An Interview With Monica Sanders
The sustainable life is rewarding. Knowing that you’re doing something to better the environment for future generations is rewarding in itself. It goes back to that motherhood idea that you’re not just doing something good for yourself. It also impacts your kids and future generations.
According to the University of Colorado, “Those who are most affected and have the fewest resources to adapt to climate change are also the least responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions — both globally and within the United States.” Promoting climate justice is an incredibly important environmental responsibility that is slowly becoming more and more recognized. In this interview series, we are talking to leaders who are helping to promote sustainability and climate justice. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Mahlia Zachary.
Mahlia Zachary is the EHS manager at Pinnacle Propane and the wife of Dakota Zachary. Together they have three children. They live in south central Oklahoma where they raise stocker cattle on summer and winter forages and grow about 20 acres of cantaloupes and pumpkins every summer. Together as a family, they enjoy being outdoors, fishing, hunting, and tending to the garden, chickens, and other farm animals. The Zachary family takes pride in living off the land, and they try to utilize the resources around them as much as possible in a sustainable way.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?
I grew up in San Angelo, a town in west Texas, and my family and I would hunt, fish, go camping, and be out on the lake. This is where I grew up to love the outdoors and is the foundation of pursuing an education at Texas Tech University with a B.S in Environmental Conservation of Natural Resources. This led to my first job as an Environmental Scientist for an Environmental Consulting company working on oil spill clean-up and remediation projects. From there, I was working for a client who decided to hire me and landed me a career at Irving, Texas-based Pinnacle Propane for the last 9 years as an Environmental, Health, and Safety Manager.
Everyone has a cataclysmic moment or marker in their life which propels them to take certain actions, a “why”. What is your why?
I would say my “why” goes back to my love for hunting and fishing. My dad would take our whole family out every season from the time I first started to walk, and through the years, I watched the change of environment where we went on our deer lease out in West Texas. New roads were always popping up every year, and new power lines were being installed. That’s when I wondered, “How much is this affecting our wildlife and their habitat?” That realization is what sparked my interest in environmental conservation.
You are currently leading an organization that is making a difference for our planet. Can you tell us a bit about what you and your organization are trying to change?
At Pinnacle, I am responsible for environmental and regulatory compliance. I ensure processes meet regulatory standards and provide reporting to Federal, State, and Local agencies. Environmental compliance and waste generation can get costly if it is not managed.
Pinnacle Propane is fortunate to be led by our parent company, SHV Energy of the Netherlands, who are strong believers in innovation and improving processes to be a leader in sustainability. Pinnacle is part of a platform of lowering emissions by 25% by 2025. This campaign is called #25by2025 and we do this by tracking our footprint at Pinnacle from extraction and production activities to primary transport, storage, and secondary transport to our end users. This also involves 25 actions to inspire our colleagues to contribute to our sustainability objectives. We have an “I CARE” Campaign within Health and Safety and follow 7 steps to Zero — one being I look after people and the environment.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
The biggest accomplishment (that is still in progress) is Pinnacle and SHV Energy actively seeking strong partnerships to develop sustainable fuels, like renewable propane and renewable and recycledDME (dimethyl ether). Renewable and recycled DME (rDME) is an innovative sustainable fuel source that is produced from renewable and recycled feedstocks, such as dairy waste, biobased waste, and residue, or landfills. This was also one of the 25 actions featured to contribute to our #25by2025 campaign.
At home, we are fortunate to raise our kids in a rural environment. My husband and I grew up with similar values and hobbies that we can continue through the tradition of enjoying the outdoors and learning how to farm and ranch. The kids have learned so much about agriculture at such an early age, and they are learning innovative ways of farming just by going with their dad every day to check the cattle. Every day is completely different, and they are learning through experiences.
None of us can be successful without some help along the way. Did you have mentors or cheerleaders who helped you to succeed? Can you tell us a story about their influence?
My parents would be the first to mention. Without their support and motivation, I would not be where I am at today. My mentor throughout my career is Liz Scaggs, my former boss from my first job at an environmental consulting company. She paved the path to my career and has taught me a lot about every aspect of being successful like work ethic, attention to detail, and basic work principles to succeeding in a career. The doors that she opened up for me are endless. If I hadn’t worked for her, then I would never have gotten this opportunity with Pinnacle Propane.
Thank you for that. Let’s now move to the central part of our discussion. Let’s start with a basic definition of terms so that everyone is on the same page. What does climate justice mean to you? How do we operationalize it?
On a small scale, I would say climate justice means taking responsibility for reducing our footprint, improving our quality of life, protecting ecosystems, and preserving natural resources for generations to come. As a sidebar, I have three kids. What’s really important to me is making sure that this life and this earth is just as good for them as it has been for me.
Really, there are small things that we can do every day that would greatly improve the environment, such as carpooling, digitizing our work, and following the three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle. We can limit our water usage, reduce our waste, limit the use of harsh chemicals, and other things like that.
We can operationalize climate justice by investing in this concept at work and at home, by improving regulatory standards, and focusing on reducing waste. To reduce and reuse are the most effective ways you can save natural resources, protect the environment, and save money. This is something that we talk about at Pinnacle, that sustainability is not just at work, but also at home. For example, ways that we help reduce our carbon footprint at home include using compost in our garden and rotational grazing.
Science is telling us that we have 7–10 years to make critical decisions about climate change. What are three things you or your organization are doing to help?
Pinnacle and our parent, SHV Energy, are taking bold steps and moving quickly to minimize climate change in the energy sector. We are working to defossilize propane and rapidly developing demand for renewable propane, which initially is a blend of regular propane with renewable propane. SHV Energy has been a global pioneer in renewal propane, which it first launched in Europe several years ago and has made great strides in growing its sustainable fuels portfolio.
