January Great Story by Abbey Pizel, Southern California Water Fellow Leadership. Leadership is inspiring and motivating people. Leadership is wanting others to be the best they can be. In the environmental field, being a leader is very important. Your success as a leader can be measured by your ability in effectively leading people to change…

December Great Story by Chris Sturken, 2016-17 Bay Area Climate Fellow The Potty Plant Tour (As my dad would call it) 12/28 I arrived at Hayward’s Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) looking for answers to questions like– “Is meter number 17P683 a smart meter?” and “Is the solar array grid-tied or building-tied?”–and received more than I…

December Great Story by Elektra Fike-Data, Southern California Climate Fellow It was only a month ago that I sat in the lobby of the newly LEED certified Civic Center of Vista, California, waiting to meet with my new project manager after weeks of emails and transitioning. Ideas, figures, and questions ran through my mind as I…

November Great Story by Jack Edgar, Bay Area Water Fellow Moving to Marin had been a wonderful transition. The new and raw beauty had me fired up on life. Everything was unique, everything was exciting. I was enamored with my surroundings, from downtown San Rafael to the glorious sun rises over the bay; I was…

November Great Story by Steven Kerns, Southern California Water Fellow My great story for this month has to do with an essay I spent 29 years preparing to write. You see, part of the law-school application process is writing a deeply important personal statement, often without a prompt – “Tell us, in 4 pages who…

Story by Evan Pierce, 2014-15 CivicSpark Alum, Sierra Nevada Region The temperature is dropping below freezing as I do my best to get a fire going. I throw a log onto the glowing embers and retreat into the relative warmth of my sleeping bag. My colleagues and I are glad the rain from yesterday has abated,…

Story by Olivia Hara, 2014-15 CivicSpark Alumna, Sierra Nevada Region I missed clean clothes, clean hands, and baths. It was the second week our community was completely without water. The little water we had for cooking and bathing was just a few inches from sparse rains in our Jojo tank. Just the day before my host…

October Great Story by Gabrielle Ostermayer, 2016-17 Central Coast Water Fellow The day I was offered this fellowship position with the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board was the day before I was set to become homeless. It was a Sunday of all days, September 25th. I saw the email from the Local Government…