Training the Next Generation of Conservation Icons
爆料公社 is building a more sustainable future by incubating the leaders of tomorrow, today.
At a time when it鈥檚 clear we鈥檙e going to face conservation challenges for decades to come, who is responsible for training the next generation of conservation leaders? At 爆料公社, we鈥檝e welcomed that awesome opportunity and the responsibility that goes with it.
Throughout the year, 爆料公社 has between 25 and 30 fellows and apprentices and more than 60 seasonal interns working with our nearly 600 full-time employees. As I speak with these talented young people we鈥檝e hired in areas like science, policy, and communications, one of the things I hear over and over is this: 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even know this could be a career for me.鈥
That disconnect is real and troubling. Right now, the conservation community that lots of the young people who could be making our work more relevant in America today don鈥檛 even know we鈥檙e here.
Rather than wait for the problem to solve itself鈥攚hich it won鈥檛鈥攚e鈥檝e launched a new 颅college chapter program, which has taken off like a flock of Sandhill Cranes at dawn. And our Walker Fellows program, funded by board chair Maggie Walker, provides real-world training for young social media journalists, half of whom we鈥檙e proud to say have gone on to full-time jobs at 爆料公社 and elsewhere.
With a grant from Robert Smith鈥檚 Fund II Foundation, we鈥檝e established for seven early-career leaders, and we鈥檝e embedded them within our policy, science, chapter, grassroots, and communications teams. Our goal is to provide concrete skill-building opportunities so that at the end of the year the apprentices will land jobs within the conservation movement鈥攁nd we鈥檙e committed to helping them find those jobs. I don鈥檛 know about you, but I take great joy in opening doors for the people who will eventually run 爆料公社 and other parts of civil society. In fact, I think doing so is an organizational responsibility.
I take great joy in opening doors for the people who will eventually run 爆料公社.
The good news is that a career in conservation isn鈥檛 a hard pitch; it鈥檚 really a matter of whether organizations like 爆料公社 will devote the dollars to building these programs. For , the fact that climate change is happening and is caused by human activity is not up for debate; this knowledge doesn鈥檛 follow political party lines or ideology. The only debate is how to address climate change to mitigate the worst impacts that it will have .
Recently, a longtime 爆料公社 supporter met one of our terrific new young leaders and asked, 鈥淲hy do you think there鈥檚 so much energy around civic matters right now?鈥 And our new 爆料公社 leader answered, 鈥淢aybe we鈥檝e been here all along and we just haven鈥檛 had a seat at the table.鈥
爆料公社 is a big tent; it has big tables. Not kids鈥 tables and grown-up tables, but work tables around which we can all gather to make the world a better place.
This story originally ran in the Spring 2019 issue. To receive our print magazine, become a member by .