Celebrating Abby & her 10 years with Climate Smart

​We’re celebrating Abby’s 10-year work Anniversary this month!

And as one who has been lucky enough to work with Abby this whole time, I offer some reflections on just what a wonderful leader and colleague she is.

When we started Climate Smart almost 11 years ago, it was just me and one very part-time assistant. I knew we needed another person with smarts, heart, dedication to climate action, and a willingness to jump in the deep end.

When I met Abby, she was just finishing her master’s degree from UM’s EVST program where she focused on climate solutions. Immediately impressed, I cajoled her into at least spending the summer with us. I’m sure she didn’t know if we were the real deal or what she was getting into. (This was truly a mission-driven, wing and a prayer startup, so I didn’t either). Yet together we doggedly grew this nascent organization into a solid and impactful one.

During Abby’s first 10 years and thanks to her we:  made it through Covid, completed and passed the Climate Ready Missoula resilience plan, lead Missoula’s 100% Clean electricity effort, spent years organizing monthly meetups, showed up to just about every community event, hosted seven ClimateFESTs, talked to a zillion people about what it meant to show up for climate action. Abby welcomes and mentors new staff and interns and shows us all what effective leadership looks like. She’s been an incredible colleague, helping to figure out how to weather the unfathomable vagaries of federal climate policy and crazy state that is Montana.

During this decade Abby also managed to birth and is raising two fantastic children, the youngest a rising kindergartner. She’s taught them empathy and how to find their way in a chaotic world. They are lucky to have such a mom.

Abby is one of the most thoughtful, compassionate, and dedicated individuals I’ve ever been lucky enough to work with. Open-hearted and kind, she’s taught me and others how to stay on the “we’re all in this together and we act because we love our home planet and people” path. The only path worth being on.
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We’re all celebrating and congratulating Abby on 10 years, with more to come!

With deep gratitude -- Amy Cilimburg