Chapter Director Chris Arndt (at right) greets E2 members and guests at New York's celebration of E2's 10 years.

After the successful launch of E2 in San Francisco, New York was the next logical place to cultivate a group of professionals who would be advocates for strong environmental policies that also grow the economy. In 2001, Bob Epstein recruited John Sullivan, a former AT&T executive, to lead the New York chapter, and they soon brought in Roger Ullman, a former Wall Street executive, to serve as co-founder. At the chapter’s launch event, keynote speaker Robert Kennedy, Jr., NRDC Attorney, rallied everyone around the importance of business community support for critical environmental issues that impact us all. It was clear that Mr. Kennedy's, and E2's, message resonated.

Today, the E2 New York Metro chapter is a diverse community of entrepreneurs and professionals from the...read more >

	E2 members David Rosenstein and Dayna Bochco, with NRDC attorney Adriano Martinez, worked district meetings in August 2006 to help pass AB 32.

In 2001, under the leadership of NRDC Trustee Jill Tate Higgins, Lee Stein and Tim Sexton, the Southern California Chapter of E2 was formed. Southern California membership has expanded since that time along with NRDC’s resources and profile, providing a solid partnership that has been instrumental in passing some of California’s most progressive environmental legislation.

Over the past 10 years, SoCal E2 EcoSalons have covered some of the most pressing environmental concerns while offering E2 members the opportunity to discuss and debate the issues with the lawmakers most involved in environmental stewardship. For instance, for one of its first events, E2 and NRDC hosted a trip to Catalina Island for a fact-finding trip about marine protected areas. Attending with E2 were California State Senator...read more >

	On a 2003 visit to the Massachusetts statehouse are (from left) E2 members Dan Goldman, Harry Cochran, Chris Kaneb and Berl Hartman, with Sarah Chasis of NRDC’s Oceans Program.

On a warm September evening in the fall of 2003, about 200 angry fisherman and their families crowded into a meeting hall in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Most were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the letter Y on them – symbolizing their fundamental question: “Why were new fishing regulations and catch limits necessary?” Two E2 members, Berl Hartman and Harry Cochran, gamely stepped to the podium and tried to explain the economic benefits of reducing the catch of groundfish to sustainable levels, to the jeers and shouts of the crowd.

It was E2 New England’s maiden voyage into the world of public testimony. Luckily, the many others that followed were a lot less dramatic.

The Beginning

The E2 New...read more >

	E2 members gathered June 2 for an event in Boulder to celebrate E2?s 10th birthday. [Click on image for larger version.]

On June 2, E2 Rocky Mountains celebrated E2’s 10th Anniversary in Boulder at the home of E2 Chapter Director Katie Connor, and featuring special guests E2 Co-founder Bob Epstein and Northern California Director Maureen Blanc. Over 40 individuals, including state and federal elected officials, and their staff, attended the event.

Prior to Bob speaking, guests had the opportunity to network with each other and hear chapter and state legislative updates from Katie and fellow E2 Rockies Director Andrew Currie. Bob discussed E2's history and what makes E2 a unique organization. He also provided his perspective on the current political climate, the future of business/environmental advocacy and his vision for E2 moving forward. Bob stated that Colorado is an ideal state for environmental advocacy due to...read more >

	U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (left) addresses E2 members and guests after an introduction by Chapter Director Mark Liffmann.

The Portland and Seattle/Puget Sound regions are long-standing centers of environmental and business leadership, and home to a number of E2 members and many more who share E2's passions. Sally Desipio took an E2 commitment along when she moved from Los Angeles to Oregon - and immediately turned it into an impact in support of clean cars legislation in that state. Others have found their way to E2 through NRDC or personal networks. In recognition of this core membership base, and to reach out to the many like-minded individuals and communities in the region, E2 officially formed its Pacific Northwest Chapter under the leadership of Mark Liffmann in late 2009.

PacNW's initial events in the first half of 2010 attracted wide interest and launched the chapter on a path...read more >

	Senator Kerry speaking after the Democratic caucus meeting on energy and climate.

