Meet Sadie Denson
GBI’s 2025 summer intern
Sadie shares her journey from wildlife conservation to sustainable building and climate action. She is currently pursuing her MS in Climate Science and Solutions at Northern Arizona University, and is based in Flagstaff, AZ. Sadie joined GBI as a Client Services & Engagement Intern in May, 2025.
What first peaked your interested in sustainability?
I was always interested in animal conservation, and honestly, it may have been Shark Week in high school that first drove home how much animals are impacted by their environment. It connected the dots that there is no conservation without addressing the climate, and that humans, animals, and the planet are really all one. We really have to take care of all of it to take care of all of us. To my family’s dismay, I switched over all of our Ziploc bags to silicone and have never looked back.
Can you share a bit about your academic and professional that lead you to GBI? / lead you to explore the built environment industry?
I have a background in wildlife biology and conservation, and my last conservation-specific role was what really turned sustainability from an interest to a potential career. I worked as a zookeeper at the Cincinnati Zoo (including with the world-famous hippo, Fiona), which is the greenest zoo in the country. They had a great energy grid that shared/conserved electricity, huge amounts of rain and gray water harvesting, and composted virtually everything. Their dedicated sustainability team worked collaboratively with decision makers, animal caretakers and technical teams to layer sustainability into each aspect of the zoo design and operation. It was really impressive, and made me realize that I saw my future in the sustainable planning and design field rather than a direct caretaker role.
I wanted to go back to school to learn more, and found my current program at NAU shortly after. As part of the program, I had the opportunity to attend GreenBiz 2025 in Phoenix where I connected with GBI staff.
What do you think is the most valuable thing you’ve learned at GBI? / What’s something that you’ve found valuable about your time with GBI?
I had a strong interest in sustainable planning before joining GBI, but my technical knowledge has grown 10x over. I’ve spent a large portion of my time completing research projects in support of other staff and have loved learning how to implement these sustainable practices.
I found the Green Globes Emerging Professional training to be extremely useful for learning about city planning and green building. It was the perfect bridge between school and work- it provided context to my classwork as well as provided the knowledge base required for professional roles in this industry moving forward.
Did you learn anything particularly unexpected? / Do you have any unexpected takeaways from your time with GBI?
Surprisingly, working at GBI has made me a lot more optimistic [about addressing climate change/about our future]. I had wondered before who would bother to pay for a more sustainable building, but working for an organization that cares about sustainability as well as aids other businesses and individuals in achieving their own sustainability goals has opened my eyes to the sheer number of people and organizations that do care about this.
Even researching state and local legislation [relevant to the built environment] is encouraging! There are many places that are going above and beyond when it comes to their sustainability and building requirements, and I didn’t expect to find policy so meaningful.
Where do you hope to go to next in your career? / Professionally, where do you see yourself next?
I think learning more about green building has set me up with a solid foundation for a career in sustainable city planning. I’d like to work for a city or county to help design more sustainable roads, buildings, and communities, and I’ve found I’m most passionate about retrofitting existing buildings.
There’s this idea that it’s always going to be cheaper and simpler to build new construction sustainability than modify existing building stock, which relies on the belief that there will always be more room to build new things. Not only does that room not really exist anymore, this approach leaves out a huge portion of society that can’t afford new construction prices.
I’d love to do more research on sustainable cities to learn how they’re making retrofitting more affordable. It may be the harder option, but I believe it’s the better option for existing communities.
Are there any books/pods/resources that you’d recommend or are enjoying right now regarding sustainability?
going.zero.waste (Instagram) – a good start for those just getting interested in sustainability, she documents her journey getting into a Zero Waste lifestyle (and gets progressively more intense as she goes on).
You Can Save the Earth by Sean K. Smith (book) – a fun handbook on sustainability and conservation.
The Intersectional Environmentalist (website) – a media collective dedicated to the intersectional study of environmentalism, because everything intersects!