Going Green was born and raised in San Diego, and started off as a way to educate the public about ways they can get involved with climate change and living a more sustainable life. One person who exemplifies that is Anne Pomeroy. Going Green had the opportunity to meet with Anne Pomeroy and learn about GetTrashed SD. Anne, thanks for being here!
First off, what do you do for work and how are you associated with GetTrashed SD?
I’m the Executive Account Manager at Anybill Financial Services, where I oversee system and account implementations, client account management, and system development. My passion though is working at GetTrashed SD, where I am the Co-Founder and Director.
Tell us a little bit about you and your background:
I was born and raised in Wenham, Massachusetts and later moved to Northern Virginia to study at George Mason University’s School of Business Management. After college I accepted a job at Anybill Financial Services and lived in DC for the next 5 years. Although I loved my position, the west coast was calling for me – it had always been a dream of mine to live in San Diego (although I had never visited it!). I soon made that dream become reality – my company allowed me to work remotely and I moved to San Diego around 2016 and I have never been happier…not to mention it feels like home with all the New England sport fans that live here!
What is a fun fact about you?
I’m an avid hunter and only eat meat that I harvest myself. As a teenager, I was against hunting and wouldn’t touch any meat my father brought home. A few years later I wrote a college research paper on animal abuse in circuses and that’s when I truly learned the horrors of animal abuse in all industries, especially in the meat and dairy industries. For myself, I knew I didn’t want to eat only vegetables for the rest of my life, but I also knew I certainly couldn’t support this cruelty…that’s the moment I opened myself to the idea of hunting. My father is a respectable law-abiding hunter and I learned from him the importance of nature conservation and how hunting plays an important role in this eco-balance; little did I know this would begin paving the road for my dedication to sustainability.
What was your motivation to get into this industry?
I’ve always been an outdoor, nature-loving girl. Over the years, I’ve witnessed the increase use of single-use products and seeing these items litter neighborhoods and waters. There is nothing more disheartening than enjoying a nature walk, only to find the pathway littered with our trash. Even more-so, it disgusted me to learn that this pollution is ultimately ending up on our own dinner plates from the food that we consume. I realized though that our society is not well-educated on this matter, and for the most part, the government and large corporations will not make changes in fear of a short-term profit loss. With this in mind, I decided I needed to stop complaining, and take matters into my own hands. I began adopting simple habits to further reduce my carbon footprint, and even took on a new hobby of picking up trash with a few of my girlfriends. It was amazing to see the encouragement we had from our community, and a few years later, GetTrashed SD was born.
Why do you think climate change and sustainability is such an important topic today?
I believe that climate change and sustainability have always been important topics, they just weren’t well discussed with our society in fear of corporations losing profit. Luckily, influential leaders like Leonardo DiCaprio have recently found ways to capture our society’s attention and educate them on the facts of climate change – ultimately empowering society with this knowledge. As a society, we need to think of our planet more like a business: our resources are becoming scarce and our current resources are polluted; if we continue moving forward with practicing old methods, then our business [planet] will flop and become bankrupt [die out]. If we want it [the planet] to prosper, then we must change our thinking – we must recognize that we can no longer flourish following old techniques and we must implement innovative strategies; change can be uncomfortable, but if we want to be successful, we must embrace this fear, as the long-term gains will certainly outweigh the short-term losses. Don’t you want your grandchildren to have access to clean water, and enjoy simple life pleasures such as swimming in oceans and witnessing animals like polar bears alive in their natural habitats?
What do you envision your industry looking like 10 years from now?
I envision educated consumers driving government agencies and large corporations to produce eco-friendly products in a sustainable manner, while also allocating funds to proper cleanup and disposal of trash and recycle items throughout the world.
What can the average person do to make a difference?
Buy a reusable coffee mug and bring this to your coffee shop – it is estimated that the average American drinks 3 cups of a coffee a day – that’s 1,095 coffee cups used in a year! Most coffee shops will also give you a discount if you bring your own mug too!
What positive changes are you seeing?
Well, in our last 3 trash cleanup events we had over 250 volunteers and picked up over 2,500 pounds of trash! That’s pretty impressive. I also see people every morning walking the beach and picking up trash before most people even start their day…if you see trash, pick it up!
What are your social media tags so people can connect with you?
#GetTrashed #GetTrashedSD and our InstaGram account is: @GetTrashedSD
Anne, thanks for sharing this information! You are doing awesome stuff. To learn more about GetTrashed SD, check out their website.
Dylan Welch is the CEO and Host of Going Green, a podcast, website, and social media brand that highlights renewable energy, cleantech, and sustainable news.