2021 Liz Tarquin 2021 Liz Tarquin

Founding Story

It all begins with an idea.

The Collider was founded in 2012 to serve as a hub for a diverse network of climate organizations. The original vision was for a work and meeting space, in the heart of downtown Asheville, that would help forge connections between organizations in the climate industry, inspiring innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders to solve climate challenges. The Collider offered multiple support channels to its early community members, including internal communication channels, networking events, fostering collaboration, and more.

The Collider is inspired by:

A generative social impact network. A social impact network is defined as a group of individuals or organizations that aim to solve a complex problem in society by working together, adapting over time, and generating a sustained flow of activities and impacts. A generative social impact network is also mutually beneficial. It engages its members and adds value to their work; in exchange, members add value to the network through their work and engagement.” (Plastrik, et al. 2014)

Some examples of Collider members work include developing innovative technologies, focus on climate and health, wetland delineation applications, and interactive climate modeling tools. These contributions and others are used by leading policy-makers. Other members specialize in providing essential services like ecological consulting, climate-smart community training , and climate advising. With members across the world aligned under a common vision of combating climate change, The Collider is truly a unique organization.

The Collider also partners with local businesses and organizations to host events on topics pertinent to our community such as local food, walkable cities, climate-resilient architecture, urban forestry, and more.

The Collider officially opened its doors in March 2016 in Asheville, North Carolina – Climate City. We invite you to join in celebrating a great first year by taking a look back at some of the milestones. Thank you for your continued support.

January-February 2016: The Collider begins to take shape

  • The long-held dream of a space where public, private, academic, and nonprofit businesses and organizations can “strategically collide” to develop market-driven solutions for climate begins to take shape.

  • Following President Obama’s State of the Union address, The Collider announces its readiness to answer the challenge for private investment in climate action., a story that was picked up by the publication Southeast Green, among others.

  • Along with other partners in climate services and the Economic Development Coalition of Asheville-Buncombe, The Collider participates in touting Asheville as “Climate City” at the annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society.

  • While our building remains under construction one of our inaugural members, UNC Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling & Analysis Center, is featured on UNC-TV prior to their move to The Collider.

March 2016: Featured in Forbes, among other media, The Collider opens its doors with U.S. Secretary of Transportation as keynote

  • Before we officially open our doors, a crowd of more than 100 joins the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority (which awarded The Collider with grant monies from the Tourism Product Development Fund) for an event on March 3 at The Collider.

  • The Collider hosts our official launch on March 11 (the birthday of visionary and founding philanthropist Mack Pearsall) with keynote speaker U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx.

  • The launch event, attended by some 230 members of the climate services community along with business, civic, academic and elected leaders, garners significant media coverage, including Politico(with the header “Coworking to save the planet”), Bloomberg Government, and even a TV station in Hawaii.

  • The Collider is featured in a Forbes commentary that says, “…The community that is emerging around The Collider sees climate change as an opportunity, one that can put this growing network of climate innovators and scientists smack in the middle of a growing $1 trillion dollar industry.”

  • The Collider hosts a two-day retreat for 35 members of the Data Access Branch of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

  • A New York City-based tech blog mentions The Collider as part of its spotlight on Asheville’s startup and innovation scene.

  • The Asheville Citizen-Times publishes a front-page Sunday profile of The Collider’s founding philanthropist Mack Pearsall with the headline, “Asheville’s ‘impatient philanthropist’ sets sights on climate jobs.”

  • Thought leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators gather at The Collider to discuss the growing tech ecosystem in the Asheville community as part of an Innovation Economies event with a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

  • The Raleigh News & Observer and the Charlotte Observer tout The Collider as a place where “Asheville entrepreneurs are making a business out of climate change.”

April 2016: Dignitaries, climate scientists, and celebrating Earth Day

May 2016: Venue rentals range from Leadership Asheville to east coast sales management training for a national corporation

  • Members of the 34th Class of Leadership Asheville make their final group presentations at a Graduation Day event at The Collider. (LA 35 returns to The Collider in January 2017 for a full-day focus on economic development.)

  • UNC Asheville Magazine features a story on the university’s National Environmental Modeling & Analysis Center (NEMAC) and its new location at The Collider.

  • Meanwhile, Business North Carolina magazine publishes a story on The Collider in its 35th anniversary edition.

  • The London-based CEO of Acclimatise, which has its North America office at The Collider, speaks in The Netherlands at the largest ever climate change adaptation conference.

  • The Dogwood Alliance, a national, Asheville-based nonprofit focused on forest protection, conducts a staff retreat at The Collider – the first of several events the organization holds at The Collider.

