Stephanie Kennard | May 16, 2014
It’s almost time for EDF Climate Corps’ small screen debut on Showtime’s Years of Living Dangerously, a documentary series on climate change. Leading up to the May 26th episode featuring three EDF Climate Corps fellows and host organizations, we’re rounding up the three EDF Climate Corps fellows starring in the Showtime series for a behind the scenes look at filming with the Years Project. This time, we spoke with Scott Miller, Caesars Entertainment’s 2013 EDF Climate Corps fellow. Read on to learn more about Scott’s time in the spotlight, and be sure to watch him in action on Showtime Network, Monday, May 26th at 8pm.
EDF: Tell us again about your EDF Climate Corps fellowship experience.
Scott Miller: It was a very uniquely empowering opportunity where I was able to align my passion for sustainability and my experience in business to deliver positive change to Caesars Entertainment. It has proven to be a game changer for my career and a major enhancement to my experience set within sustainability, especially as I was shifting careers from finance to sustainability.
EDF: What was it like when you learned about Showtime’s interest in following you?
Miller:When I first walked into the training to grab my name card, I remember someone from EDF saying to me, “oh you’re the lucky one.” At that time, I assumed it was because I was going to Las Vegas, as it is a city of luck and misfortune. I spoke with the director while in San Francisco, but I really didn’t believe this was happening to me until the last day of training.
EDF: What was filming like?
Miller: The first day at a new job is already a pretty nerve wracking experience, and the cameras following me around my first day on the job definitely raised up the intensity a few notches. I remember going through the casino with cameras following me and patrons were pointing, looking, commenting and wondering if I was a celebrity, and I was thinking, “If they only knew that I’m here to save this company energy and money.”
EDF: What do you think is unique about your perspective in the series?
Miller: Companies can want sustainability and be passionate about reducing carbon, but at the end of the day, for major organizations, sustainability has to make business sense. My past in financial services, where it’s almost all about rate of return, helped me to make sense of this reality.
EDF: What do you hope your story in the series will inspire?
Miller: I took a major risk and left my career to go with what I was very passionate about, and that’s sustainability. I’m hoping that my story inspires people to pursue their passions in life. I also believe or hope viewers will see that I walk the talk. To me that’s the most important message to convey. I don’t just practice environmentally friendly measures at work; it’s represented in all aspects of my life. The fact that I was bike commuting in Las Vegas in the middle of summer shows that it may be difficult, but it is truly possible to make environmentally friendly options work.
EDF: Have you watched the series yet?
Miller: I’ve watched every episode so far. It’s been a fantastic mix of celebrities, science and ordinary people to attract the masses to explore and digest scientific concepts associated with climate change. The series really shows the realities of climate change today by introducing ordinary people from all over the world in a variety of capacities that are dealing with it, drumming up solutions or addressing related politics. I can’t wait until two-three months from now when the series is more broadly distributed and the volume of people talking about the concepts in the series multiplies.
EDF: What are you up to now?
Miller: I manage business development for MindClick Global where I engage hospitality industry suppliers on their corporate social responsibility, environmental impact and product life-cycle assessments included in our sustainability performance Index.
EDF: Imagine it is May 2044 and a producer approaches you again to document your career accomplishments. What do you hope that story will reveal?
Miller: Before my career transition, I focused on helping people build, collect and grow their financial legacies to pass down. I hope that in my transition out of financial services into sustainability, I will continue to help build legacies that now focus on leaving our planet better and more habitable for future generations. By 2044, I hope to have made enormous contributions to helping shift our society toward a regenerative way of life.
About EDF Climate Corps
EDF Climate Corps (edfclimatecorps.org) taps the talents of tomorrow’s leaders to save energy, money and the environment by placing specially trained EDF fellows in companies, cities and universities as dedicated energy problem solvers. Working with hundreds of leading organizations, EDF Climate Corps has uncovered nearly $1.3 billion in energy savings. For more information, visit edfclimatecorps.org. Read our blog at edfclimatecorps.org/blog. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/edfbiz and on Facebook at facebook.com/EDFClimateCorps.