to tackle the most serious challenges together.

These photos show our formal dinner together at Selwyn College, my view from the train leaving Cambridge, and my Pops. As I go back to my New York life, I will do my best to put into action everything I learned in this beautiful, inspiring sanctuary with these beautiful, inspiring people. I’m already looking forward to July when we’ll be together again in Cambridge. I’m the luckiest person to be a part of this.

My view from the train – Cambridge to London. Photo by Christa Avampato.
creativity

My leadership practice framework is a forest

Christa Avampato
Illustration by Natural Areas Conservancy. https://naturalareasnyc.org/

In my Masters in Sustainability Leadership program at University of Cambridge / Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), Dr. Louise Drake and Dr. Tanja Collavo wrote a beautiful module on leadership. They feature Elspeth Donovan who encourages us to develop a leadership practice framework that helps us understand how and why we respond, make decisions, and act.

For weeks I’ve thought about what my framework might be. Finally, I’ve found a perfect fit: the layers of a forest — soil, understory, vinelayer, midstory, understory, and atmosphere. As a biomimicry scientist and storyteller, this model fits my passions for building my life inspired by nature’s wisdom and the power of story to shift hearts, minds, and actions. It’s fitting that the word “story” is present in the layers of this incredible ecosystem that fosters life.

Soil — home of the earthly nutrients that give rise to the forest
This is what I read, see, hear, feel, and experience that feeds into my imagination and creativity. This houses my personal history, my core memories from the time I was a child to the present day. In that way the soil and what feeds me is always changing and evolving.

Understory — seedlings and saplings that will be the forest’s future
This is where I constantly cultivate new ideas, interests, and connections. Not all of them will mature but they all teach me something. I’m always learning, growing, evolving, and living my life spherically, in many different directions. Here my imagination and creativity have no limits.

Vinelayer — connects the forest from soil to canopy
These are the throughlines of my life and work: nature, stories, and business. These are my vines that run through my work and feed my creativity, and the use of resources that make my creative work possible to share with the world.

Midstory — made up of diverse shrubs and young trees
This is yesterday’s understory, the ideas and relationships that began there that have emerged as those that I’ll cultivate and nurture to their fullest potential.

Overstory — the top layer of mature tree crowns that connect to form the canopy
This is where the ideas I’ve nurtured have come to fruition and reached their full potential. The books I write. The products I create. The relationships that are core to my community. This is also where I fully connect to the wider world, and where the exchange of ideas and perspectives happens.

Atmosphere — with the nutrients from the soil, the atmosphere’s sunlight, air, and rain allow a forest to be sustainable and create an ecosystem where other beings can also thrive
For me, this is the love, care, concern, and support I receive from my community and the wider world. Just as the sunlight, air, and rain pour down through the forest and back into the soil to create a full loop, love nurtures my spirit, refills my cup, and allows me to continue my work. Just like a forest, my work also involves nurturing the lives and work of others.

creativity

My sustainability interview series for InnoLead is live for Earth Day

Christa Avampato
Photo by Photo Boards on Unsplash

Happy Earth Day!

For the next two months, a sustainability series I’m writing for the site InnoLead will be published and we’re kicking it off today with an interview I did with Shannon Carroll, Assistant Vice President of Global Environmental Sustainability, for AT&T. We talked about how to structure a sustainability team within a large company, stretch goals, and building for resiliency in an ever-changing world. I’d love to know what you think!

Here’s the link: https://www.innovationleader.com/strategy-and-governance/how-atandt-is-setting-sustainability-stretch-goals-and-driving-progress/1933.article

creativity

A Year of Yes: Take care of your people

Christa Avampato

I got to work today still tired from the very long week and my team told me, “Everyone at the company conference wanted to know how they could get you as their manager.” My sleepiness instantly evaporated. Take care of your people and everything else falls into place.