Seven years ago, I started working on #ClimateAction - in my free time. A bit over a year ago, I transitioned to working on climate full time. Inspired by a great thread from @_JulietPhillips, here are personal reflections on three key issues I encountered during this transition:
1) Urgency: like few other issues, the climate crisis is characterized by urgency. This means that a lot of the usual career advice centered around first focussing on building knowledge & networks didn't resonate with me: yes, that's important, but it didn't seem enough...
...to focus on these personal outcomes without already thinking about the political outcomes that are necessary. This of course links to increasingly common concepts of young professionals needing jobs aligned with their values, which...
...has many great aspects, but let's not ignore the pressure of having your early career choices being influenced by a global crisis, as opposed to being able to try different things and, as the saying goes, "find yourself", if you have the privilege of being able to do so.
2) Work/life: as Juliet says, it's a privilege to be able to work in this space; and it's a privilege to be able to say that what I care about in life is reflected in the work I do. However, a flipside of this is that it weakens the distinction between work & life. Much...
...has been said about the personal attachment of (not only) young people to the causes they work on, but advice on time management and similar issues often goes back to traditional conceptions of work/life balance and isn't keeping up with that.
3) Specialization in the face of an all-encompassing challenge: at @OxClimateSoc, we were able to organize weekly meetings & campaigns on every possible issue related to the climate crisis. However, professionally, specialization is key for being able to have an influence, but...
...that shouldn't come at the expense of seeing the big picture, which would both demotivate and make political interventions less effective. That's why it's very important to protect spaces for thinking about bigger challenges and developments not directly related to one's work.
Lastly, one aspect from Juliet I'd like to reiterate is: success. Recognising and celebrating successes before moving on to the next important activity is so crucial for preserving one's energy, but it's a lot more difficult than it seems!
https://twitter.com/_JulietPhillips/status/1326104789432856576
These are just personal reflections that may, or may not, apply to people beginning their careers in this space. If I could think of a good hashtag I'd turn this into a challenge asking others to share their thoughts! In any case, do read Juliet's thread:
https://twitter.com/_JulietPhillips/status/1326104785368526849
And one very final point: I'm very fortunate to be able to work in a place like @e3g that does encourage big picture thinking and enables and empowers young people to take initiative, ownership, and challenge others.
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