Gilbert Sabater - At Large 2022

I am running for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter Executive Committee because I believe I can be an asset to the group. I am an entrepreneur, and I have been green since I worked on a farm in Madoc, Ontario when I was 15 years old.  I joined Canadian ROTC at Regiopolis High School and received my training in Ipperwash Army boot camp, in Ontario when I was 18.  The green all around me in both places lifted my spirits and made me conscious of the value of forests, water and animals.  I lived in Japan for two years while serving in the Marine Corps, and that is where my love for nature truly became a part of my life.  Because the Japanese live in such small spaces, they have learned the value of trees and flowers in everyday life by cultivating them in their home gardens.  When I returned to the States, I worked for Alfred Politz, a scientist/researcher who became my mentor and eventually my friend.  Alfred had been experimenting with wind and solar energy since the early fifties.  He had purchased a large plantation in Tampa Florida where, among the orange trees, he had built a house powered by solar panels and wind sails (his own invention).  In the seventies I met Stanford Ovshinsky in Detroit at his solar panel laboratory and raised funds for his research to increase the efficiency of the panels.  We also met the engineers designing the Ford Torino Sterling experiments in collaboration with N.V. Philips in the Netherlands and the U.S. Department of Energy.  I am still working on the Sterling engine designed specifically for developing countries.  I joined the Sierra Club about 10 years ago, and I believe that I can be an asset to the organization.