Steve Powers serves as the chair of New Lebanon’s Climate Smart Communities Task Force (CSC) and has guided the town to a regional leadership role in the Climate Smart Communities program and NYSERDA’s Clean Energy Communities program while mentoring neighboring towns.  Powers was born and raised in Philadelphia. After college, where he majored in environmental studies and participated in a work-study at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), he then took off for Asia, where he spent the next 18 years living in Nepal, working as a mountain guide and organizer of treks and expeditions. In Nepal, he helped set up and run the Kathmandu Environmental Education Project (KEEP) to educate local guides and tourists on mitigating their environmental footprint while in the Himalayas. In addition to serving as Chair of New Lebanon’s Climate Smart Communities Task Force, Powers also serves on the Town’s Conservation Advisory Council and Zoning Rewrite Committee. He continues to operate and organize tours worldwide through his company, Hidden Treasure Tours.