Tim Magee

Executive Director, Center for Sustainable Development (CSDi)

Trainer and consultant for climate professionals, nonprofits and activists in designing and developing climate action plans.

Author: A Field Guide to Community Based Adaptation published by Routledge, Oxford, England.

Editor: Climate Solutions: Breaking news about positive, hands-on, practical actions to take to combat global warming.

I caught the climate bug.

In college, I became very interested in the environment. It was the early days of the environmental movement when people were beginning to point out environmental challenges—like population growth and DDT. I traveled to 30 developing nations and saw firsthand the beginnings of the deterioration of the environment.

I wanted to do something to protect the environment, and in the 80s I became a pioneer in passive solar heating. This led to a successful 25-year business career in passive solar heating.

I decided to begin giving back by using my business skills to coach nonprofits and NGOs in how to clearly define community challenges and to solve them using evidence-based solutions: Sustainable solutions with proven track records.

My long-time interest in the environment morphed in the 90s into an interest in—no, an obsession—with climate change. These were the early days of people's concerns about global warming—and at first, I didn't really know what I could do to help.

Over several years my climate concerns grew. 15 years ago, my desire to have a positive impact led me to found CSDi. Through our training programs, I observed the increasing challenges brought on by global warming that students were experiencing. I shifted my personal focus to developing Climate Action Plans with nonprofits, governments, rural communities, and engaged community members.

I have always enjoyed taking big challenges and finding simple, effective solutions that a range of people can grasp and move forward with.

- I always put community members at the center of all that I do.

- I excel at launching big initiatives with given constraints.

- My ideas are good, but I seek evidence in data for my decisions.

I can align, lead, and grow world-class teams to create the better good.

- I speak exec and community member.

- I tell stories that motivate.

- The buck always stops with me.

I learned through CSDi that in less than 10 years I could work with over 500 organizations in 154 countries in developing climate action plans that positively impacted over half a million people.