Getting Involved in Climate Work
I subscribe to a newsletter called Heated, written by Emily Atkin.
Recently she wanted to hear from people who were interested in working in the climate sector but don't. I wrote out a response to this and wanted to share, because my views on how you can have an impact on climate change have... well changed.
I've wanted to be in the climate space since I got out of college, but my path definitely led somewhere different. I started out working at a non-profit, hoping to ultimately work in a more climate focused organization. I left non-profit because the place I was at was very toxic.
I now work as a Design Researcher, so spend my days doing research and talking to people, understanding their thought process, and designing better platforms for them. I currently work in tech, and use my background and skillset to be very vocal about climate focused work.
Because I have a background in design and research, I've given talks at tech meetups and conferences about urban planning, climate justice, and redesigning our cities and towns so that we can be closer to nature. I write about things like: How can we make our lived spaces closer to nature? How can we make them more inclusive and accessible? How can we reimagine the cities we're already living in? How can we include more urban forests, walkability, and inclusive design? How can we reapply data and research to make better climate focused decisions?
So my focus has shifted a bit. Before I thought I had to work at a climate focused company to have an impact. Now I think that we have to bring climate work into each sphere of influence we have.
We each have a unique perspective and being able to influence my friends, colleagues, and company with my writing and speaking can help make a difference—even if I'm not working at a company that's specifically in the climate space.
And who knows where our careers may lead? The more you focus on what's important to you, the more you see opportunities to make connections between your current work and climate work. And we ALL need to be thinking about how we can make those connections!