On behalf of myself and Breiter Planet Properties, I want to wish everyone a very happy Earth Day. From 1970 to today, Earth Day’s relevance and importance has morphed into multiple meanings from the horrific Santa Barbara Oil Spill, with hippie activists, and burning rivers & streams, to today with a focus on reducing carbon emitting fuels, processes, and lifestyles. Along with adopting the long list of carbon drawdown actions set by Paul Hawken’s book and incredible organization Drawdown.
Earth Day has morphed quite a bit for me as well. As I grew, I found my niche, and developed my career in the solar industry. It all started as an ambitious young boy focused on litter cleanups and recycling. I had a routine of attending community cleanups throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. I focused my senior project in high school on building a non-profit focused on reducing the waste in my town’s school system and supporting other fellow “green-minded” students. During this time, I took a wholistic approach towards helping the planet, pushing all things green in my life and to those around me.
From the beginning of my senior year in high school, I began working for a non-profit organization focused on community outreach for residential solar and energy efficiency upgrades. From attending community events to canvassing on the doors, I did everything in my power to help upgrade homes to solar which was the beginning of my career in the solar industry. From there, I put myself through college by working for SunRun, SolarCity, and Tesla. I knocked on doors, worked in retail environments, and built an entire network of supportive solar customers who continue to refer their friends, to support my journey.
Having the clarity that I was meant to be in the solar industry for the rest of my life, was extremely powerful and liberating. I knew that my vision and strategy for accelerating the adoption of solar energy infrastructure was different than my employer, at the time and that my secondary educational path in civil engineering was a deviation from a full time career of driving the origination and development of solar projects. As many know, I left Tesla, left Wentworth Institute of Technology, and moved out of my Boston apartment, to start Breiter Planet Properties. It was the right choice and has allowed me to be exposed to a life changing journey of building a company. It has allowed me to lay a foundation for the next ten to sixty years of my life.
I look at how I am celebrating Earth Day today as I am heading into an eighteen hour day dedicated to running a solar consulting and development firm with gigawatts of solar projects in our pipeline. From a “green-minded” teen to a solar developing enviro-capitalist, Earth Day has taken on a new meaning for me, just like Earth Day has progressed for all of us across the globe.