Exactly one year ago the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill. In the ensuing year, the effort to craft and pass a companion bill in the Senate has been a running saga with many twists and turns. A bill that was passed by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in November subsequently became the starting point for a multi-month negotiation process between Senators John Kerry (D-MA), Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) to develop a new tri-partisan version that would achieve the desired carbon reductions while garnering the necessary 60 votes to pass. Senator Graham walked away from that process in protest over an unrelated policy dispute with Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who has postponed a floor debate on the...read more >

With the end of the 2010 New York legislative session near, E2 members Chris Arndt, Andrew Hurwitz, Patty Jen Arndt, Michelle Madden and David Moyar joined NRDC’s New York Legislative Director Rich Schrader, Senior Attorney Kate Sinding, and policy analyst Pierre Bull for E2’s fifth annual lobby trip to Albany.
The team focused on four important environmental initiatives:

1. A temporary suspension of gas drilling in New York State to enable a thorough review of the current regulatory framework
2. Authority for New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation to collect data about and regulate industrial water withdrawal
3. An amendment to 2009’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) legislation that would enable private capital to finance efficiency and clean energy retrofits for commercial and residential buildings
4. The New York Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act, which would set New York on a path to add 5,000 megawatts of solar power over the...read more >

	Household mileage versus foreclosures maps, from David Goldstein’s presentation. [Click on image for full-size PDF slide.]

The Pacific Northwest chapter hosted MacArthur Fellow and NRDC Energy Program Co-Director David Goldstein at June focus events on "Energy Efficiency to Resuscitate our Economy and Environment." On the 17th in Portland and 18th in Seattle, Dr. Goldstein presented key ideas from his most recent book, Invisible Energy: Strategies to Rescue the Economy and Save the Planet.

Against the backdrop of E2's preparation for its tenth anniversary, members of E2's youngest chapter heard a compelling case that the oldest and simplest energy policy - efficiency - not only continues to be relevant, but is especially well-matched to the multiple challenges of our time. As a scalable strategy that works with "state of the shelf" technologies, efficiency has a higher, faster return on investment than any alternative and...read more >

	Tedd Saunders, Ian Bowles and Melanie Nakagawa address E2 members in Boston. [Click on image for larger version.]

Nearly 100 E2 New England members and guests gathered at the Lenox Hotel in Boston on Friday, June 25 for a joyous celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of Environmental Entrepreneurs. The group enjoyed networking and reminiscing over hors d’oeuvres and drinks, followed by lunch and an informative program on state and national environmental issues.

E2 New England Director Tedd Saunders, Co-Owner & Executive Vice President of Saunders Hotel Group - which includes the Lenox - welcomed the gathering, noting the Hotel Group’s outstanding record of “green” programs.

Berl Hartman, E2 New England Director, briefly recapped the history of E2 New England since it’s founding in 2003 and then introduced Ian Bowles, Massachusetts Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.

Secretary Bowles...read more >

	Northern California’s June EcoSalon speakers (from left) Ed Osann, Dan Dooley, Zeke Grader and California Assembly Member Jared Huffman (D-Marin), with E2 Co-founder Nicole Lederer. [Click on image for larger version.]

E2 Northern California hosted an EcoSalon, “Farming, Fishing, and the Future of Water in California,” at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas in San Francisco on June 10, focusing on one of the most important and daunting challenges – management of our freshwater resources – faced by California and much of the western U.S.

Pulling together an expert group of speakers for an engaging conversation-style program, the audience heard from three figures who brought the concerns of agriculture, fishing and urban water users to the table. A spirited and honest discussion about the history and current dynamics of California water helped explain why the volatile issue is often portrayed as a tug-of-war between...read more >

On June 2, E2 members participated in a webinar discussion about the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) with Dr. Sarah Janssen and Daniel Rosenberg of NRDC’s Public Health Program, and Andy Igrejas, National Campaign Director for Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families. The TSCA (1976) is the nation’s principal law for regulating the use of most industrial chemicals that are not already regulated by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) or designated as pesticides or radioactive.

Dr. Janssen provided an update on the science of analyzing the potential harms of industrial chemicals. She described how evidence of several chemicals’ toxicity to human health is rapidly mounting; the place-, product- and diet-based characteristics of chemical exposure; and the need for continuing evaluation of effects, especially from exposures to combinations of chemicals simultaneously. Daniel addressed the history of...read more >

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