  • The start of a two-day tour of the area’s technology cluster takes place at The Collider, organized for economic developers and site selectors by the Economic Develop Coalition of Asheville-Buncombe County.

  • Among the venue rentals for major events this month are a three-day sales management conference involving businesspeople from up the Eastern Seaboard and a private evening reception hosted by a local company for their top customers.

  • The weekly PercCollider continues to grow, with Collider members joined by university students, special guests, and others interested in learning about The Collider. (As many as 75 individuals have been known to join in, sometimes with a special presentation or sponsor as part of the event.)

JUNE 2016: Trillions magazine describes The Collider as “the beginning of a revolution in how to deal with the biggest problem the world has ever known…”

  • Trillions magazine publishes an article about The Collider that starts like this: “Right in the middle of downtown Asheville, North Carolina, is a somewhat ordinary-looking building. Inside, however, is something far from ordinary. It is the beginning of a revolution, in how to deal with the biggest problem the world has ever known – climate change, and in how to bring together a group to help solve it.”

  • Both public radio station WCQS’s Board of Directors and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center Western Region’s Advisory Committee conduct meetings at The Collider.

  • A professional development panel discussion with NASA DEVELOP Interns from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, the University of Virginia Wise County, and the University of Georgia takes place at The Collider.

  • Inaugural Collider member FernLeaf Interactive is one of 15 companies selected for Elevate, an elite mentoring program developed by Venture Asheville that targets businesses with potential to service national and global markets.

  • Thanks to the efforts of the nonpartisan Citizens Climate Lobby, U.S. Congressman Patrick McHenry, serving the 10th district of NC, tours The Collider and learns about the work of our members and Asheville’s climate services community.

JULY 2016: NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Dr. Kathy Sullivan tours The Collider

  • NOAA Administrator and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Dr. Kathy Sullivan, with NOAA Chief Scientist Dr. Richard W. Spinrad, tour The Collider and meet personally with some of our members.

  • With the headline “Globe Turning to Asheville’s tech to help assess flood risks,” the Asheville Citizen-Times reports on UNC Asheville’s National Environmental Modeling & Analysis Center (NEMAC), located at The Collider, winner of the “Special Achievement in GIS Award” from Esri, a world leader in geographic information system technology.

  • The Citizen-Times follows that article with an editorial titled “Asheville continues rise as climate science powerhouse.”

  • A Mountain Xpress cover story about Asheville’s climate services industry features The Collider and several of our members and partners, complete with archival photos of the early days of NOAA in Western North Carolina.

  • The Center for Weather and Climate, part of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, moves its monthly State of The Climate briefing to The Collider, where it continues to be held each month.

  • Among the groups using our venues at The Collider is Dixon Hughes Goodman, conducting an executive briefing on sustainability best practices for 40 corporate CEOs, and the NC Department of Transportation, conducting a statewide meeting.

  • Mack Pearsall, founding philanthropist of The Collider, with his wife Janice, establish an apprenticeship program in honor of Dr. Tom Karl, upon Dr. Karl’s retirement as Director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. The first two student interns in the program start their work at The Collider in January 2017.

  • A delegation from Kazakhstan travels to The Collider to meet with member Eyes on Earth, a company that uses satellite observations to monitor water resources, crop development, and predict yields around the world.

August 2016: New CEO; first Beer City Science Pub; and journalists from the Southeast and beyond learn about the business of climate

  • James McMahon is named the new CEO of The Collider. Most recently serving as senior advisor to Dr. Tom Karl, the Director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, James is recognized as a “boundary expert” with experience as a climate scientist in the public and academic settings, as well as a business executive, having held leadership positions in companies ranging from small startups to a Fortune 500 corporation.

  • The Collider hosts the project results of high school students in the City of Asheville Youth Leadership Academy and of university students and young professionals in the NOAA/NASA DEVELOP research program.

  • Public radio WCQS and the Asheville Citizen-Times interview climate scientist Dr. L. DeWayne Cecil, whose office is located at The Collider, about his role in an upcoming expedition to locate Amelia Earhart’s aircraft.

  • In partnership with Asheville Museum of Science, The Collider hosts its first Beer City Science Pub,focused on the Amelia Earhart expedition, resulting in the largest attendance ever, to-date for the AMOS event. The partnership continues monthly with lectures on a variety of science-related topics and craft beer donated by local breweries, continuing to draw large, enthusiastic crowds.

  • Collider members CASE Consultants International and FernLeaf Interactive partner to develop a new online tool showing areas where the environmental conditions are right for the mosquito that can carry the Zika virus, garnering significant media coverage.

