Rachel Barge is an everyday women living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

See Jane Do met the 23-year old powerhouse last year at the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival, where she was speaking with the Brower Youth Award film.

While attending the University of California, Berkeley, Barge helped establish the Green Initiative Fund, a $2 million sustainability fund on campus that pays for energy efficiency and other environmental upgrades. For that, she received the Brower Youth Award for environmental work. After graduation, Barge founded Campus InPower, a nonprofit sustainability organization spreading the TGIF model to dozens of universities.

She is program director of the Business Council on Climate Change, 100 Bay Area companies reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and advocating for climate solutions in the private sector.

On Jan. 23, Barge will be at See Jane Do's Passion Into Action Women's Conference, in Grass Valley.

Tell us about attending the United Nations Conference on Climate in Copenhagen.

My biggest take-away from the conference was that far too much effort and emphasis has been placed on obtaining “binding” agreements from our political leaders, when in reality, no UN agreement is a silver bullet. We need real solutions, on the ground, starting now.

I am proud to be a citizen of the Bay Area, which isn't sitting around waiting for our global leaders to take action. We're taking aggressive local action now, and we're leading the way for local action around the world.

Was it a success or a disaster?

It was disappointing, but we also knew that a legally binding agreement wasn't possible going in.

The larger point is the entire UN process on climate is pretty dysfunctional. We've been debating and debating for over 25 years, and accomplished very little. It's time to leapfrog over this outdated process, make clean energy the next global moonshot competition, and convert our dirty, fossil-fuel energy sources to clean energy as fast as possible.

Why is it important for women to harness their finances?

I used to be intimidated by money, but now I see it as a vital resource. I created TGIF because I couldn't accomplish the large-scale projects I wanted to implement on campus without a major funding source.

I don't consider myself particularly passionate about finance, but I am passionate about making positive change, and I learned that harnessing financial resources for good things is incredibly rewarding.

What do you plan to cover in your Passion Into Action workshop?

My workshop “See Jane Fundraiser: Turning Passion into Money (now 100-percent Guilt-free!)” will tackle the personal psychology behind pursuing your passion and fundraising for it — specifically, the fears and emotional blocks that prevent us from starting organizations and fundraising for them.

We'll finish with a concrete fundraising plan that you can take home.

Where does your drive come from?

I was raised with the core value, “To much is given, much is expected.” My parents gave me so much love, opportunity and material support over the course of my blessed, 23-year life, that I'll probably be paying it back until I'm 80!

Every person has a unique gift to bring to the world, and sadly, not everyone is lucky enough to have the freedom and opportunity to realize that higher purpose. To those of us who were born wealthy, healthy and free, I have one message: Time to get on board and give back!