Profile: 2009 Crew Member
Katie Kolesar
For Rocky Mountain Youth Corps alumni Katie Kolesar, preserving the environment comes naturally. A crew member in 2009 and mentor for RMYC’s youth programs, she’s spent the last 15 years researching and working in the field of air quality, from graduate school at the University of California and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan to spending the past seven years at Portland, Ore.’s Air Sciences Inc. as an air quality scientist. Among other things, one of her favorite roles was working with the Colorado Department of Transportation to develop an ambient air quality monitoring program for transportation projects. Now, she’s the head of product and sustainability for Golden, Colo.’s Renegade Plastics, growing their line of sustainable, PFAS-free, and non-toxic plastic-coated fabrics and overseeing their product recycling program. Offering the only fully recyclable coated fabric in the industry—free of lead, dioxin, and phthalates- and eliminating toxicity issues associated with PVC manufacturing, Renegade seeks to eliminate toxic plastics while building a circular plastic fabric economy.
While her penchant for preserving the environment stems far earlier than her time with RMYC, she credits her time as an RMYC crew member for further fostering her love of the outdoors. (She even donated a new 12- by 20-foot Renegade Plastics Rhino Tarp to RMYC for its annual RMYC Rendezvous July 13-14 and summer fieldwork.) “RMYC’s crews will be testing it out for us,” she says. “They’re pretty hard on their gear, so it’s about as good a testing ground as you can get.” We caught up with Katie for her take on her time in RMYC’s trenches and how it helped shape her career in preserving the planet.
What do you love about RMYC?
Oh my gosh, everything. It’s such an amazing organization that empowers young people to appreciate nature, give back to their communities, and grow their sense of independence.
What did you learn and like from being a crew member?
I learned a lot about how to lead rather than just do. There was a lot of trial and error involved with that, but when you’re living and working with the same people over the course of an entire summer, you get those learning opportunities over and over again. I really loved traveling all over Colorado and living in a tent. And, of course, learning how to properly use a Pulaski.
What was the worst part?
Having to balance weekends between resupply and recreation.
How did working with RMYC inspire you to enter the environmentally friendly material business?
RMYC's work is tangible—you can see the progress and how far you've come. This was gratifying for me and an important motivator. When one of the co-founders of Renegade told me what he was doing, I felt that instant connection again to something tangible. I can measure our impact on the yards of vinyl fabric displaced or the pounds of material diverted from landfills. I'm working with something I can hold in my hands, and I really like that.
How and why did you get involved in Renegade Plastics?
When I was on maternity leave for the birth of my son in 2022, I started feeling drawn to do something big that would make the world better for him. I remember sitting on our living room floor on my yoga mat because I didn't want to expose my newborn to PFAs used as flame retardants in sofas, scrolling through LinkedIn when I saw that my friend Curran had started a new company. It sounded intriguing, so I gave him a call. When he mentioned they needed someone to help with sustainability, I volunteered.
How environmentally conscious were your crews at RMYC?
We didn't use toilet paper in our latrines and catholes all summer, so that's pretty environmentally conscious. We also followed the standard Leave No Trace principles for camping and recreation. I guess we probably could have done better with our sump water, but everyone has their limits.
What can people do to help preserve the environment?
There are so many options. And no one thing is the ultimate “fix.” The important thing is to start where you feel comfortable and add good habits from there. One thing I recommend comes from Yvon Chouinard's philosophy of buying only what you need and buying things that will last for generations.
Bumps
Starting with coated fabrics, Renegade is building a circular economy for industrial plastics that is carbon-negative and free of toxic chemicals. PVC, vinyl-coated fabrics, and woven-coated polyethylene are everywhere, from billboards to sports equipment, school bus seats to preschool nap mats, to tarps and hoop houses covering our crops. However, they contain harmful, toxic plasticizers that are released over the lifespan of the fabric, leaching dangerous chemical additives into the environment, while woven-coated polyethylene fabrics are a common source of microplastic pollution. The founders of Renegade Plastics saw a more sustainable alternative and knew it was time to be renegades and do things differently. Renegade fabrics have a significantly lower carbon footprint than PVC-coated and laminated fabrics. PVC-coated fabrics cause immense harm to our people and planet. Every yard of PVC-coated fabric we replace with Renegade is a step in the right direction.