Tom Cotter (born June 29, 1972) is an American conservationist,

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

advocate, and ordained

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

minister living in

Clovis Clovis may refer to: People * Clovis (given name), the early medieval (Frankish) form of the name Louis ** Clovis I (c. 466 – 511), the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler ** Clovis II (c. 634 – c. 657), ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Biography

Early life and inspiration

Tom Cotter grew up in

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...

California, United States California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. A significant influence of his work was the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

. In 1988, Cotter was awarded the title of Eagle Scout.

Professional career

In 1997, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

clergy at First

Christian Church In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus Christ. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a syn ...

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

. He served as a pastor at Clovis Christian Church in Clovis, California, from 1996 to 2006. From 2006 to 2015, Cotter worked in sales leadership in the U.S. Photovoltaic Industry, starting at ReGrid Power, which was later acquired by

Real Goods Solar Real Goods Solar Inc. was a publicly traded residential solar power integrator doing business as RGS Energy. The company established its roots as a provider of sustainable lifestyle products through its retail division, dating back to 1978, when ...

. He also worked at

Sunrun Sunrun Inc. is an American provider of photovoltaic systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company was established in 2007 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Since its inception, ...

. From 2015 to 2017, he worked as Regional Sales Manager a
Renew Financial
for the California counties of

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, Madera, Tulare, and

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Kings: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations. *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'', an 11th-century epic Persia ...

. Cotter has worked as an adjunct professor of Theological Ethics and the Environment at

Fresno Pacific University Fresno Pacific University (FPU) is a private Christian university in Fresno, California, United States. It was founded as the Pacific Bible Institute in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. ...

Personal life

Cotter lives the family life residing in

Clovis, California Clovis is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. It was established in 1890 as a freight stop for the San Joaquin Valley Railroad by a group of Fresno businessmen and Michigan railroad speculator Marcus Pollasky. The railroad bou ...

, with his wife, Christi Gaither, and their children. The family has down to earth spirit, loving nature and a pretty yard while at the same time host's lar power and solar thermal system in their home. Mr and Mrs cutter are frugal in cost-effective. Cotter is a part of the California Climate Ride, a 320-mile bicycle benefit ride for bicycle advocacy and renewable energy down the coast of California from Eureka, California to San Francisco, California.

Sustainability education and advocacy

Community

In 2007, Cotter and Socient CEO, Victor Ramayrat, co-founded Green Fresno, a free

online community An online community, also called an internet community or web community, is a community whose members engage in computer-mediated communication primarily via the Internet. Members of the community usually share common interests. For many, on ...

and

information portal Information is an abstract concept that refers to something which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the interpretation (perhaps formally) of that which may be sensed, or their abstractions. Any natur ...

(in 2012 it was relaunched as Green Central Valley). Cotter is the organizer and curator of the annual Fresno Solar Tour part of the

American Solar Energy Society The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization advocating for renewable energy in the United States. Founded in 1954, ASES' goal is to speed the transition toward a sustainable energy economy and 100% renewable en ...

's National Solar Tour. Cotter is an Organizer of Fresno

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org (formerly Earth Day Network) includin ...

, purposed to inspire and mobilize individuals and organizations to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. Cotter is the creator and organizer of Fresno Green Drinks, a monthly informal gathering of environmental field experts, educators, public servants, activists, and individuals looking to learn from and encourage one another toward broader ecological stewardship in the

metro area. As of May 2012, Green Drinks was active in 642 cities worldwide. In 2012, Cotter became a Climate Leader in the Climate Leadership Corps with the

Climate Reality Project The Climate Reality Project is a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change. The Climate Reality Project came into being in July 2011 as the consolidation of two environmental groups, the Alliance for Cli ...

. Cotter served as a Technical Advisory Committee Member fo
Energize Fresno
in the Private Business, Development, and Finance Sector in 2017.

Board of directors

Cotter serves on the Board of Directors of the Solar Living Institute. Cotter is the past president and chairman of the board of directors at the International Green Industry Hall of Fame, which promotes ecological sustainability worldwide by recognizing individuals and organizations for outstanding achievement(s) in the Green Industry and provides an educational forum for the international public. Cotter is a past member of the board of directors at

Restore Hetch Hetchy Restore Hetch Hetchy is a US non-profit organization seeking to restore the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park to its original condition. History The Hetch Hetchy Valley was sculpted by glaciers as recently as 10,000 years ago (like ne ...

Film

Cotter is a producer of the short documentary film, Forest Man. The film chronicles the story of

Jadav Payeng Jadav "Molai" Payeng (born 31 October 1959) is an environmental activist and forestry worker from Majuli, popularly known as the ''Forest Man of India''. Over the course of several decades, he has planted and tended trees on a sandbar of the riv ...

, an Indian man who single-handedly planted nearly 1,400 acres of forest to save his island,

Majuli Majuli (also spelled Majoli) is the largest river island in Assam, a state in northeastern India. It is bordered by the Brahmaputra River to the South and East, the Subansiri River to the West, and an anabranch of the Brahmaputra River. The is ...

, India. The film is directed by William D. McMaster of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film was released in the summer, of 2013.

Political

In 2010, Cotter worked with California's No on Prop 23 Campaign. This proposition would have suspended

AB 32 The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or Assembly Bill (AB) 32, is a California state law that fights global warming by establishing a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state. AB32 was c ...

, a law enacted in 2006 legally referred to as the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. Prop 23 was defeated by California voters during the statewide election by a 23% margin.County Summary Status for the November 2, 2010, Statewide General Election
, California secretary of state, November 3, 2010 In 2012, Cotter worked to get the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to expand

net metering Net metering (or net energy metering, NEM) is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime, instead of when it is generated. This is particularly impor ...

in California. In 2012, Cotter worked to get the passing of Proposition 39 - California Clean Energy Jobs Act.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotter, Tom 1972 births Living people People from Clovis, California People from Napa County, California People associated with renewable energy Christianity and environmentalism 21st-century Protestant religious leaders Renewable energy in the United States American motivational speakers Activists from California American conservationists