Dr. Katharine Hayhoe’s research focuses on understanding what climate change means for people and the places where we live. She is the Horn Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Public Law at Texas Tech University. Her book Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, followed her 2018 TED Talk, “The most im…

Betony Jones is a nationally recognized expert in labor-climate issues, with a focus on the intersection between climate jobs, clean energy, and unions. As the director of the Office of Energy Jobs, she oversees workforce development strategies and engages with organized labor and other stakeholders to ensure that the Department of Energy’s (DOE) p…

Rev. Dr. Ambrose F. Carroll, Sr., is the founder and CEO of Green The Church, a catalyst for environmentalism and sustainability built for and by the Black Church. Pastor Carroll serves on the National Environmental Justice Action Committee for the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He’s also been a fellow with the Atlantic Fellows for …

Solitaire is a renowned sustainability expert who works with some of the world’s most influential organizations. She is co-founder and Chief Solutionist at Futerra and trustee of the Solutions Union. In 2023 she was named ‘Agency Lead of the Year’ at Adweek’s Sustainability Awards. Her popular TED Talk, Forbes column and most recent book – The Solu…

Shannon Houde is the multi-lingual International Coaching Federation (ICF)-certified coach and talent strategist behind Walk of Life Coaching, where she has mentored and trained 1000+ change leaders to maximize their personal brands to advance their impact careers. After working as a financial analyst, eco-tour guide, recruiter, and then ESG consul…

Scott Z. Burns is a screenwriter, director, producer and playwright. His film writing credits include “The Bourne Ultimatum,” “The Informant!," "Contagion,” “Side Effects,” and “The Laundromat.” As a director, his work includes “Pu-239” and “The Report.” He also was a producer for the Academy Award-winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” and se…

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 …

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 o…

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 r…

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,…

🌎 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 Sl…

Jamie Beck Alexander is the director of Drawdown Labs, a division of the climate nonprofit Project Drawdown. In 202, Alexander developed and launched Drawdown Labs, which works with the private sector to accelerate their adoption of climate solutions. She’s been heralded for her TEDx Talk about empowering workers to be the driving change for the cl…

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 thi…

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 wo…

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 Link…

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 transcrip…

Kristy Drutman is a speaker, content producer, consultant and environmental advocate. Much of her work is focused on where media, diversity, equity and environmentalism intersect. She founded the storytelling site Browngirl Green and co-founded the Green Jobs Board, where she curates good, paid jobs in the climate space. Drutman has been invited to…

🌎 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…

Elected at age 27, Heather McTeer Toney knows what it means to be a public servant. She was the first African-American, first female and the youngest to serve as mayor of Greenville, Mississippi from 2004-2012. In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed her as regional administrator of the EPA’s Southeast Region, at eight states the largest EPA regi…

Helena Bottemiller Evich, founder and editor in chief of Food Fix, which has rapidly become one of the go-to premium newsletters for anyone and everyone with a stake in food policy, from White House Staffers to famous chefs. Previously, she led coverage of food and agriculture issues at POLITICO for nearly a decade, winning numerous awards for her …

Kameale Terry, CEO of ChargerHelp!, was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles. The daughter of Belizean immigrants, Kameale has always had a focus on environmental sustainability and community engagement. With over a decade of experience in clean tech, Kameale formed ChargerHelp! with her co-founder, Evette Ellis, to create a reliable electr…

To support Dr. Rae-Wynn Grant’s work, subscribe to Going Wild on your favorite listening app. And if you haven’t yet followed Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers, follow our show on your favorite listening app and rate and review us, too. Your feedback matters! You can also get Going Wild updates and bonus content by following Dr. Rae Wy…

Mia Diawara is a partner at Lowercarbon Capital, where she invests in ambitious teams building needle-moving climate tech — always with her eye on equity and inclusion. Before Lowercarbon, Mia spearheaded decarbonization strategy across a portfolio of more than $90 billion in assets at TPG and advised companies across industries at Bain & Company. …

Frank Kanawha Lake, Ph.D., is a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. He’s been learning and teaching the role of fire in managing ecosystems in the northwest U.S. for more than three decades, and has introduced indigenous fire prevention and management practices to the Forest Service. He was mentored by botanist and best-selling author,…

Have a green jobs question for Yesh? Send it to her on Twitter @yeshsays. Use the hashtag #askyesh. Job hunting? Visit our comprehensive Green Jobs Hub for job listings, networking resources, skills and certification information and more. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on green careers, upcoming episodes and more. To win a copy of Sp…

To win a copy of Speed & Scale, rate and review Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Podchaser or Spotify. Take a screenshot of your review and share it with us on Instagram @environmental_defense_fund. Use the hashtag #DegreesPodcast. We’re giving away up to five books per episode! Terms we discuss in thi…

To win a copy of Speed & Scale, rate and review Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or Spotify. Take a screenshot of your review and share it with us on Instagram @environmental_defense_fund. Use the hashtag #DegreesPodcast. We’re giving away up to five books per episode! Resources on CarbonCure Technologies …

To win a copy of Speed & Scale, rate and review Degrees: Real talk about planet-saving careers on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser or Spotify. Take a screenshot of your review and share it with us on Instagram @environmental_defense_fund. Use the hashtag #DegreesPodcast. We’re giving away up to five books per episode! Yesh Pavlik Slenk is Degrees’ host. A…

Fighting climate change is the biggest job opportunity of our lifetime. But which career will make the biggest difference — and where will you fit in? In this episode, Ryan Panchadsaram explains the 10 solutions outlined in Speed & Scale: six areas to decarbonize and four ways to do it as rapidly as possible. To win a copy of Speed & Scale, rate an…

