Great reads and listens: Inspiration from the Degrees team

Katharine Hayhoe on how to start climate conversations: Greening your job often means talking about sustainability and climate solutions at work. But how do you talk about climate change when your boss doesn’t get it — and doesn’t want to hear it? On today’s show, climate communication rock star Dr. Katharine Hayhoe shares her own journey learning how to do some of the most difficult planet-saving work there is: learning how to talk about climate change across political, emotional, geographical, and generational divides. Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is an atmospheric scientist and the best-selling author of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, host of the PBS digital series Global Weirding, and chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy. Considered a Canadian polar bear where she lives in Texas, you’ll hear how Dr. Hayhoe has approached conversations on climate with everyone from women’s book clubs, to church groups, to college students taking jobs i by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

34 min listen

How to land one of the millions of new clean energy jobs: Federal legislation is projected to create 1.5 million new jobs in infrastructure and clean energy each year for the next ten years! Whether you want to decarbonize energy supply chains for hydrogen hubs, accelerate electric vehicle battery manufacturing or write grants to implement geothermal energy plants, there’s a role for you. Our guest, Betony Jones, directs the federal Office of Energy Jobs. A hallmark of her whole career has been finding climate solutions that boost the economy and provide good union jobs. In this episode, Betony Jones will guide you to where those jobs are and how to get one. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

21 min listen

How to green your faith communities with Rev Dr. Ambrose F. Carroll: When it comes to green careers — and planet-saving vocations — there’s a huge sector many of us overlook: faith traditions. Religious leaders from practically every tradition are now waking up to making climate change central to their theology. Today, we take a deep dive with Rev. Dr. Ambrose F. Carroll, a pastor at the forefront of a movement to “green the church” — particularly the Black church. His passion for the natural world and climate action led him to found Green the Church, an organization devoted to helping Black Churches become hubs for sustainability and environmentalism. In the sixth season of Degrees, “How to Green Your Job,” the pastor speaks with host Yesh Pavlik Slenk about his journey toward seeing himself as a steward of the planet and a faith leader. He shares the initial challenges he faced in engaging congregants and colleagues in conversations about environmentalism, and how he set out to “wak by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

26 min listen

The climate fight at the heart of the PR industry: After a squirrely career path, Solitaire Townsend found her role in the sustainability movement by filling a big communication gap: she’s persuasive, an excellent storyteller, and loves talking to people. Today, she lives and breathes public relations for good as co-founder and Chief Solutionist at her company Futerra.There, she’s led sustainability planning with name-brand organizations from the United Nations to Formula 1. But she’s also in a fight with her own industry. Solitaire is working hard to get her colleagues in PR, marketing, and advertising to stop using their talents for the objectives of fossil fuel clients. In this episode, you’ll hear about a crisis we rarely hear about: how, using the powers of storytelling and persuasion, the fossil fuel industry has been outsmarting the climate movement. And you’ll learn how Solitaire and her team began applying sophisticated storytelling strategies to sustainability before it by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

21 min listen

Hotline Episode! Sustainability careers expert Shannon Houde answers your career questions: Is the green job search making you feel downtrodden? Do you have application burnout? Do you lie awake at night wondering: Should I follow up — again? On this Degrees hotline episode with sustainability job coach Shannon Houde, we answer these questions and more. Through Shannon’s company Walk of Life coaching, she has helped more than a thousand changemakers from around the world unlock their passions, change their careers, and make an impact. In this episode, she tackles your job-seeking challenges and guides you through the frustrating and exhausting parts of the search, whether you’re just starting your career journey or making a mid-career change. She’ll help you translate your skills to a field you want. She’ll help you celebrate every win (even if it’s not THE job) and teach you which job-hunting tactics will actually get you results. Don’t miss the insights she shares with Degrees host by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

