In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we’re sharing a series of posts highlighting the significant contributions of these communities in shaping the energy industry.
Wei-Tai Kwok, Climate Change Citizen Activist & Clean Energy Professional
Wei-Tai Kwok leads by example when it comes to the fight against climate change, showing that mobilizing your local community is not only worth doing, but also something anyone with passion and commitment can take on. He’s empowering his neighbors to advocate for clean energy in their cities, speak up at city council meetings and exercise their rights.
From a young age, Wei-Tai saw climate change as a problem to be solved. In a national high school debate on energy in 1978, he proposed to expand the use of solar energy to reduce the U.S.’s dependence on fossil fuels. As an adult, watching the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” made addressing the issue of climate change even more pressing. After a successful 17-year career in advertising running his own business, Kwok realized that he had to move beyond talking about the problem to being part of the change. He transitioned to a career in clean energy, leading teams across several renewable energy and energy storage businesses. These executive roles were energizing but led him to another realization: Everyday people had to join the climate change fight, and he needed to help bring them onboard.
After attending a Climate Reality Leadership Corps training, he was determined to spread the knowledge he had gained within his own community in Lafayette, California. Over 18 months and over 40 presentations, Wei-Tai connected with more than 2,000 members of his local community. He moved on to become one of the foremost citizen activists leading a chapter of former Vice President Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project, and in 2018, was awarded the organization’s highest honor for service, the Green Ring Award. His local chapter focuses on two aspects of the grassroots approach: educating and spurring action by local community members and driving meaningful policy changes at every level of government, especially towns and cities.
He was also a board member of Sustainable Lafayette, a grassroots nonprofit that is focused on creating a healthy sustainable future for the city.
About Wei-Tai Kwok
A first generation Chinese America and native of the Washington DC area, Kwok received his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale University. His hobbies include table tennis, skiing, fencing and gardening.
To hear more about his activism, organizations and immigrant experience, listen to his episode on the What’s America’s Purpose? podcast with host Matt Bogoshian. He also chats about his mission in this Climate Leader Spotlight.