Go Solar Marin

As it turns out, GoSolarMarin™ was just the tip of the iceberg. Three years and 150 solar energy installations later, we are just beginning to understand the impact of community interest in all things environmental.

While it is remarkably moving to watch the online monitoring of my own home solar system, it is even more inspiring to be a part of a movement that is intimately involved in how our community will control its own ecological and environmental future.

Daily, I am reminded that people care and want to be part of the decision-making process. Whether it is Marin Energy Authority (MEA) or the Green Business Forum or even the County Fair, there is consensus that active change rather than passivity is required.

GoSolarMarin is proud to have been responsible for the most successful community organized solar installation program in California history. And I was honestly humbled when I was named Green Business Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009 by the Marin Green Business Forum. Afterall, the initial GoSolarMarin "plan," such as it was, was to obtain reduced cost solar for a few homes in my San Rafael neighborhood.

That ballooned into a self-nominated list of more than 1000 folks whose interests encompass a broad range of environmental issues. GoSolarMarin continues to evolve, even as it remains without an infrastructure, without a staff, with no paid employees and with a singular focus on getting things done.

Reporters continue to call. Groups request our presence at meetings and on panels and committees. The opinion of GoSolarMarin on plastic bag bans, marketing programs and Earth Day events is sought. I am beginning to understand that the little idea that started at my dining room table has been a catalyst for a broad range of community activities. It may be a cliché, but GoSolarMarin has a life of its own.

The upside of not having a "Plan" is simply that anything that may benefit the community fits is fair game. We never have to worry that "it’s not in our mission statement." Because we don’t have one. Good judgment and common sense are our guiding principles.

This is all in the way of saying that GoSolarMarin is alive and well and continues to be active in a variety of environmental and community issues. Feel free to contact me with your thoughts. I certainly don’t have all the answers but I now know a lot of people who are interested in the same issues that you are.

Biographies

Carol Benson, a steering committee member of GoSolarMarin, has a long history of support for locally-grown organic sustainable foods, green products, clean water and environmental agricultural practices. Aside from working as a Speech Language Pathologist specializing in insightful communication, she is a marketing liaison for green businesses and a professional writer.

Forever busy, she’s also the mother of two teenage sons who are grateful to have never become “fast food junkies”. Her husband, Paul Benson, owns two Bay area green certified businesses: Paul Benson Painting and Blue Turtle Roofing, the first Bay area green certified roofing company.

Jennifer Hewitt, a steering committee member of GoSolarMarin, has lived in San Rafael for 25 years. A graduate of Dominican University of California, she has a long history of volunteer work on behalf of the City of San Rafael’s disaster preparedness program. She is also currently a member of the City of San Rafael’s Green Energy Team. Hewitt is a publicist and writer. Her husband is a San Rafael Fire Department Captain.

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Biographies