31 min listen

Hollywood screenwriter and producer Scott Z. Burns on making climate change central to storytelling: Scott Z. Burns intends to be part of climate action, and he’s using his prolific storytelling talents to both entertain and inspire others to do the same. You’ve likely seen his work. Scott has spent years honing his storytelling chops as a screenwriter, director, producer and playwright. He wrote screenplays such as the 2011 medical disaster thriller “Contagion,” 2007’s “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Informant,” and was also a producer on Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” His new project, “Extrapolations,” is a series about how climate change impacts our relationships, work, worship– and ultimately every aspect of our lives. In the sixth season of Degrees, “How to Green Your Job,” Scott speaks with Degrees host Yesh Pavlik Slenk about how he went from advertising (the famous “Got Milk” campaign) to Hollywood. He also talks about how a love for the planet has been an ongoin by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

19 min listen

From mud cakes to high stakes with Youth Climate Collaborative’s Pooja Tilvawala: Ever wonder what it’s like to bring your own seat to the table at one of the world’s largest, high-stakes climate conferences? Youth Climate Collaborative (YCC) founder Pooja Tilvawala certainly knows. Since attending her first global climate summit in 2018 as a college senior, Pooja has been getting her foot in the door to participate in some of the most important climate convenings of our time, including the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, COP26. In 2020, at the age of 24, Pooja began laying the groundwork for YCC. She wanted to help other young people channel their climate anxiety into action on the global stage. On this episode of Degrees Season 6: How to Green Your Job, join us as Pooja–now 27–reflects on her journey. You’ll learn how you, too, can make your voice heard at global climate summits. And while it may all feel super serious, in the end there is always room for laughs. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

20 min listen

Eco-anxiety is fueling a new green career: climate psychology: You likely have lots of feelings about living in a changing climate: from anger to frustration, dread and anxiety, but also motivation to do something about it out of love for being alive, love for your family and love for the planet. Rebecca Weston says that while these emotions can be difficult and scary, all of the feelings you have about climate change, including your love for the planet, can be "mobilized" into action on personal and community levels. Weston is a psychotherapist who practices climate psychology. She’s also co-president of the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America. In the sixth season of Degrees, “How to Green Your Job,” Rebecca speaks with Degrees host Yesh Pavlik Slenk about how this approach to mental health care is different from how the field has historically been practiced. She also shares her journey from labor law to climate-aware psychology, and how she grappled with her own climate an by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

25 min listen

Creating zero waste in an unexpected place: the hair care industry: Creating a green career out of thin air? That’s bananas! Literally. Ciara Imani May is the CEO of the company Rebundle, a hair extensions brand made out of the fiber found in banana trees. What started as a quest to live a zero waste lifestyle and find a career through which Imani May could live her values, has led to a consumer product that solves an environmental problem — and a health issue too. In this episode of Degrees Season 6: How to Green Your Job, join us as we take a trip down memory lane with Ciara Imani May to understand how she came up with her plant-based idea and transformed it into a product that’s positively impacting people and the planet. And while entrepreneurship might not be the path for everyone, her story shows that being values-driven and persistent can help you be the green change you want to see. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

23 min listen

How a punk-rocking paralegal harnessed employee power to green Microsoft: Struggling to find a sustainability job? Well, good news. You don’t have to find one…you can MAKE one. Drew Wilkinson was a punk rocker and eco-pirate when he landed a job as a paralegal at Microsoft. He felt like a fish out of water in the corporate tech world, but instead of changing his DIY-contrarian tune, Drew leaned in. Though “sustainability” wasn’t in his job description, Drew co-founded a powerful employee sustainability community. It would grow to the thousands, stretch across the globe, and push Microsoft to use their billions to do better for the planet. In the first episode of Degrees Season 6: How to Green Your Job, Drew’s story is a top-notch lesson in forging your way into a planet-saving career. He took what he already knew how to do — disrupt a system, innovate solutions, and organize folks around him — and applied it to greening his workplace. Now, he’s taking his climate solutions work outsi by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

29 min listen

Introducing Season 6: How to Green Your Job: More than half of Gen Z and millennials are pressuring employers to green their companies — and almost that many would switch jobs to help the climate. Great news: This new season of Degree is all about “How to Green Your Job.” If you’re looking to change careers or want to “green” the job you already have – this season, hosted by sustainability jobs expert Yesh Pavlik Slenk, is for you. And even better news: there are a ton of opportunities to get paid to fight climate change — opportunities that are surprising, hidden, or just emerging. You’re likely more qualified than you think. Season 6 includes inspiring stories of people who’ve found green careers or adapted their existing jobs to be more climate friendly. Hear from screenwriter, director and producer Scott Z. Burns; Ciara Imani May, founder of Rebundle, which makes non-toxic, plant-based braids; Drew Wilkinson, climate activist and co-founder of Microsoft’s 10,000-member employee by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

