The Ship We Build
You’ve heard that timeless question about the Ship of Theseus that asks, if on our journey to new shores, each plank of our ship is replaced, piece by piece, does the ship remain? We wouldn’t have made it this far without each, our mission one and the same: to transform an old grid that would spew carbon and methane into a wind and solar fountain of thriving for all against catastrophic conditions, with people-power to sustain. With sea still to wade, the once little clean energy company that could-- more ship than train-- floats tall above rising tides and more challenges braved across the ocean because we’ve learned from what each plank set in motion of changing choices and notions of what energy is and what energy transitions take, is what memory is. And in it the horizon is always electrified with a renewable spirit in every plank of the boat, in sea shanty sung, and in birdsong you hear it: Ahoy, forward! On towards new shores! Ahoy, onwards! The sound of the ship we build coming together as it sails on full force sounds like how we weather and evolve empowered by each other's voyages with how planks stack and remake, into armadas continuously built up together into new renewable energies of continuity built up by each successor. So a familiar question about the Grid of Theseus arises, we know how to answer: if on the way to transforming our electric grid, parts part ways, piece by piece, like nature, does our grid remain? We wouldn't have powered this far without you, our mission one and the same.
— Adam Powers
Here’s a poem I wrote re: changes to the the team at the cleantech org I work for, loosely inspired by Amanda Gorman’s inaugural ‘The Hill We Climb.’
CleanChoice Energy’s mission is to make clean energy available to everyone
By day, I’m do marketing for a clean renewable energy supplier, CleanChoice Energy, coming on eight years now in various roles. I’ve had a habit since working there of writing celebratory odes and farewells for colleagues to honor them in big moments and goodbyes, as thank yous for doing anything towards a safer climate future powered by clean energy. When in-person was a thing, we’d go to goodbye happy hours and stand on the bar to take a moment to read the poem aloud and toast folks off to new ventures. Once upon mid-2020, our founder and CEO made me turn beet-red in an all-staff zoom meeting when he surprise-presented me with a company honorary "Poet Laureate” certificate. I stay grateful for it all — and wanted to share this one with you, too.