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| Jo '96 and Kevin Opdyke Wilhelm '95 took a trip around the world in 2003, visiting 31 countries in 49 weeks, before moving to Seattle. Here they are in Cape Otway, Australia, along the Great Ocean Road. |
Jo and Kevin Opdyke Wilhelm have found ways, big and small, to help the environment. As an aquatic ecologist, Jo monitors streams and wetlands within Seattle's sprawling King County. She studies bugs and frogs, tests water quality, and works with farmers and developers to prevent stream flooding and safeguard fragile ecosystems.
While Jo concentrates on the local scene, Kevin looks at the global picture. As president of Innovative Strategies, he shows corporations how sustainable practices are good for business as well as the environment. "Once CEOs understand that sustainability is profitable and does make good business sense, then there's incentive for moving that way," he says.
Kevin's Innovative Strategies is writing the business plan for the Seattle Climate Partnership to help businesses reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. He's also working with key groups to help set the state's top sustainability goals for the 2007 legislature.
Kevin says meeting Jo led him to work in sustainability. After she finished her master's degree at the University of Michigan, the two took a trip around the world in 2003, going to 31 countries in 49 weeks. "It was during this trip that I decided that I absolutely had to devote my life to business sustainability," Kevin says. "There are so many threatened natural places and cultures in this world that need protecting. Plus, there is so much to learn from these 'developing' nations about recycling and reuse, quality of life and living within one's means."
Sometimes, Jo and Kevin find synergy in their work. Her efforts to preserve King County's water influenced how Kevin approached a consulting job concerning hydroelectric dams in China. He researched sustainable standards for the dams and then convinced one of the world's largest hydro dam engineering companies to adopt those green standards, which their firm will use for nearly 400 hydro dams it's building worldwide.
Kevin says Macalester was "probably the biggest factor in making me who I am today." A history major, he says the people he met at Mac helped him "to step out of my comfort zone by traveling and studying independently abroad, and encouraged me to work toward solving injustice in the world."
| 'There is so much to learn from these 'developing' nations about recycling and reuse, quality of life and living within one's means.' |
Macalester is where Jo "fell in love with ecology." A biology major, she says her research at the college's Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area, the Minneapolis lakes and the tropical island of Palau triggered what she calls "the 'aha!' moment that ecology was my passion." As she observes, there are "lots of Mac folks working in environmental fields" and she's worked with at least a half-dozen other alumni on projects ranging from Florida sea turtles to Papua New Guinea field work and freshwater conservation with The Nature Conservancy in Seattle.
Even in rainy Seattle, the two rely on the sun to warm their shower water and power their electricity. Jo says she and Kevin "recycle obsessively and try to use natural cleaning products that are biodegradable, non-toxic and low in nutrients (such as phosphates). One of these days we'll actually install some rain barrels."
The couple owns a hybrid car, but Jo bicycles an hour each way to work year-round. "I love the fresh air, feel good about not adding additional carbon and other emissions into the atmosphere, and it helps my stress level since I avoid sitting in a car during rush-hour traffic."
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