06/30/2022

Sustainability CEO Angela Nagy on the Value of Long-term Thinking

She uses incremental goals and time to affect powerful change

When I was 18, I lucked into a contract position as the grants coordinator for the Mission Creek Greenway Project, an initiative to protect an important watershed in my community. In this role, I had the opportunity to research how human developments and businesses affected the local ecosystems, and how these behaviors and activities were having a negative impact on nature and ultimately on our drinking water.

Until then, I'd assumed that government regulations would prevent these types of negative impacts on the environment and human health. When I began learning that regulations are not always evidence and science-based, and can be heavily influenced by lobbying efforts, I began to get angry and knew that I wanted to do something about this.

As I considered my options, I wondered if I could use my love for writing and public speaking and change the way business is done through entrepreneurship? What if I could become a policymaker, and work to influence regulatory changes and policies that I was learning were important?

Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.