The energy environment is hard to miss in western Colorado.

Energy, climate, sustainability. I’m an environmental professional who doesn’t work in the any of these fields. I feel a bit left out that I don’t work in the “sexy” areas of the environmental field. These are the big picture environmental issues that make headlines, can influence politics, and flood my Twitter feed.

Professionals in the energy field are solving important world problems, both in renewables (solar, wind, etc.) and fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, coal). New climate science is breaking daily and each study seems to be a step in the right direction. Sustainability was a buzzword 15 years ago. Now it’s a critical part of any business, filled with activism, advancing technologies, and solutions.

My work is in creating environmentally healthy facilities, compliance, education, and hazardous material and waste management. Sustainable issues and energy efficiency are part of it – LEED standards for new construction, efficient HVAC, waste minimization. But they are small pieces. I’m not getting into the big picture stuff.

I started this website to tell the stories of environmental professionals to people who don’t know what we do. I feel that more people are starting to understand the work of professionals in energy, climate and sustainability. As a non-energy environmental professional I’m impressed with their work and do wonder if the grass is greener on their side of the field. I guess this site still has work to do for all the professionals grinding it out in the non-sexy side of the field. At least we still get our boots dirty now and then.