Pinnacle’s short-term ambition is to make renewable propane available for our customers, to help defossilize fuels, especially in rural areas, and help lower CO2 emissions by 80% or more. Additionally, in March 2022, we announced our investment and collaboration in the innovative synthetic biology, carbon-capture utilization technology company, LanzaTech. We also collaborated with leading universities, where we are exploring the option of Power to Gas (renewable propane from CO2 and Hydrogen). We want to do more to accelerate and are looking for more collaborations with our customers, suppliers, and other potential partners to enable us to defossilize the industry together.
Propane is already one of the cleanest fuels and energy sources with a low carbon footprint. rDME and renewable propane put us on a path of carbon neutrality or carbon negative. Our company’s global goal is to replace all of the fossil fuel volume we sourced in 2015 with 100% renewably and sustainably sourced energy by 2040. Renewable propane performs exactly the same as regular propane, with a much lower carbon footprint.
And on a smaller, practical, everyday scale, we are digitizing the way we work. We have virtual meetings more frequently to reduce travel expenses and mileage. We implemented an e-billing program to save paper, and we’ve issued reusable cups to use in the office instead of disposable cups. We have also removed the use of filing cabinets so that we could store files electronically. Last year, we donated over 400 trees (one tree per employee) to be planted through the National Forest Foundation to help restore national forests.
Are there three things the community, society, or politicians can do to help you in your mission?
Society plays a major role in that each and every one of us can do a few things every day that will add up to making a significant difference in conservation and preservation. Dedicating just one day to volunteer in your community can make a difference in helping the environment and natural ecosystems. Enforcing stringent policies on littering and polluting will also help reduce carbon impact on the environment.
We work closely at the national level with the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) and the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) to advocate and lobby for the development and commercialization of renewable propane. Pinnacle has a seat on the board of the Low Carbon Fuel Coalition to develop and support state and federal low carbon fuel policies to accelerate the production and market adoption of sustainable fuels in the US.
Propane is a vital energy source in rural areas where other energy sources such as natural gas are not available. There is a lot of work to do, but progress is happening, and we see success stories like school systems and county transportation systems switching their buses to propane, for example, and eventually that will convert to renewable propane. Of course, in order to make an impact, it cannot only be Pinnacle. Other propane companies must share our commitment. One example of this is our partnership with one of our competitors to build rDME production plants. rDME is a low carbon liquid gas that is chemically similar to propane and that reduces emissions by up to 80% compared to fossil fuels.
Globally, SHV Energy is a strong voice and active advocate for sustainable fuels to reduce impact on the environment, regularly attending and speaking at energy and sustainable fuels forums and events around the world, including the first-ever Global Clean Energy Action Forum (GCEAF) held in Pittsburgh this past September, and attended by global energy leaders, including US Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Being a leader in transforming a market or industry to becoming more sustainable, which is what Pinnacle and SHV Energy are working toward in sustainable fuels, can offer advantages in that the early innovators can establish the market and become the go-to source and resource for the market. Leading like this, of course, comes with risk, but it is nothing compared to the risk if we don’t take action and lead in this effort — for our customers, for our employees and for our planet.
And again, on a smaller day-to-day level, acting sustainably every day adds up. Reducing paper is one example of our cost savings. Utilizing virtual meetings, commuting less to the office, and converting to a hybrid work schedule also save energy and money. Another thing that we did last year was changing light bulbs to energy-efficient bulbs. That was a simple fix that saved money. There are dozens of those little cost-savings actions here and there that help companies become more environmentally conscious while saving money. It just takes focus and commitment, and it becomes a way of life.
This is the signature question we ask in most of our interviews. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
1. The sustainable life is rewarding. Knowing that you’re doing something to better the environment for future generations is rewarding in itself. It goes back to that motherhood idea that you’re not just doing something good for yourself. It also impacts your kids and future generations.
2. Stringent rules and regulatory reporting are not negative things. Rules are there to improve our data, to reduce our carbon impact, and to hold companies and people accountable. They are necessary to ensure that we provide protection for our environment.
3. A small change can make a big difference. Just a small change from each and every one of us can make a huge impact.
4. Life on a farm has its rewards. Being a farmer’s wife, I see how the weather is closely watched multiple times a day, yet you can never trust the weatherman’s forecast. Also, there is no such thing as time. When a farmer says he will be home in a few minutes, that may mean 1–4 hours. After all, raising cattle is an around-the-clock, everyday job, and a lifestyle you have to get used to, so I’ve learned to embrace it.
While I loved city life when I was young and married into farm life, I’ve come to enjoy the slower pace. I would much rather raise my family out here in the country. There’s so much beauty in it. Freedom to hunt and fish any time of the day is just one of the many perks.
5. Agriculture matters! I think a lot of people take for granted how valuable farming and agriculture are to society, and how much food it provides. Farm and ranch families comprise less than 2% of the US population. We are fortunate to raise our kids in this lifestyle because there are fewer people willing to farm and ranch. I think when you are raised this way, you grow a big appreciation for it. I want my kids to at least experience it and see it through my eyes the same way that I did growing up.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I would say Elon Musk. He’s the first one that comes to mind. I really like that he’s innovative and he puts a focus on sustainability.
How can our readers continue to follow your work online?
I’m on LinkedIn. Feel free to connect with me there.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org
How Mahlia Zachary Of Pinnacle Propane Is Helping to Promote Sustainability and Climate Justice was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.