by Natalia Lima
In our last blog, we used the solar industry to show how diversity in the clean energy industry workforce is moving from “niche to need” as climate change intensifies. The lack of color and gender-inclusiveness doesn’t represent the many marginalized leaders and supporters in the various fields that contribute to environmental justice and a clean energy-dependent future. In exploring this topic further, we decided to interview a female leader in the field, who is also an advocate for diversity and inclusion.
Rouwenna Altemose is a bubbly yet assertive cyclist, hiker, traveler and environmentalist from Kentucky. She has lived in Massachusetts since 2004, achieving a B.A. in Astronomy and Physics from Smith College, an M.B.A. in Social Impact from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and a certificate in Public and Nonprofit Management from B.U.’s Institute for Nonprofit Management. She served as the National Program Director at Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), an organization that empowers youth with education, leadership and advocacy programs. This gave her an opportunity to work on the organization’s approach to diversity, equity and inclusion. She is now a Senior Fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program and in the spring of 2018, she co-founded the nonprofit All In Energy to “advance an inclusive clean energy economy.” All In Energy has a mission to usher energy efficiency strategies into underserved communities and to diversify the clean energy career space.
Fortunately, Altemose feels lucky that she cannot attest to many experiences that were “identifiably influenced by gender” throughout her experiences as a leader and advocate. However, she mentions that she may not be addressed as if she were the co-founder in meetings and executive spaces. Whether that is due to her co-founder, Gabe Shapiro, being male gendered or to cultural expectations is speculative. In light of the lack of women in leadership in this field, Altemose highlights evidence that women are more likely to reach executive roles with the help of male allies, as we pointed out in our last blog.
Nonetheless, All In Energy has displayed the many benefits of embracing diversity and inclusion. Altemose says the initial tool to ensure diversity and understand the applicant pool is a spreadsheet for collecting and tracking demographics. An improvement to this tool would be offering applicants and hired staff an anonymous data input option. Job posting is an important tool as well; All In Energy’s postings are likely to be found at liberal arts and community college boards, small businesses, and community-partnered organizations that can properly discern the mission, labelled as “feeders” for the applicant pool. Another effective tool is the diverse staff and interns advertising “NOW HIRING” signs in the field where they are able to talk to the community about the positions and their personal experience.
Image: The All In Energy team for the summer of 2019. Rouwenna Altemose is the third person from the right in the rear (with glasses). Courtesy of Rouwenna Altemose.
These strategies, among many, allow the nonprofit to confront issues like language barriers and adaptability in culturally varied environments. Altemose and her team are able to see past differences dressed as superficial “challenges” to therefore address obstacles like environmental injustice, energy-eating homes in low income neighborhoods, and miseducation about clean energy alternatives and energy efficiency. Altemose’s choice to be insightful and forward-thinking has made her a pioneer woman in the clean energy workforce!
