Volunteer Spotlight: Michael Linn, AB ‘70 MBA ‘73

Michael Linn graduated from Harvard College in 1970 and from Harvard Business School in 1973. In addition to leading HACE’s upcoming Climate Reality Bootcamp, he is also a father of 5, investor, entrepreneur, and manager “lucky enough to know unbelievably good and talented people.” Michael feels as if he has completed the worker/parent part of his life and is now focused on addressing climate-related issues on behalf of the earth and its children from atop a mountain in Huntsville, Alabama, where he currently resides.

Michael first became passionate about environmental activism when he became a parent, as being a parent exposed him to the “miracle of life”. However, he was also exposed to destruction while living in Florida, when five hurricanes destroyed his property and threatened to destroy his future.

Despite ups and downs, Michael persisted and has already achieved some remarkable feats. His accomplishments include inventing artificial intelligence and thermal energy storage controls that reduce energy use in built environments by over 50%, and he is now working to bring his invention to residential and commercial scale applications. He hopes to cut the cost of weatherizing homes and energy dependence by 50%, while creating healthier and more comfortable home environments.

Michael is motivated to be an active part of HACE because he believes we must evolve or go extinct. He notes “we literally live in a world of abundance, yet there are children who only eat a meal every other day, if they are lucky.” He hopes that through HACE he will be able to learn what works while also helping to activate some of the greatest leaders on Earth: Harvard alumni. Michael would thus like to ask the members of our group to pick the place where they can have the most impact on preserving all living beings on Earth and continue to act on it, and share their knowledge with other leaders and volunteers in the climate movement.