Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

Pooja Tilvawala is an Indian-American climate justice advocate, opportunity curator, and youth engagement expert with five years of experience in the global climate movement. Since 2020, she has served as the founder and executive director of Youth Climate Collaborative (YCC), which is creating a more just, inclusive, and intergenerational climate movement that sustains youth and their initiatives for meaningful climate action. She is a current recipient of the Walking Softer Award for young climate leaders, and an Advisor to Rivet, which intends to create the world’s largest micro-grant fund for youth-led action.Resources from this episode:Learn about the work of Youth Climate Collaborative. Listen to another interview with Pooja about how to make climate justice work accessible.Network with Pooja by following her on LinkedIn.Check out this climate comedy recommendation: Climate Town with Rollie WilliamsRelated episodes:How to network for a green job with purpose-driven LinkedIn expert Nick@NoonLearn how to build your climate experience with Terra.do founder Anshuman Bapna***🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Yesh Pavlik Slenk on LinkedIn👉 Follow up on social media:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund X (formerly Twitter)@EnvDefenseFund on TikTokEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Credits:Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Yesh Pavlik Slenk is our host.  Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Ayo Oti produced this episode. Mia Lobel is our story editor. Engineering by Kevin Kline. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rebecca Weston, LCSW and JD is a metro-New York psychotherapist and co-president of the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. She supports climate-aware mental health practitioners and professionals on the front lines of climate work. She’s also written multiple pieces and spoken on the mental health impacts of the climate crisis, and how other systems of inequity affect climate mental issues. Resources from this episode:What is climate psychology?Visit Rebecca Weston’s website.Learn more about the work of Climate Psychology Alliance of North AmericaFind more information on Climate Cafes.Watch Renee Lertzman’s TED Talk.Read more of Renee Lertzman’s work. For those dealing with burnout, Weston recommends reading the work of Rebecca Solnit. Read the Newsweek piece that Weston co-authored on “climate silence.” Check out EDF’s Green Jobs Hub.Related episodes:Yes, you can turn your climate anxiety into meaningful actionHow to green any job with Project Drawdown's Jamie Beck AlexanderHow a psychology major is on the frontlines of decarbonizing a global industry***🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Yesh Pavlik Slenk on LinkedIn👉 Follow up on social media:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on Twitter@EnvDefenseFund on TikTokEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Who makes Degrees?Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Yesh Pavlik Slenk is our host.  Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Stephanie Wolf produced this episode. Mia Lobel is our story editor. Ayo Oti is our researcher. Engineering by Kevin Kline. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ciara Imani May is the founder of Rebundle, the first U.S.-made, plant-based hair extensions brand on a mission to provide more comfort and less waste through eco-friendly and non-toxic hair extensions. The idea for Rebundle sparked in 2019 when Ciara suffered from one too many itchy scalps from wearing braids made from plastic synthetic hair. In researching alternatives, Ciara came to understand that banana fibers could provide a sustainable option. That breakthrough led to Rebundle’s first product, braidbetter.Resources from this episode:Check out the Rebundle website to learn more about the ReGen Hair Fiber™ that May’s company created.Follow Rebundle on social media: Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter)Learn about Rebundle’s recycling partner Terracycle, a company helping Rebundle customer’s recycle their old plastic-based hair extensions.Read this article for more about Ciara’s venture capital funding journey.Learn about the USDA’s BioPreferred program. Rebundle’s braidBetter is the first hair extensions product to receive the certification.If you liked this episode, you’ll love these:The woman greening the golden archesBuilding a Black community for green jobseekers***🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Yesh Pavlik Slenk on LinkedIn👉 Follow up on social media:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on X (formerly Twitter)@EnvDefenseFund on TikTokEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Who makes Degrees?Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Yesh Pavlik Slenk is our host.  Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Ayo Oti researched and produced this episode. Mia Lobel is our story editor. Production manager Andrew Parrella edited this episode. Editing assistance on this episode from executive producer Elaine Appleton Grant. