My name is Nora. This is my story, and, I hope, the story of where our clean energy economy is headed, for the sake of our children and their future on this planet.

From a very early age I have felt a deep connection to and reverence for nature and earth. Born in Seattle to a family of freelance musicians and artists, I have always sought out natural places as a space in which to renew my spirit everywhere I have lived in. In fact, I don't know how I would cope with the world without a forest, riverside, desert, or grassy plains.

I have been an environmentalist all of my life. As a mother of three children, I stay particularly aware of the way the world is going. Parents devote their lives to seeing that their children will thrive even after they are gone. I became environmentally active about 15 years ago when the town my family was living in in Colorado was faced with a local cement factory that was going to start burning tires for its fuel. I continued my activism by joining Environment Colorado as a team leader in their New Energy Future Campaign, which was tasked with convincing local and national legislators about the urgency of creating meaningful climate legislation.

I remember one point at that time in Colorado driving one of my son's friends back to his house. We had a conversation about global warming. This was just after Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, came out. Looking back I see that many young people in particular were horrified and dismayed at this new prospect that would face them for the rest of their lives...and that they were inheriting climate change from their parents and grandparents actions for the past 100 years. There was an overwhelming sense for these young people that this was to be a huge battle to save the planet and themselves - and what could they possibly do. My kid’s friends all knew that I was very involved in the New Energy Future campaign. On that drive my young friend said that he felt scared and hopeless about global warming. I told him that I was going to do everything in my power to make things right.

After moving back to the Pacific NW in 2011 I became deeply active in actions to protect our communities from the onslaught of coal exports and fossil fuels. During this time, we have seen the market growth of renewable energy across the nation. As the fossil fuel industry ramps up for its last gasping battles, renewable energy is getting a solid foothold. I have come to realize that my best foot forward for our communities and in fact the world is to promote the advancement of renewable energy as vehemently as possible.

I am very fortunate to be working at itek Energy here in Bellingham. itek is Washington's largest manufacturer of solar PV panels. When I started in May of 2014 itek was producing about 2750 modules per month. By October we were making about 6000 per month, and we project that number to be 9000 by May of this year. We have doubled our workforce, and are now opening another factory in Minnesota.

I get the sense that renewable energy is a snowball starting to roll down a hill. And as it does so it is going to grow and grow. By the time it hits its destination it will have rolled over the detritus of the fossil fuel industry. We will have green energy for all people....the poor, children, and the planet. Recently my daughter expressed dismay that there seems to be no hope for our planet. She has been seeing my activism for most of her life and I reminded her that there are a lot of dedicated people working on the problem of climate change: renewable energy is taking off. Together, we can do this.