2 min listen

How to green any job with Project Drawdown's Jamie Beck Alexander: Struggling to find a “climate job?” Hit pause on that Google search and ponder a radically different solution to your green job-hunting problem. Jamie Beck Alexander has a mantra that could change your entire mindset: “Every job is a climate job.” As director of Drawdown Labs, Alexander is pushing for every company on the planet to fight climate change. How? By harnessing the power of employee voices to change systems for the better from the inside. In the final installment of The Year of the Climate Job, Alexander shares actionable, practical ways you can put a climate lens on the job you currently have. Drawdown Labs has created seven different guides with concrete ways to green your job, no matter your specialty. The guides, based on extensive, hands-on research, offer transformative methods for people working in finance, government relations, marketing, legal, sales, human resources and procurement. And this episo by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

18 min listen

The great electrician shortage: a bonus episode from The Carbon Copy with Stephen Lacey: The table is set for widespread electrification. But, facing a shortage of electricians to make it happen, could this be an opportunity for you to make a big difference? We’re sharing an episode from a podcast we love called The Carbon Copy. To decarbonize the economy, we need to electrify everything. That means installing millions of heat pumps, EV chargers, electric water heaters and rooftop solar panels. But there’s one big problem: finding enough electricians to make it happen. Electricians across the country are flooded with work — and just as demand is skyrocketing, many in the field are nearing retirement age. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

30 min listen

Learn how to build your climate experience with Terra.do founder Anshuman Bapna: In 2020, Anshuman Bapna needed a major shift in his life, a professional one. With the magnitude and urgency of the climate crisis weighing on him, he decided to leave his good job to pursue climate work. But what, exactly? He didn’t know. Making the change was tough. As Bapna tried to navigate his way to a new climate-specific role, he found a calling he never expected: He could help other green jobseekers who were experiencing similar job-hunting roadblocks. Thus Bapna’s company, the online education and training firm Terra.do, was born. And it was born with an enormous mission: To get 100 million people working on climate solutions in the next decade. In this episode of The Year of the Climate Job, Bapna shares strategies for confronting daunting green job descriptions asking for years of direct experience. He also offers advice on how to gain new skills, build your portfolio, and send a message to po by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

22 min listen

Transfer Your Skills to a Green Job with Work on Climate’s Eugene Kirpichov: Eugene Kirpichov had a great job as a software engineer at Google. But he left it all behind. As he expressed in a resignation letter that went viral on LinkedIn, “the scale, urgency and tragedy of climate change are so immense that I can no longer justify to myself working on anything else.” That letter, which urged others to follow suit, set the course for his career path. He would go on to co-found the wildly successful Work on Climate community, which today boasts more than 20,000 members. It’s been lauded everywhere from Fast Company to The New York Times. In the latest installment of The Year of the Climate Job, Kirpichov shares how you can take stock of your own skills, which are likely far more climate-ready than you realize. And he shares his vision for making climate work “mainstream,” along with how he and his co-founders started Work on Climate as a Slack community and built it into the mighty arm by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

23 min listen

How to network for a green job with purpose-driven LinkedIn expert Nick@Noon: Building a network in a new field is tough. But 80% of all jobs are found through networking—and to get the green job you want, you can’t avoid it. How can you make it both more enjoyable AND more effective? Get just the right hacks from TechChange CEO and founder Nick Martin, who teaches purpose-driven jobseekers how to network—or, as he calls it—how to build relationships. With a LinkedIn following of more than 200,000, Martin has made it his mission to help people who want to change the world expand their professional connections. People flock to his page because he’s constantly curating job postings, resources, and people to follow, all around social impact work. He shares his methods for understanding the network you already have, even when you don’t realize it (spoiler alert: it involves spreadsheets), and how you can get the most bang out of LinkedIn in your green job search. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