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 …

Jason Swann’s childhood in the rural south included living in “a small shanty in the middle of a cow pasture.” Sure, he played outdoors—but he wasn’t exactly hiking in wild places. He grew up to become a financial analyst, but that career ended after an encounter with the police ruined his reputation. His life upended, he moved from Nebraska to Col…

Women have been the main drivers of sustainable finance, or investing with environmental, social and governance (ESG) values in mind. After years of slow growth, sustainable investing is showing dramatic financial returns. According to Moody's, “In 2020, ESG products saw strong returns and investment outperformance that marked it as a watershed yea…

Some people know from an early age that they are environmentalists. Dan Schnitzer certainly did. Inspired by childhood nature walks with his mom, he studied pond water under a microscope. At age 13, he conducted the first of many environmental experiments—for a science fair, he made clean fuel from fruit. After learning about the concept of "povert…

Most people don’t think about running for office when pondering environmental careers. However, California Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia may change your mind. In a state ravaged by air pollution and wildfires, Garcia has crafted policy that fights climate change. Recently, he introduced AB 1500, which helped inspire the Climate Resilience Bond. This a…

The clothing retail industry is not known for being climate friendly. The textile industry, as a whole, emits 1.2 billion tons of carbon and uses five trillion liters of water per year. Dawnielle Tellez, an EDF Climate Corps alum, is candid and thoughtful about the challenges of making the outdoor apparel industry more sustainable. “What's been tou…

LaUra Schmidt co-founded the non-profit Good Grief Network in 2016 with her wife, Aimee Lewis-Reau, to provide a space to help people cope with climate anxiety. Passionate about saving endangered species and panic-stricken about the climate emergency, LaUra had been suffering from her own climate grief and impotence. A childhood trauma survivor, La…

BJ Johnson is in a hurry—and for good reason. He’s frustrated by the slow pace of change to address the climate crisis. And he’s angry about how air particle pollution endangers everyone, but especially marginalized groups. Black, brown, and poor communities are especially plagued by harmful health outcomes—like asthma, COPD and other lung diseases…

Brooklyn-based Lake Street Dive is Yesh’s favorite band ever! She was so excited to talk to them about her most passionate subject, climate change, and to find out that they care about saving the world (especially for future generations) as much as she does. Most people don’t think about how their favorite bands contribute to healing our planet. Ac…

Join our newsletter to connect with our community!By Mike Calabrese, Dawnielle Tellez, BJ Johnson, Lake Street Dive, Jason Swann, Yesh Pavlik Slenk

Networking takes work. Sam Charner offers specific advice to help you become a more effective networker, no matter whether you’re a student, a new jobseeker, or a career changer. Don’t just sign up for a networking group. Get involved. Don’t just sign up and read the occasional newsletter. Participate in virtual and in-person events. Volunteer to h…

For more guidance on making the biggest green job hunting pain points less painful, read on. Keep in mind: An hour spent networking is more valuable than an hour spent applying for jobs you find on the internet. In your resume, focus on the outcomes of your work Learn how broaden your job search by applying specific modifications to your dream job …

Sustainability certifications are a minefield. Do you have to spend time and money getting certified? How do you choose? GreenBiz’s John Davies knows which credentials are worth the effort and the cost—and when you don’t need them at all. In this episode, John gives us the scoop on: Gold-standard certifications specific to different industries Hand…

John Davies of GreenBiz shares his latest findings on compensation, pay equity and how you can increase your value — and your salary. 1. How does my role impact the salary I earn? Managers in sustainability careers make anywhere from $50,000 to $280,000 a year. The longer you’ve been at your job, the more you make. But what are the other factors? Y…

Sustainability jobs are growing fast. From industry hot spots to the most-needed skills, Episode 2 is full of insider tips for jobseekers from John Davies of GreenBiz, the go-to hub for the latest in business and sustainability. For all of the guidance and resources mentioned in this episode, visit Land a Green Job 101 online. 1. Which industries a…

Sustainability jobs expert Trish Kenlon asked jobseeker Maya Johnson five key questions to help her narrow down her career choices. Try them! And visit Land a Green Job 101, where we’ve listed tons of planet-saving resources for job hunters, from job listings to expert advice to communities you can join. 1. Which climate-change issue are you passio…

Trying to break into a sustainability job? Tune in to Land a Green Job 101 —six short episodes with pro tips from GreenBiz, Net Impact and Sustainable Career Pathways to help you find a planet-saving career. Visit our Green Jobs Hub for sustainability job boards, blogs, communities to join, expert tips and more.…

Check out the trailer for Degrees: real talk about planet-saving careers. Produced by Environmental Defense Fund and hosted by Yesh Pavlik Slenk, Degrees is part roadmap, part club and part therapy session for anyone who wants a career with purpose.By Podcast Allies, Environmental Defense Fund, Rick Velleu, Yesh Pavlik Slenk, Amy Morse

Steph Speirs is right in the middle of one of the most critical challenges of our time: the quest to move our energy economy away from fossil fuels and into systems that are clean, equitable, and renewable. Steph is the CEO and co-founder of Solstice, a dynamic startup that is bringing solar energy to the 80% of Americans who are unable to install …

Obsessed with the loneliness and longing wrought from the impacts of a changing planet, Pete Muller discusses how he uses his camera to make "the invisible become visible" – and to tell the story of climate change from a human perspective.Correction: we inadvertently identified Glenn & Jill Albrecht as driving 20 miles out of their way to avoid vie…

Trish Kenlon, founder of Sustainable Career Pathways, lends her expertise on questions like: how do I get that job? What are employers looking for in 2021? What are the trends these days? What can I do today to make progress toward a new job? And: how can it be easier?By Yesh Pavlik Slenk, Trish Kenlon