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Climate pilot: Mya Akin, age 34, and Isaiah Akin, age 30
Live: condominium 7 miles southwest of Washington DC in Alexandria, Virginia
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Isaiah and I are so very excited to join the Climate Pilots USA project. We’re hoping to reduce our carbon footprint and gain some positive habits that we can pass on to family and friends. We hope to lead by example, and Climate Pilots will be a perfect forum for us to learn and share what “going green” can really mean to the average American family.
The timing of this project is quite serendipitous for us. We’ve always been interested in doing things that don’t explicitly harm the environment, but recently, we realized that there is so much more we could be doing to help the environment.
A few weeks ago, over a leisurely Sunday breakfast, Isaiah and I shared the morning news, and we counted thirteen different stories about how global climate change could or is negatively impacting our world. The sheer volume of articles was quite an eye-opener for us, we recognized. It had been all too easy for us to dismiss one or even two articles as “other people’s problems,” but this was too much evidence to ignore.
A few days after our eye-opening breakfast, we became aware of the Climate Pilots USA program, and we eagerly signed up. We knew we had to be more proactive in leading a greener life, but where to begin? Toting reusable shopping bags? Walking to work? Turning off the lights when we leave the room? It didn’t seem like enough to make a difference. This program will provide us with a framework of eco-friendly behaviors, and the personal support from our Swedish coaches will give us even more incentive to head down the greenest path.
About us
Mya is a second grade teacher and English Department Chair at the Congressional Schools of Virginia. She’s spent nearly a decade working with a delightful and diverse student population; she especially treasures the connections with the families she’s made over the years. Mya’s grade-level teaching partner is Angela, another Climate Pilot. Together they have such a knack for making learning fun that their friends often comment that they wish they could go back to second grade just to experience the wonder and excitement they hear of at Congressional.
Isaiah works in the U.S. Senate. He deals expertly and cheerfully with military and transportation issues, to name a few. Mya’s a Midwesterner who grew up in rainy, verdant Michigan, while Isaiah’s a West Coast native from the dry lands of Southern California. Although they may disagree on how to drive in the rain, they do agree that it’s important to preserve the diversity of both their native states.
Spare time
Although neither of them seems to have much spare time these days, Mya enjoys traveling, reading, and crafting all manner of home-sewn goodies. She’s especially excited about an upcoming to trip to Sweden. There she hopes to reconnect with relatives and meet some of the Climate Pilot participants in Kalmar. During his free time, Isaiah can often be found tending his tiny balcony garden or practicing his bingo calling for the annual Akin family trip to Michigan. Additionally, Isaiah loves reading, walking, and is a bit of a movie buff. Both are devoted to their tiny Chihuahua, Lily, and you can find them at the dog park just about every weekend.
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