19 min listen

Browngirl Green’s Kristy Drutman: Taking the mystery out of finding a green job: When you know you want a green job but you have no idea how to find organizations that fit you —your interests, your experience, and your personality—what do you do? The Year of the Climate Job host, Daniel Hill, talks with Kristy Drutman, who founded Browngirl Green and the Green Jobs Board, to solve exactly this problem. Because she faced it herself, and she had to learn to demystify climate work before she could find her own path in it. The truth is, the climate economy is growing and evolving. Every day, new green jobs are being created. But it’s a confusing job market shrouded in mystery. It’s no wonder it’s difficult to identify the right companies and roles for you. In this first episode of our new mini-series, “The Year of the Climate Job,” Kristy offers strategies you can put to work today to get unstuck. And she tells us how she developed her own climate career roadmap when one wasn’t clear. Sh by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

20 min listen

Introducing ‘The Year of the Climate Job,” a special Degrees mini-series: Searching for a green job can be a slog. From job postings with endless lists of qualifications to the lousy advice about how to get your foot in the door, to the ghosting, it’s frustrating — especially when you so badly want a job fighting climate change. In this five-part Degrees miniseries, “The Year of the Climate Job,” we get you unstuck. Host Daniel Hill speaks with movers and shakers in the rapidly changing green workforce landscape. Guests include Kristy Drutman of Browngirl Green and the Green Jobs Board; Work on Climate’s Eugene Kirpichov; and Terra.do founder Anshuman Bapna. They share creative, practical ways to land a job and build a career in climate work. Listen to each episode for actions you can take today. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

2 min listen

How Heather McTeer Toney is redefining climate action for the next generation of leaders: Elected one of the youngest Black female mayors in the United States before serving as administrator of the EPA’s southeastern region, Heather McTeer Toney is now leading a movement to make sure that everyone is encouraged to be part of the millions of the green jobs of the future. Heather knows what it’s like to feel left out of the environmental movement, despite being affected by climate change every day and leading efforts to mitigate its effects. Today, she’s working to ensure that communities on the frontlines of climate change are recognized for their climate expertise and that community knowledge is central to climate solutions. We all need to “embrace climate justice as the social justice issue of our time,” she says. Where do you fit? After you listen to this episode, you’ll see opportunities you never imagined. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

45 min listen

The future of climate-smart ag and the hot politics of your dinner plate: Thousands of jobs and billions of dollars are at stake in the political fight over how climate-friendly our food supply should become. No matter the outcome, fascinating food jobs of the future are emerging. Want to fix our food system – and take gigatons of emissions out of it? We get the lay of the land from award-winning food policy journalist Helena Bottemiller Evich. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

44 min listen

How to solve the EV problem and a jobs problem at the same time: Three years ago, Kameale C. Terry and Evette Ellis founded ChargerHelp!, one of the first companies to repair broken charging stations, fast. Their growth is eye-popping: They’ve raised millions and will be in all 50 states by the end of the year. But their success rests upon their ability to train a new EV workforce – not just for ChargerHelp, but for the whole field. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

35 min listen

Tracking jaguars with a toddler: Introducing Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant: Yesh introduces a podcast she loves: Going Wild with wildlife conservationist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. In this hit PBS podcast, Dr. Wynn-Grant takes us on journeys to study the most fascinating wildlife in the world…but it doesn’t always go smoothly. Today, she attempts to bring her toddler along on a jaguar-tracking expedition in the Panama rainforest. It’s an adventurous, boots-on-the-ground example of a career that matters to all of us, if we are to save the planet. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

34 min listen

How to get a job investing millions in planet-saving tech: The climate tech investing space is growing fast. Curious about how to get involved? Venture firm Lowercarbon Capital "backs kickass companies that make real money slashing CO2 emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf**k the planet." Learn how VCs are enabling jobs of the future to advance ideas like 100% beef that never had hooves, fully electric passenger planes, kelp-farming, carbon-sinking robots, and a fungus that eats carbon and pays farmers. Do these sound like technologies of the future or what? Well, guess what? This future is here. And climate-tech investor Mia Diawara shares what it's like at one of the hottest VC firms in climate investing — and how this engineer, poet and professional dancer found her way to one of the most exciting planet-saving careers. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

