Think of her as the Rosie The Riveter of Ontario’s clean-energy revolution—except with a neon high-viz vest instead of coveralls.
Officially, Meredith Smith, 29, is an assistant construction manager with Surespan Wind Energy Services, a leading Canadian installer and servicer of turbines. She oversees the construction of towers and turbines all over Ontario, and regularly climbs them to keep everything running smoothly up top.
Off the clock, she is a grassroots pro-wind activist—via her blog (Life Among Giants) and on Twitter via @lifeamonggiants and #prowind—and clearly has a great time doing so. She invests a lot of time debunking misinformation spread online by groups opposing renewable power.
And as a local—living with her husband in a farmhouse in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, surrounded by turbines—she is well-positioned to do so. “I remember thinking, ‘This is not my experience whatsoever,’” she says, recalling some early online anti-wind vitriol.
“I thought, I am having the opposite experience. I want people to know I live here, and it’s fine.”
Smith is straight-shooting, funny (“sometimes my outfits match my brake fluid”), and one of the most effective advocates the sector could hope for. “We’re in the midst of a huge paradigm shift,” she says. “People need to embrace new ideas and focus on a picture much greater than themselves. It really is a revolution.”
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