Meet the Woman Behind Fayetteville’s Clean Energy Movement

Anne Schrader has been working quietly behind the scenes in Fayetteville to raise awareness about the current climate crisis. She is the founder and owner of Eco Solutions, a consulting firm that works with local businesses, homeowners and community leaders to assess their sustainability needs and find practical solutions to meet the changing energy demands of the future.

Eco Solutions focuses on several areas including “awareness and education, waste reduction and recycling, energy efficiency, water conservation and protection, green purchasing, clean transportation, resilient land maintenance, and community engagement.”

Locally, Schrader has given presentations and led workshops and training sessions at information-sharing venues such as the Greater Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce and Fayetteville Technical Community College. Her work has been featured in local media outlets such as the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal and Women’s View magazine, and she has written columns on the climate crisis for several publications, including the Fayetteville Observer.

Schrader told CityView that our planet is facing a triple crisis: pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change (which experts say poses an “existential threat” to humanity).

“We’re polluting the air, we’re polluting our water resources, we’re polluting the oceans,” Schrader said. “We’re polluting the air, we’re polluting the water, we’re polluting the soil – the soil that we grow our food on and then we spray that food (with pesticides) – that needs to be addressed. Not to mention the loss of biodiversity… We’re causing the sixth mass extinction of species on our planet. It’s a crisis.”

Schrader regularly speaks at Fayetteville City Council meetings and other public forums on sustainability issues, hoping to encourage community leaders to approach the climate crisis as a regional and community issue. Over the past two years, she told CityView, she has advocated for the Fayetteville City Council to develop an updated sustainability plan — which the council did in March, after 15 years with the same plan.

Last month, Fayetteville received a climate grant to develop a collaborative energy efficiency plan in Cumberland County, a concept Schrader applauded.

This week, CityView caught up with Schrader to learn more about her work and what motivates her to continue working toward sustainability. Her answers are excerpted below, and have been edited for brevity and clarity.

CITYVIEW: How did you become interested in environmental and climate issues?

ANNE SCHRADER: I have people in my family who were very in tune with the environment. Being a military kid myself, my father loved beauty. I grew up in some of the most natural places in the world. My father introduced us to the beauties of the world.

We lived off the grid on a Bavarian farm in the Alps. And so off the grid, there was no running water, there was no electricity. There was a well, so the electricity came from the water tables deep in the ground. We lit the stove. We had a fireplace. It was one of the best times of my life. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

When we are children, we climb trees, we eat grass, we chase butterflies and we smell flowers. And when we are little, we eat it, we smell it, we taste it. We hang from trees. What does this grass taste like? Taste this clover. Eat this clover. So when you really experience nature with all your senses, you get a better idea of ​​it.

What prompted you to create Eco Solutions?

I was here in Fayetteville with my family, who have a business across from the city council building, and we were waist-deep in floods from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Then two years later, Hurricane Florence came through. These are two storms that typically occur every 500 years, and they happen back-to-back. So clearly, this is what we’re seeing more and more around the world.

Environmental problems are partly responsible for poverty. Many of these people are affected by drought, which affects agriculture. There is no more food. They are forced to migrate and then risk being affected by floods.

And so when I got hit, we were able to recover. A lot of people on this street weren’t able to. And then two years later, my business burned down. I had to sell that business, and we were dealing with a global pandemic for two years. So we were all in lockdown.

When I was impacted by my business fire and I was faced with a global pandemic, as a long-time entrepreneur and very attentive to what’s happening with our environment and the climate crises, I knew I was going to start another company right here in Fayetteville, and bring greater awareness and engagement around our environment and our climate crises. And again, I’ve been impacted twice by two environmental disasters. So I’ve led my company’s mission based on example and personal experience.

What kinds of things are you doing to help business owners and residents achieve sustainability?

Basically, I do outreach and education. We’re in a crisis. We have a challenge. I do outreach. And once I inspire you with that information, I roll up my sleeves and I do sustainable assessments of businesses and homes. Then I start going out into the community, into homes and businesses, and I walk with you and I put together something super simple. It’s a checklist and a report format. It’s digital, so we don’t use paper or trees. I do a collaborative walkthrough of your home or business, following environmental best practices.

I help people reduce waste and recycle their trash in their homes and businesses. I help them improve energy efficiency, water conservation, and protect our Cape Fear River, our water resource that is impacted by sea level rise, industrial pollution from Chemours and Dupont and coal ash, and stormwater and runoff from factory farms.

Is there local interest in the type of work you do with Eco Solutions? Are people interested in living more sustainably and adopting sustainable business practices?

It’s still slow. It’s incredibly slow. I’ve talked to church leaders. Like the Greater Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, we have a prayer breakfast. I’m a spiritual person. I introduce myself. With pastors, I go up to them afterward and thank them very much for their talk. I introduce myself as a local sustainability consulting firm with a great mission. And that’s what I do. “Do you mind if I reach out to you for a meeting?” They refer me to someone else who then closes the door. These are our churches. And the Bible, if you read it, talks about being good stewards. We’re supposed to be good stewards.

I’m very aware of how you present yourself in public and what you actually do behind the scenes. You see it in a lot of leaders who just say, “Oh, we support local businesses.” And when you talk to them, they don’t want to meet with you. They don’t follow up or say, “We’re not interested.”

To answer your question, there is a movement, there is more open-mindedness, and everybody is watching the evening news. It’s all over the evening news. Record-breaking wildfires, devastating floods. And while they say we don’t care, they go home and watch the evening news, and it’s very ironic. Mother Earth is one of my biggest proponents. Because if you don’t believe me, get out. It’s hotter than shit, right?

What about people who deny the reality of climate change or who think that nothing can be done to stop it?

When something is on fire and I knock on your door, I get right to the point. We are at a level of crisis where I am not mincing words. What is left to deny? It is hotter than hell. It is hotter than last year. And so, for those who are in denial, what I can say in essence is this: the truth of reality does not fit your belief system. Facts are facts. So it will be up to more and more people to rethink their belief systems and priorities and make the changes that reflect the reality of what is happening in the world. Facts do not fit your belief system. That is up to you.

Second, because we are at such a crisis level and because it is so undeniable – you can feel it on your skin when you go out, you can read the local newspapers and read about what we are doing to our Cape Fear River and our landfills. If you are a reader, it is all in the news. Or you can watch the news. The people who are going to save this crisis are going to be the ones who understand it. So if you are in denial, you are not on my radar. We don’t have time.

What words of wisdom do you have for the community about climate change and the environment?

This is not only a crisis, but also an opportunity. Every crisis has an inherent opportunity and blessing, if we seize it. I believe that all of our challenges, I don’t call them problems, I call them learning opportunities, because that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to love one another, to learn and to grow. So we’re facing a crisis, which is an opportunity. It’s at a level that can no longer be denied.

As local residents, citizens and business owners facing a critical crisis, we now know that it must be a priority. So let’s work together to solve it. Let’s work together as a community, in our homes, businesses, churches and schools. We now know. You can no longer say you are not aware, and the level of action must increase and respond to calls proportional to the crisis.

Contact Evey Weisblat at [email protected] or 216-527-3608.

This story was made possible by contributions to the CityView News Fund, a 501c3 charitable organization committed to informed democracy.