  • Supported by a grant from the National Association of Science Writers, a climate conference for journalists organized by Duke University and The Collider, along with a host of other institutions, draws reporters across the Southeast and from as far away as Washington DC, Delaware, Cincinnati, and Louisville KY to explore “The Business and Science of Climate in the Southern Appalachians.” The event includes an evening at The Collider to meet with our climate solution providers.

  • Among the organizations using The Collider space this month for executive retreats are a national company with expertise in vehicle data systems and a regional health education organization.

September 2016: Lectures on coffee + climate change and health + climate change, along with a visit by Chelsea Clinton on clean energy

  • The campaign for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton contacts The Collider seeking to bring daughter Chelsea Clinton to Asheville to host a clean energy event at The Collider. The event draws nearly 300 supporters and regional media outlets. Local media coverage includes public radio WCQS (also here), WLOS-TV (also here) and Asheville Citizen-Times.

  • In a cover story titled “A Catalyst for Change,” WNC Magazine’s innovation issue focuses on The Collider and our partners in the climate services industry, and why experts are looking to Asheville for solutions to climate change. The magazine hosts a launch party at The Collider to celebrate the edition, attended by more than 100 leaders in business and climate services.

  • Managers with NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information conduct a four-day retreat at The Collider.

  • Renowned sustainability leader and president of the Cradle to Cradle Institute Lewis Perkins speaks at The Collider as part of Krull & Company’s annual lecture series.

  • The Collider hosts a lecture on the impacts of climate change on the coffee industry, which the Asheville Citizen-Times details in a cover story.

  • In partnership with Physicians for Social Responsibility, The Collider hosts an evening with Dr. Alan Lockwood, an author and physician speaking on the impact of climate change on personal health. Public radio WCQS interviews Dr. Lockwood in advance of the event.

  • Climate Connection, offering radio programming through Yale University, broadcasts a story about The Collider that airs across the country.

  • A book called Preparing for a World that Doesn’t Exist – Yet: Creating a Framework for Communities of the Future mentions The Collider in a chapter on “Creative Molecular Economy” (chapter review here).

  • Collider member Bitwater Farms, whose innovations could revolutionize sustainable farming, is profiled in a cover story in the Asheville Citizen-Times.

  • Middle school students with Asheville City Schools’ “In Real Life” program begin a weekly after-school career development program at The Collider, where they work with global climate experts to explore climate change solutions.

  • The Collider and several of our member organizations have a significant presence at the Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference, serving as speakers and panelists, as well as exhibiting and presenting posters.

October 2016: TEDx, World Climate Week, and a new Executive Director – plus, a cross-city visit from the InnovateNC communities

  • The Collider is the site of a sold-out crowd for the return of TEDx Asheville.

  • During World Climate Week, Collider member Climate Interactive conducts a lively simulation of climate negotiations, held at The Collider with more than 50 individuals of all ages participating.

  • Megan Robinson is named Executive Director of The Collider, responsible for day-to-day operations and internal strategic development of programming, membership, cowork, and events, having previously served as program and policy analyst for the Deputy Director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

  • A New York City cowork organization ranks The Collider #10 among all the cowork spaces across the Carolinas.

  • North Carolina municipalities awarded designation as InnovateNC communities gather at The Collider for a two-day cross-city visit to hear about Asheville and The Collider’s emerging innovation ecosystem in the climate services.

  • Among the groups using space at The Collider for educational and training events are a company that produces software for the healthcare industry and Western North Carolina Nonprofit Pathways.

November 2016: UN Climate Change Convention in Marrakesh, plus visits from BlackRock and the ‘Dean of North American Building Science’

December 2016: ‘Investing in Climate Resilience,’ plus a visit from the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force

Looking Ahead: 2017 & Beyond

As of March 2017, one year after The Collider opened its doors:

  • More than 40 businesses and organizations are working from our beautiful top-floor headquarters in downtown Asheville, also known as “Climate City.”

  • More than 6,000 individuals have attended events at The Collider, not including personal meetings among staff, members, and their guests.

  • The Collider has hosted and/or organized an average of 15 events per month in our venue space.

  • The Collider is expanding beyond the four walls of our building, welcoming members, supporters, and sponsors that may be located up the street, across the country, or around the world — not just down the hallway.

  • We’re looking forward to more opportunities to provide space for conferences, meetings, receptions, and an array of special events – from the monthly Beer City Science Pub with Asheville Museum of Science, to our climate and environmental film series with Oskar Blues Brewery, to our climate education seminars for professional industry groups such as the American Institute of Architects.