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Drew Wilkinson is a climate activist and co-founder of Microsoft’s 10,000-member employee sustainability community, which has pushed the company to protect natural resources and operate with more sustainable practices. Now, as founder of Climate Leadership Collective, he helps organizations on the people side of sustainability: employee engagement, culture and change management, community building, green skilling, and leadership development. His mission is to make sustainability part of everybody’s job.Resources from this episode:Check out recent reports on sustainability job growth:The Deloitte Global 2023 Gen Z and Millennial SurveyClosing the Sustainability Skills Gap (microsoft.com)The Future of Jobs Report 2023 | World Economic Forum (weforum.org)Check out Drew’s website to learn more about his consulting work with Climate Leadership Collective. Learn about his punk rock, sea pirate, and DIY background.Read Drew’s blog on how to Make Sustainability Part of Everybody's Job. Learn more about Microsoft’s Sustainability Connected Community:Read Drew’s article on How to Build Your Own Employee Sustainability Community.Listen to Powered by the People, a Microsoft podcast that tells the community’s origin story.Watch Climate at Work’s panel about building grassroots sustainability movements within companies, featuring Sustainability Connected at Microsoft and Anthroprocene at Google. Check out how Drew used the Microsoft Hackathon to help clean up the ocean. Listen to the music of Drew’s hardcore punk band, Run with the Hunted, and the song you heard in this episode, Destroy All Calendars.If you liked this episode, you’ll love these related Degrees episodes:How to green any job with Project Drawdown's Jamie Beck AlexanderHow Heather McTeer Toney is redefining climate action for the next generation of leadersThe fastest electric vehicle fleet makeover in the west***🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Yesh Pavlik Slenk on LinkedIn👉 Follow up on social media:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on X@EnvDefenseFund on TikTokEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Yesh Pavlik Slenk is our host.  Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Tressa Versteeg produced this episode. Mia Lobel is our story editor. Ayo Oti is our researcher and Audrey Nelson provided fact checking. Engineering by Kevin Kline. Editing assistance on this episode from executive producer Elaine Appleton Grant. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Yesh Pavlik Slenk on LinkedIn👉 Follow up on social media:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on Twitter@EnvDefenseFund on TikTokEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Yesh Pavlik Slenk is our host.  Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. The Degrees production team includes story editor Mia Lobel; producers Tressa Versteeg, Stephanie Wolf, and Ayo Oti; audio engineers Kevin Kline, Matthew Simonson, and Daniel Chavez Crook; production manager Andrew Parrella; podcast manager Tina Bassir, and executive producer Elaine Appleton Grant. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jamie Beck Alexander, Director of Drawdown Labs, talks about how professionals can incorporate climate solutions into their jobs, highlighting the influence employees have on their companies. They discuss the efforts of Amazon employees advocating for climate action and the importance of integrating climate considerations within organizations. They also explore impactful climate solutions and provide practical action guides for individuals and workplaces.

The Carbon Copy is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.In a special collaboration with Grist, reporter Emily Pontecorvo discusses where to find all the electricians we need to electrify everything and how we can train enough new entrants to the field to meet our climate goal. Read Emily’s feature article.Read a transcript of this episode: The great electrician shortage.***Related episodes from the Year of the Climate Job - a Degrees miniseries: How to network for a green job with purpose-driven LinkedIn expert Nick@NoonBrowngirl Green’s Kristy Drutman: Taking the mystery out of finding a green jobTransfer your skills to a green job with Work on Climate’s Eugene KirpichovLearn how to build your climate experience with Terra.do founder Anshuman Bapna***Resources:🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Daniel Hill on LinkedIn👉 Stay up to date by following us at:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on TwitterEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Who makes Degrees?Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Daniel Hill hosts The Year of the Climate Job. Yesh Pavlik Slenk hosts Degrees. Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Stephanie Wolf is senior producer; Andrew Parrella is our production manager; Elaine Appleton Grant is CEO of Podcast Allies and Tina Bassir is podcast manager. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Anshuman Bapna is CEO and founder of Terra.do, an international platform with educational opportunities designed to help people get jobs working on climate. The aspiration is to get 100 million more people working in the climate economy in the next decade. Bapna is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded and launched several startups. He’s also worked with Deloitte, Google, and MakeMyTrip. He says he gets his best career and life advice from his children. Read the transcript of this episode***Resources from this episode:Check out Terra.do’s different courses.Find other climate learning and training platforms:UN SDG: Learn platformHarvard Business School Online - Sustainable Business StrategyJoin climate-specific communities:Work on ClimateWomen in ClimateClimatebaseClimate DraftMCJ CollectiveMy Climate Journey podcastGreenbiz Sustainability ConferenceBrowse climate-related job boards:GreenBiz Sustainability JobsGreen Jobs BoardGreen Jobs NetworkClimate PeopleTo find people to follow on LinkedIn, visit LinkedIn’s Top Voices in the Green Economy list.Find nonprofits, public service organizations or higher education programs doing interesting climate-related work:Rewiring AmericaProject DrawdownUC Berkeley Opportunity Lab’s Climate and Society InitiativeStanford Doerr School of SustainabilitySearch the hashtag #OpenDoorClimate on LinkedIn to find climate professionals who are willing to chat with you. (This is the movement founded by Year of the Climate Job Host Daniel Hill. Here are some articles we love::GQ: How an online school is working towards a climate-smart futureBloomberg: 100,000 Green Jobs Announced Since US Adopted Climate Law, Study FindsGreebiz: How will the Inflation Reduction Act spur job creation for the climate tech sector?The Hechinger Report: COLUMN: New climate legislation could create 9 million jobs. Who will fill them?Related episodes:How to network for a green job with purpose-driven LinkedIn expert Nick@NoonBrowngirl Green’s Kristy Drutman: Taking the mystery out of finding a green jobTransfer your skills to a green job with Work on Climate’s Eugene Kirpichov***🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Daniel Hill on LinkedIn👉 Stay up to date by following us at:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on TwitterEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Who makes Degrees?Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Daniel Hill hosts The Year of the Climate Job. Yesh Pavlik Slenk hosts Degrees. Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Stephanie Wolf is senior producer; Eric Aaron is our audio editor; Andrew Parrella is our production manager; Elaine Appleton Grant is CEO of Podcast Allies and Tina Bassir is podcast manager. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Eugene Kirpichov co-founded Work on Climate, an online community for people passionate about solving the climate crisis, in 2020. Prior to WoC, Kirpichov spent more than seven years as a software engineer with Google. But learning how severe the climate crisis was, he felt he could no longer stay in his job. The resignation letter he shared on LinkedIn went viral.Read the transcript of this episodeResources from this episode:Join Eugene Kirpichov’s Work on Climate community.Join other climate-specific communities:Terra DoWomen in ClimateClimatebaseClimate DraftMCJ CollectiveGreenbiz Sustainability ConferenceRead Kirpichov’s goodbye-to-Google letter.Check out the Climate Change and AI report that helped Kirpichov understand which of his skills were transferable.Browse other climate-related job boards:GreenBiz Sustainability JobsGreen Jobs NetworkClimate PeopleTo find people to follow on LinkedIn, visit LinkedIn’s Top Voices in the Green Economy list.Search the hashtag #OpenDoorClimate on LinkedIn to find climate professionals who are willing to chat with you. (This is the movement founded by Daniel Hill. Year of the Climate Job host and director of Environmental Defense Fund’s Innovation Fund.)Sign up for the Degrees newsletter.Here are some articles we love::Fast Company: He quit Google to work on climate change. Now, he’s helping others do the same thingUSA Today: Hiring boom: A two-year degree lands a green energy job that pays ‘a pretty penny’‘Recession Resilent’ Climate Start-Ups Shine in Tech DownturnRelated episodes:How to network for a green job with purpose-driven LinkedIn expert Nick@NoonBrowngirl Green’s Kristy Drutman: Taking the mystery out of finding a green job***🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Daniel Hill on LinkedIn👉 Stay up to date by following us at:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on TwitterEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Who makes Degrees?Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Daniel Hill hosts The Year of the Climate Job. Yesh Pavlik Slenk hosts Degrees. Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Stephanie Wolf is senior producer; Kevin Kline is our audio editor; Andrew Parrella is our production manager; Elaine Appleton Grant is CEO of Podcast Allies and Tina Bassir is podcast manager. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Technologist and entrepreneur Nick Martin founded the social impact company TechChange. He’s taught graduate courses at several colleges, including Columbia University. Martin is also known for his LinkedIn presence. Known as Nick@Noon, he has more than 200,000 followers who come to him for social impact career tips and resources. Episode transcript Resources from this episode:Follow Nick Martin on LinkedIn.To find people to follow on LinkedIn, visit LinkedIn’s Top Voices in the Green Economy list.Search the hashtag #OpenDoorClimate on LinkedIn to find climate professionals who are willing to chat with you. (This is the movement founded by Year of the Climate Job Host Daniel Hill. Learn more about climate career scholarships from Dream.org.Check out Environmental Defense Fund’s Green Jobs Hub.Read the 2022 LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report.Join the following climate-specific communities and attend their events:Work on ClimateTerra DoWomen in ClimateClimatebaseClimate DraftMCJ CollectiveGreenbiz Sustainability ConferenceBrowse other climate-related job boards:GreenBiz Sustainability JobsGreen Jobs NetworkClimate PeopleSign up for the Degrees newsletter.Here are some articles we love::Bloomberg: 100,000 Green Jobs Announced Since US Adopted Climate Law, Study FindsCNBC Work: How to get a job often comes down to one elite professional asset, and many people still don’t realize itRelated episodes:Land a green job 10110 ways to save the planetThe woman greening the golden archesCareer reinvention: From world-touring musician to environmental champion***🌎 Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more.💚 Follow and rate Degrees on Apple, Spotify, CastBox, or your favorite listening app. 📧 Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more.🔗 Connect with Daniel Hill on LinkedIn or through the #OpenDoorClimate initiative.👉 Stay up to date by following us at:@environmental_defense_fund on Instagram@EnvDefenseFund on TwitterEnvironmental Defense Fund on LinkedIn***Who makes Degrees?Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers is presented by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Daniel Hill hosts The Year of the Climate Job. Yesh Pavlik Slenk hosts Degrees. Amy Morse is EDF’s producer. Podcast Allies is our production company. Stephanie Wolf is senior producer; Andrew Parrella is our production manager; Elaine Appleton Grant is CEO of Podcast Allies and Tina Bassir is podcast manager. Eric Aaron edited the audio in this episode. Our music is Shame, Shame, Shame from Yesh’s favorite band, Lake Street Dive. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.