#17: Footprint Project; Operationalizing Sustainability for Humanitarian Response

In this episode, we speak with an awe-inspiring clean energy pioneer and leader in the extremely carbon-intensive disaster response sector. Will Heegaard shares with us the inspiring history and ongoing work of Footprint Project, a small but mighty New Orleans-based non-profit that has gained national recognition for its grassroots work helping communities to not only restore critical power supplies with renewable energy generator sets, but providing the training and know-how to transform normally marginalized groups and communities into resilient, well-prepared, clean energy pioneers. Will teaches us about Footprint Project’s important post hurricane relief efforts and mission to provide clean energy to communities in crisis.

Footprint Project believes that we should not just be reacting to the next storm - we should be ready for it! They are working to break the negative feedback loop of responding to climate emergencies with fossil fuels, reimagining the traditional, response-centered cycle of disaster relief.

GUEST BIO:
Will Heegaard
Footprint Project.org
Operations Director

Will Heegaard sees every disaster as an opportunity to build back greener. Before launching Footprint Project, Will worked as an EMT / Paramedic in Minneapolis, and deployed with International Medical Corps (IMC) to the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan (2013) and Liberia during the Ebola outbreak (2015). In 2016, Will managed an epidemic disease surveillance program for IMC in Guinea, West Africa, where he piloted the installation of solar refrigeration at five remote laboratories to safely collect, store, and refer blood samples for Ebola recovery. Domestically, Will has volunteered with Team Rubicon after disasters in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Puerto Rico.

Will founded Footprint Project in 2018 to accelerate the humanitarian response industry's transition off of fossil fuels, and has steadily grown the organization from inception into a nationally-recognized leader in community-led, climate-conscious disaster response, recovery and resilience. Footprint Project's model has received accolades from Time Magazine (2022 Best Inventions), and Building Green (2023 Top 10 Industry Transforming Products), and in 2022 Will was named "Person of the Year" by Microgrid Knowledge. Will received his B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from University of California, Berkeley, where he wrote his honors thesis on the socio-political history of existential risk.

Will’s LinkedIn