  • We’re thrilled about helping to bring astrophysicist and New York Times best-selling author Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson to Asheville on June 13 – just days after hosting Rear Admiral Dr. David W. Titley, retired from the U.S. Navy and now an advisory board member of the non-partisan security and foreign policy institute, The Center for Climate and Security.

  • And for 2018….We’re already at work organizing Asheville’s first conference devoted to innovation in climate solutions – that is, the business of climate. Featuring activities for businesses, students, and the general public, ClimateCon, taking place in March 2018, will provide unequivocal proof of Asheville’s deserving global status as “Climate City.”

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‘Climate City™’

‘Climate City™’

In 1951, the Federal Government moved all weather records to Asheville, North Carolina, where the archives at the U.S. Weather Bureau, Air Force, and Navy combined to form the National Weather Records Center (NWRC).

In Asheville, the Federal Government was already using one of the largest buildings in the South, the Grove Arcade. It was a desirable location to house millions of pages of weather observations and a rapidly expanding database of computer punch cards. Asheville was also relatively isolated and inland thereby protecting these critical records from both foreign enemy attack, and hurricanes, which were more likely to impact coastal locations.

The organization was incorporated, with all civil weather entities, as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1970. That same year, the NWRC changed its name to the National Climatic Center. In 1982, 12 years later, the organization was renamed the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). The National Climatic Data Center moved into its current location, the Veach-Baley Federal Building, a block from the Grove Arcade, in 1995.

In 2015, NOAA consolidated three data centers to create the National Centers for Environmental Information, with the Asheville facility serving as headquarters and managing data from the bottom of the ocean to the surface of the sun.

The Collider launched in 2016 with the opening of its headquarters in downtown Asheville, North Carolina — also known as Climate City™.

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Climate City Insider Livestream

The Collider hosted a 3-part “Climate City Insider Livestream” series in 2021-2022, showcasing the many talented and brilliant members of The Collider in their areas of expertise.

The Collider hosted a “Climate City Insider Livestream” series in 2021-2022. This outreach event showcased the many talented and brilliant members of The Collider in their areas of expertise.

Jan. 11, 2022: Presenter: Dr. Anne Waple – “Beyond a Crisis: people, planet and places of Earth’s Next Chapter.”

 At almost 8 billion humans, we need to begin exploring the intersectionality of our relationship with our natural systems as well as how our cultures and our communities are key to whole-system solutions. It is from this perspective, we can begin to look how to heal ourselves and our ecosystems of a changing climate.

BONUS: Dec.2, 2021: Presenters Allison Whitaker and Drew Jones – COP26 Report Back Session

Allison Whitaker of “With Many Roots” and Drew Jones of “Climate Interactive” had the opportunity to the COP26 in Glasgow. They’ve generously agreed to shared a synopsis of their experience and key take-aways. 

Oct. 27, 2021: Presenter Jim Fox – The Climate Industry Today: Jobs, Careers, and Networks 

As our nation increasingly acknowledges the reality of climate change, we are also more willing to start taking action.  This means that investments into both climate mitigation and climate adaptation are starting to fuel a growth in jobs in the “climate sector”.  Working with American Society of Adaptation Professionals, the Collider and UNCA’s NEMAC+FernLeaf will share some data, trends and possible future trajectories.  From this information, better personal and network decisions can be made about current and future career choices.

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Jane Goodall’s Book of Hope: A Testimony to Optimism in the Face of Environmental Degradation

Jane Goodall’s Book of Hope: A Testimony to Optimism in the Face of Environmental Degradation

Michael Neugebauer/the Jane Goodall Institute

By: Joseph McCarty, Intern at The Collider in Asheville, NC - March 2022

Hope can be a tricky thing. It can lead us to greater disappointment, or be the fire within that motivates and pushes us to be better. With a full-blown climate crisis, a newfound major European land war, socioeconomic inequality, and a global pandemic, it is evident that the manure has already hit the fan. Hope is in short supply, especially for our younger generations. But, as 87-year old author and life-long conservation activist Jane Goodall points out in her new book, hope is one of the few resources we have for our difficult future.

The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times by Jane Goodall and co-author Douglass Abrams outlines the powerful resilience of nature and the resilience of the human spirit. Organized with a skillful arrangement of transcribed conversations between Goodall and Abrams, Goodall takes great care to validate and counter Abram’s often skeptical vision of the future. With so many young people grappling with the magnitude of our continual climate crisis, skepticism of hope in the face of a major, imminent global disaster is only natural, Goodall says.

“People are so overwhelmed by the magnitude of our folly that they feel helpless. They need to hear stories of the people who succeed because they won’t give up.” -Jane Goodall, Book of Hope.