30 min listen

How do we learn to live with wildfire?: US Forest Service research ecologist Frank Kanawha Lake is bringing Indigenous ways of knowing to managing fire into the 21st century. Frank learned from his Yurok and Karuk family the cultural practice of setting fires to prevent blazes. He is at the heart of a conflict that’s raged for more than a century: Is all fire bad? Can we use fire for good? How? Jobs to address wildfires could include lots of career paths. What skills do you need? In the field, they need people who can run bulldozers to suppress fires, or harvest logs with a skid-steer. They also need wildlife biologists and hydrologists to understand how fire impacts whole ecosystems. And there’s a whole new field incorporating new technologies into wildfire -- which can work with Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Frank Kanawha Lank notes, “I see this as an emergent field for a lot of young Native people who have traditional teachings and upbringings like I have, but who are also ge by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

33 min listen

Building a Black community for green jobseekers: The good news: Climate action offers the biggest job opportunity of our lifetimes. The bad news: The environmental workforce remains overwhelmingly white. But not if Wes Gobar can help it. With Kiera Givens, Miles Braxton, and Sarah Nesbit, Wes co-founded BlackOak Collective, a career network growing green jobs for Black environmentalists. In doing so, he changed people’s lives, including his own. For his mission, Grist named him one of the top 50 people shaping the future of the planet. Yesh talks with him about his journey, about not feeling alone as a Black jobseeker, and about why the planet needs us to diversify the green workforce. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

30 min listen

The woman greening the golden arches: Can you use your MBA to save the planet? Just ask the chief sustainability officer at McDonald’s, Jenny McColloch. McColloch has one of the most influential sustainability jobs in the business world: leading the effort to green McDonald’s 40,000 restaurants. It’s a tough challenge that could transform all parts of the global company, from sourcing beef and chicken to new product development to water and power use. But it’s also rewarding: With restaurants in more than 100 countries, the opportunity to move the needle on climate change is enormous. For this special episode, we super-sized our team. For our interview with McColloch, Yesh joined forces with Mike Toffel, host of Climate Rising, a podcast about the impact of climate change on business from Harvard Business School. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

42 min listen

How a psychology major is on the frontlines of decarbonizing a global industry: If you want to make the world a better place, it might be surprising, but a huge industry -- like concrete or construction -- might be the perfect fit. You see, if concrete were its own nation, it would be the third largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the world -- behind the US and China. Talk about impact. Yesh talks with Christie Gamble, the Senior Sustainability Director at a clean tech company called CarbonCure Technologies, an XPrize winner, that’s on a mission to decarbonize the concrete industry. A huge part of CarbonCure’s success is Christie’s role as a bridge builder -- a job skill that is vital to any green job. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

37 min listen

10 Ways to Save the Planet: Nine million new planet-saving jobs will be created over the next decade. This season, we’re talking all about the jobs of the future. Yesh goes deep into the opportunities to come with Ryan Panchadsaram, co-author of the book Speed & Scale, an action plan to get global emissions to zero by 2050. Ryan breaks this monumental task down into the ten most important actions we need to take to save the planet—and what those actions will mean for your career. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

27 min listen

The fastest electric vehicle fleet makeover in the west: Transportation is the largest single source of carbon emissions in the U.S. People who can electrify vehicle fleets are in demand — especially in school districts, where diesel emissions are causing skyrocketing rates of childhood asthma. Yesh talks with the ebullient Gilbert Blue Feather Rosas, who raised millions of dollars to bring electric buses to one of America’s biggest school districts. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

31 min listen

Introducing Season 4: Jobs of the Future: Kicking our addition to fossil fuels is the single biggest job opportunity of a lifetime. This season, we’re spotlighting jobs of the future, those that will reduce carbon emissions the fastest. And tune in for our new feature, #AskYesh! Host and climate careers expert Yesh Pavlik Slenk solves your job-seeking dilemmas and offers her advice on how to get paid to save the planet. by Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers

3 min listen

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Great reads and listens: Inspiration from the Degrees team

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