From tech to climate - My transition story

A year ago, I left my job. My job was to help enterprise marketers measure and improve the efficiency of their advertising campaigns with data. But really, if I remove the fancy jargon, my job was to help large companies sell more stuff. Plain and simple.?

I’ve always had a huge admiration for Google ; the company, its culture, its products, its people. I still do. In many ways, my job was amazing: it was challenging intellectually, I was learning constantly, I was surrounded by super smart and genuinely nice people, under great leadership from my managers. The money was great, the perks were great.?

And then, something changed.?

What changed? I was exposed to climate change. From there, I made the decision to accept the facts that were presented to me.?

It means I also accepted that I had to “do something”, and find my place in the climate movement.?

Many people congratulated me, said well done for doing something you are passionate about. I know they mean well, but I feel the need to correct the narrative. I do not have a passion for doing this work. I must do this work. Because we cannot afford to wait for other people to solve this crisis for us.?

“The greatest danger to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” – Robert Swan

So I set myself the goal to make my job a climate job.?

One year in, I am proud to say that I was successful at shifting. I will be starting 2022 as the Head of Experience for WorkforClimate - a non-profit on a mission to build a movement of climate influencers driving ambitious action within companies.?

I would like to share a few things I learnt along the way, in the hope it might inspire others to take their own steps towards making their job a climate job.?

My journey was a 3 steps process: Immersion, Connection Experimentation.

Step 1 - IMMERSION

First, I decided to make 100% of my content consumption about climate. To learn about climate, it’s not enough to read a few articles, or watch a couple of documentaries.?Climate change is a super complex problem, one that requires a systemic approach to understand its many aspects, how they connect to each other,? the associated risks and impacts.?

Investing serious time investigating the issue will make you more effective at evaluating responses and solutions and how you might be able to contribute. It will limit your blindspots, and develop your critical thinking. (Spoiler: a lot of what of the media climate coverage is fundamentally flawed, precisely because journalists have not invested serious time in understanding the issue)?

Once you’ve gone past understanding the basics facts (it’s real / it’s us / it’s bad), it’s a good idea to expand your horizon and conduct research from different angles: policy, economy, behavioural change, social justice etc.

My initial deep dive happened during the first Covid-19 lockdown in France. I made the most of 2 months in the countryside to read, listen and watch everything I could. The more I was learning, the more concerned I was growing - which is very typical.?

The learning process is never finished (and the climate is always changing, duh) so I still dedicate at least 10 hours a week to consuming climate content. I’m a runner and this year I discovered the multiple benefits of Slow Easy Runs: they help prevent injuries, they make you faster in the long run, and provide a great opportunity to listen to climate podcasts. Win-Win.?

At the bottom of this article I included some resources I found helpful in my own journey. Note that a lot of my reading has been in French, so isn’t included here. I wish JM Jancovici did more of his signature talks in English.?

Step 2 - CONNECTION?

After conducting my groundwork research on climate, I reached out some of the many folks already working on the problem in Australia.

I did not have a lot of connections to start with, but I reached out to an ex-Googler who followed a similar path just one year prior, and founded his own carbon offsetting startup Go Neutral. Casey told me about his journey and introduced me to a few people I should talk to. This led me to Matt Heath, the founder of another climate-focused non-profit, Make Your Change. We had a great connection and started regular catch-ups to bounce ideas and collaborate on climate-related experiments.?

In total I talked to 40+ people working on climate in one way or another. I was exposed to many focus areas: carbon management, nature regeneration, climate tech, clean energy, food waste. What struck me the most is the diversity of the field. So many climate solutions, readily available and looking for talent.?

My advice when reaching out to people:?

• Articulate as clearly as you can what is drawing you to doing this work, and which aspects of climate / sustainability you’re most interested in. “I want to save the planet” is not enough.?
• Try to link your own skills and experience to climate solutions - what are you really good at and how can it be applied to climate?
• Be ready to demonstrate what you’re already doing to contribute - maybe you’ve started a green team at your company? Maybe you’ve done volunteering work for a non-profit??
• Think about what you need from this person - Is it career advice, insights into their journey, intros to specific people? Make your ask, most people are genuinely willing to help.?

