Philip Mathieu was born in Maine and lived much of his youth in the foothills of the White Mountains; he is a hiker, a Nordic skier, and a certified Wilderness First Responder. The value of his rural upbringing became more apparent to him when he attended Brown University, where he majored in physics. “Living in the city for the first time, helped me appreciate the privilege of access to the outdoors, as well as the urgent need to protect our natural spaces and to prepare for the effects of climate change. Towards the end of my undergrad I began to pivot towards sustainability, and ways to apply my science background in sustainability-related fields.”
Post-graduation he worked as an educator, most recently at The Ecology School in Saco. Education is in Philip’s DNA – his parents are teachers. In addition to his work in the classroom, he’s continued to focus on sustainability, particularly in the food industry. Philip was one of the original co-founders of Uproot Plant-Based Milk, and is also the Maine operations lead for One Mighty Mill, which bakes organically-grown wheat from Maine into pretzels, bagels, and tortillas. “I’m responsible for expanding our customer base in Maine. We’re currently pursuing partnerships with local breweries, in the hopes that we can encourage people to snack local when they drink local.”
Here at CELT, in addition to coordinating our existing educational programs and assisting with community events, he’s developing new initiatives with the middle and high schools; he’s just wrapped up several pilot programs with the AP Biology and AP Environmental Science classes. We look forward to Philip’s enthusiasm, and to assisting with product sampling!
