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Help Us Get More Boots On The Ground Coverage

Do you love original stories, in-person coverage, and in-depth reviews? Help us do this more!

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Help Us Get More Boots On The Ground Coverage

Help Us Get More Boots On The Ground Coverage

Help Us Get More Boots On The Ground Coverage

Help Us Get More Boots On The Ground Coverage

Help Us Get More Boots On The Ground Coverage

Do you love original stories, in-person coverage, and in-depth reviews? Help us do this more!

Do you love original stories, in-person coverage, and in-depth reviews? Help us do this more!

Do you love original stories, in-person coverage, and in-depth reviews? Help us do this more!

Do you love original stories, in-person coverage, and in-depth reviews? Help us do this more!

Jennifer Sensiba
Jennifer Sensiba
Jennifer Sensiba
Jennifer Sensiba
1 Campaign |
LAS CRUCES, United States
$2,972 USD 29 backers
33% of $8,757 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal
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Empty Box Robot

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April 2023
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July 2023
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The Stories That Don't Get Told

If you follow my work on CleanTechnica, you probably notice a mix of original articles and trip logs combined with stories that obviously came from the internet somewhere. Stories that come from social media, old school internet forums, and press releases often have something important to say, but you might find yourself wishing we'd get out there more and see more of this stuff in person and try to get more original content.

Sadly, there are financial reasons that many cool cleantech stories fall through the cracks and don't get the love they deserve. Often, the cost of gas, hotels, and eating at restaurants for days at a time is just far bigger than what we'd get back in revenue and writer pay (and faster things like air travel are even further from profitability).  This means that big companies that can afford to pay for journalists' travel and hotel for their biggest stories and product launches get in-depth coverage while every other story that deserves to be told gets a phone call and maybe a Zoom meeting, and the publicists writing press releases often won't e-mail back, probably because they're not paid much by their smaller clients and can't spend much time on them.

Despite these challenges, I do try to get original stories as much as I can. On a long trip last year, I reviewed a new EV charging station, reviewed an EV charging adapter, tried out Electrify America's newest hardware, tested a set of tires, and learned something important that could save lives. This wasn't a profitable trip even staying at Motel 6 and eating cheap fast food that irritated my guts, but I still think this kind of work is too important to just never do.

Plus, even if these awesome stories justified travel expenses, it's not right for us to advocate for doing right by the environment and then go around driving gas-powered cars or flying on jet planes to do it. We need to be using the cleanest alternatives available.

Speaking of alternatives, reviews for things like solar generators, e-bikes, and scooters also don't get the love they could be getting. We'd love to take every e-bike out to Moab, charge it with a solar generator, and give it all the best testing, but most of the time these things get reviewed in our yards and on local bike paths/trails.

I've been working for the last couple of years to fix this problem for good, but I'm going to need your help to get over the finish line to get this going in 2023.

What We Have Gathered So Far & What We Still Need

This is something I've been working on for years, and you may have seen some big fundraising asks during that time that (probably rightfully) went nowhere. The plan has always been to use an EV and tow either a small RV or a small trailer loaded with "glamping" supplies to serve as a home base when covering cleantech news in an area.

This approach has some big upfront costs (especially an EV that can tow), but the end result is a very clean mobile operation (all electric, with a lot of solar power) that doesn't cost me much more than staying home going forward. By going to RV parks, state parks, and even camping for free on public lands, nearly any important cleantech story or product review is within financial reach.

With some hard work and careful planning, I've got most of it covered now. So far, I've already gathered up:

  • The EV tow vehicle (my Bolt "EAV"), hitch installed, and airbags ready to install.
  • A portable 1200-watt solar power station, along with several smaller ones
  • A portable electric heater and air conditioner that can run on solar power or from my Bolt
  • Two Shiftpod Mini insulated shelters, several beds, and various other camping gear.
  • A standard-size shiftpod to serve as the larger room for the family for rainy days
  • A compact shower/toilet tent
  • Various tarps
  • A portable electric refrigerator that we'll power with solar is on the way.

As you can see, I've got most of the gear for this together, but when I was about to buy the last few things from this year's tax return, we had several family emergencies in a row. We had a dog suddenly get very ill and needed to be put down. We had a big water leak open up in the house that needed a repair that we couldn't put off. Finally, we had an extended family member go into hospice care. As responsible parents, we took care of all this, but this wiped out not only the business money we had set aside, but a good chunk of our savings.

This means that without your help, plans to aggressively cover rural cleantech stories and do amazing product reviews are probably on hold until next summer. So, I figured I'd ask readers and fans to help me gather up the following items to get us on the road:

If we don't meet the goal, all funds will go toward at least some of these items. I may use cheaper alternatives for some of them and do without others for now.

If we exceed the goal, any excess funds will be used for further improvements to the cargo trailer (built-in solar is a good example) or for trip costs (Fast charging fees, campground fees, meals, etc).

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