Step 3 - EXPERIMENTATION?

Even though my objective was to work on climate full time, I knew the path was not going to be linear - I was willing to experiment with different impact areas, and to get out of my comfort zone.?

My entry door into climate was Climate Fresk. I did the training to facilitate workshops, volunteered to bring the workshop to Australia as country coordinator. In parallel I started my own boutique consultancy, 50by50, to offer corporate workshops to companies who wanted to provide training to their employees on climate change.?

Climate Fresk was a great stepping stone ; it allowed me to gain experience in climate communication, developed my facilitation & influencing skills. But I wanted to do more, and I was missing working in a team.?

Amongst the people I reached out to was Lucy Piper, director of WorkforClimate. Lucy had followed a similar path - she had a corporate background, had a climate awakening and decided to devote 100% of her professional life to climate. She’s also a mum and a kick-ass iron woman, so we had a lot in common. I was immediately drawn to Lucy’s leadership and vision for WorkforClimate, and the synergy with Climate Fresk. Climate Fresk is about awareness and understanding of the problem, WorkforClimate is for those people that are past this stage and want to amplify their impact by taking action at work.?

I am a strong believer that every job needs to be a climate job. To make your job a climate job, broadly there are 2 options:?

• Option A - Make your current? job a climate job?
• Option B - Quit your current job and look for a climate job?

I chose Option B, but it’s very personal and I fully realise that I was in a position of privilege that allowed me this flexibility. Option A can be just as impactful, and the climate movement needs change makers and trailblazers everywhere.?

Here are some resources to help you navigate those choices:?

Option A - Make your current job a climate job?

Drawdown at Work published a guide that describes what making your job a climate job looks like.?

WorkforClimate takes you through the steps required to become that climate change-maker in your current job. (reach out to me directly to know more about our programs!)?

Option B - Find a new climate job

Terra.do helps you transition into climate work

Climate Base helps you make climate your career ?

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CLIMATE IMMERSION - USEFUL RESOURCES?

There are a lot of resources out there. It was hard but I've made a selection of just 3 per category so it doesn't feel too overwhelming. Happy reading / listening / watching!

3 Climate change explainers?

• Climate change 101 by Sweep
• IPCC - Worlds Apart - A story of three possible warmer worlds
• Watch : TED Countdown the 55 gigaton challenge

3 Important Reads

• A planetary perspective, Part 1 and Part 2?
• Crowdsourcing sustainability -Some super important things to understand? ?
• Nan Ransohoff - Head of Climate, Stripe - A mental model for combating climate change

3 Books

• The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells
• Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World - by Kim Nicholas?
• All we can save - Truth, Courage and Solutions for the climate crisis - by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

3 News sites?

• Grist?
• The conversation
• Carbon Brief

3 Newsletters

• We can fix it by climate scientist and brilliant communicator Kim Nicholas
• Heated is the newsletter from US climate journalist Emily Atkin
• Crowdsourcing Sustainability?by Ryan Hagen (also recommend the associated podcast)

3 documentaries?

• Breaking Boundaries - The Science of our planet
• Tomorrow??by Cyril Dion
• Burning by Eva Orner

3 TED Talks?

• Lisa Neubeur - Why you should be a climate activist?
• Christiana Figueres - The case for stubborn optimism on climate?
• Kate Raworth - A healthy economy should be designed to thrive, not grow

and 3 that are not about climate but you can watch them with a climate lens:?

• Derek Sivers - How to start a movement?
• Julia Dhar - How to disagree productively and find common ground?
• Luvvie Ajayi Jones - Get comfortable with being uncomfortable?

3 Podcasts?

• How to save a planet?
• A Matter of Degrees
• Sismique is a French podcast but the author Julien Devaureix landed an interview with? Dennis Meadows, the author of the landmark report “Limits to Growth. Find it here.?