Jane expertly points out that she, an 87 year old, is quite aware of the irony of her situation, an elder encouraging younger generations to act. Her generation and her children’s generation are feeling blamed for the environmental degradation and global temperature rise. Our current younger generations will be feeling the effects of climate change such as increased temperatures, more natural disasters, and wild seasonal variations, far more than the older generations will have felt these effects. Older generations’ inaction on climate change has essentially dumped this on our heads. I feel this every day as a young university student studying environmental sciences. It can often be a dreary field of study, considering the threat of climate change is already present. But, hope is out there, ready to be utilized, and it is up to us to right the wrongs of the older generations. It is up to us to find solutions for the progression of climate change. But as of now, where is the path forward? Younger generations must find inspiration and a way out of cynical inaction by listening to stories like Jane Goodall’s.

Goodall wasn’t always as optimistic about the future as she is now. As a young, twenty-six year old, Jane was invited to join a chimpanzee research team in Gombe National Park in Tanzania. Little was known about the world of chimpanzees, so Jane took it upon herself to learn the culture and capabilities of chimpanzees. Luck felt like it ran out; the chimps avoided Jane and her research team for nearly two years. When hope felt utterly lost, Jane found an overwhelming connection with a chimp named David Greybeard, who, in turn, helped Jane become accepted by the chimpanzee community in Gombe. Holding onto hope and persistence, Jane eventually made extraordinary observations concerning primates, forcing the scientific community and beyond to reconsider the relationships and similarities between humans and chimpanzees. Goodall held onto hope because she knew that nothing would be accomplished in Gombe without it. Seeing the climate crisis happen in real-time, she became a conservationist and turned her attention towards the public, storytelling of what nature has to offer. Being a harbinger of hope for the last five decades, Jane continues to hold her hope high even in the face of environmental catastrophe.

One reason Jane persists in her pursuit is because she believes and trusts in the resilience of nature. In Book of Hope, Jane points out that “nature is there, waiting to move in and help to heal herself.” Further, she discusses an example of natural resilience at Haller Park in Mombasa, Kenya. For decades, a cement factory contributed to the deforestation of hundreds of acres and the chemical contamination of nearby water sources. By using reforestation and rehabilitation methods and by rewilding the area with local flora and fauna, Haller Park healed and is now one of Africa’s most visited biodiverse parks.

Though nature can heal itself over time, we cannot excuse our inaction in the fight against climate change. According to Goodall, “Hope is often misunderstood. People tend to think that it is simply passive wishful thinking: I hope something will happen but I’m not going to do anything about it. This is indeed the opposite of real hope, which requires action and engagement.” Because of the need for action and engagement, Goodall started Roots & Shoots, a global youth program that empowers young people to make compassionate decisions for their community. Projects that the youth take on range from planting pollinator gardens or assisting in eliminating invasive species to developing sustainability technology. Goodall continually puts her faith in the younger generations to create positive action by empowering the youth to tackle the monstrous challenge of climate change one small step at a time. Environmental education and youth empowerment are crucial in the fight against climate change because we are the future.

Goodall does a great job of recognizing that not all people have the same opportunity to contribute to our global society. Mentioning the ongoing racism, sexism, and socioeconomic inequality, Goodall validates those whose inaction on climate stems from fighting their own battles. This is why Goodall highlights the necessity and importance of individual purpose. Whether this purpose stems from religion or spirituality, empathic citizenship, or devotion to family, one must understand their own purpose in order to contribute to global society. Goodall, harnessing a deep, individual spirituality, attests that the realization that an individual can make change in their world can form their purpose.

“When I lay out my reasons for hope, as I have in this book, they get the message and realize that there really could be something better if we get together in time. Once they realize that their life can make a difference, they have acquired a purpose. And . . . having a purpose makes all the difference.” -Jane Goodall, Book of Hope.

Goodall’s main point in Book of Hope is to highlight our need to shift the focus to the concerns of young people. She remarks that it is crucial for young people to see how positive action and optimistic hope can turn things around completely. As a twenty-one year old student, I can attest to the fact that young people need to hold onto optimistic hope. Like many of my peers, I have seen the disastrous environmental journey we’re on with, arguably, a clearer perspective on the danger we’re facing than some people of older generations. We are disheartened because of the lack of legislative action on climate. We are disheartened by the denial of the climate crisis. We will reap the dangers that the older generations have sowed. But, hope does not despair. Hope gives us the courage to act and to create change. The climatic danger is disheartening for my young peers, so we must listen to stories of optimistic hope and positive action like Jane Goodall’s or Greta Thunberg’s or whoever will stand up with us today.

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