Here We Are Tour Diary: DC
Cambium Carbon, DC Metrobar, Toilet Paper
Backing up The Beast, fresh translucent tape holding the plexiglass window firm. I do an eight point turn as the speakers bump ‘Marea (we’ve lost dancing)’.
DC, here we come. Seven hours ahead of me–four driving and three charging. My anticipation of dropping into the capitol during election season provides the boost I need–but first, a pitstop at Cambium Carbon’s Baltimore HQ.
More Trump 2024 signs. More sponsorship rejection calls. More searching for functioning EV chargers. Here I am, entering Maryland. You can’t stop hope, I encourage myself.
Parking behind Cambium Carbon’s facility, Beast batteries low, Theo Hooker, Cambium’s Co-Founder and COO, approaches to greet me. Sliding open the driver side door, iPhone and wireless mics in hand, I stumble out. No lights, kinda camera, action. “Let’s do this!” I tell Theo. I’m on a tight schedule. DC will be a just-in-time delivery.
Theo guides me through Cambium’s production process, the scent of timber wafting through the building. He describes Cambium’s value proposition–simple, yet impactful. Cambium tracks and collects wood waste, processes it, and repurposes the wood to be resold in big box stores, such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. Longer term, Cambium is building a unique database of the US timber supply chain.
Why is Cambium’s work important? Well, the result is not only the reduction in deforestation, but also the reuse reduces CO2 and methane emissions that would have otherwise been emitted by the decomposing wood. A classic waste to value proposition.
Theo gifts me some swag–blocks of Cambium wood. I unplug The Beast from a warehouse electrical outlet and dart for DC . How cool–startup HQ video tour straight to a CTC happy hour event. Yet this is only a taste of what’s possible. Imagining a legit budget for a crew to capture the magic of this adventure, I return to reality as the streets become DC.
I harken back to the days I’d wander through the halls of the Department of Energy, meeting brilliant, kind people working on the future of clean energy. True patriots. What’s their fate if Trump wins, I ponder?
I can sense the importance of this moment in history. Democrats are calm–too calm. If only they saw all of the Trump support I drove through in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
I swing by the Lincoln. What would he think about the current situation? I search Lincoln quotes at red lights. “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” Clearly Lincoln didn’t foresee the internet, social media, or AI…
Approaching the DC metrobar for our event, I take 10 in a nearby parking lot to compose myself after another grueling drive. I change into a fresh shit, brush my teeth, and make notes of the people to thank, notably Vid Mecivic, who answered the CTC bat signal for tour conspirators.
Vid, a (now former) investor at collab fund and Climate DC co-founder, has been nothing but kind throughout. During one of our calls, I was moved to learn they were inspired by Climate Tech Cocktails when forming Climate DC. I hear stories like this on the fly, and when I do, they keep the fire in my belly burning during challenging times.
I pull up to the metrobar entrance and I’m greeted by a videographer. Crazy. I wasn’t mentally prepared to be on video. Maybe this tour thing is a bigger deal than I thought? Getting to know some of the 150+ attendees, I’m encouraged because when I would visit DC pre-Covid there was very little to no climate tech community, and now look at DC. The climate tech boom combined with the application of community building tools clearly changed the game.
Someone approaches, shakes my hand, and says he’s a big fan of the podcast. In his other hand? A roll of toilet paper branded ‘Wasted’. “Here, this is a gift for you!” my new friend says as he hands me the TP. B rilliant tongue and cheek branding. “Wow, this is a first,” I say wryly as I admire the roll. I laugh, but I should probably keep some toilet paper in The Beast. You never know…
My new friend explains that Wasted is a startup he works for that makes porta-potties converting the waste into fertilizer. Ok, this gift makes much more sense now…”Thank you, this has to be the coolest gift I’ve ever received,” I tell him as he snaps selfies of us holding up and admiring the roll of toilet paper. I guess this means I’ve made it…
Speaking of wasted, it’s a Friday night in DC–that’s basically what people do in this city–might as well grab a drink. I execute an Irish Goodbye with an OG DOE-turned-consultant buddy who is more than familiar with the DC bar and restaurant situation, at least according to his IG stories. He takes me to a watering hole called Madhatter.
It’s still early and slow. While we catch up on life, I also sidebar with a few tipsy guys on barstools next to us. Their collared shirts and suits read out-of-towners. In DC for a family member’s wedding, the gentlemen are sipping on the bar’s flagship drink–a massive plastic hat filled to the brim with a dyed concoction consisting of who knows what liquor.
I feel queasy as GW freshman year frathouse memories of trashcan punch flood back. I hand them the Wasted TP as a gift for the groom. In exchange, they sacrifice one of their spiked hats. Oh joy…my friend side-eyes me as I accept their generous donation. “When in Rome,” I tell him, as I taste the beverage. Yep, as gross as I imagined.
We float around town, dropping into a first-come-first-serve standup comedy event, a bar with multiple rooms featuring different themed DJs, and finally a small bar/club where a staff member sprays a fire extinguisher at a patron who is ‘on fire’ getting down to some Latin dance song.
Alright, time to call it a night.
Exhausted, I collapse into bed, alarm set to wake me up in six hours for the next leg of my journey. Destination: Philadelphia.