I am at the stage of my career where most of my big professional choices are in the past. For today’s teenagers and students, they lie ahead. Those lucky enough to have a good education have a variety of options that is far wider than they probably realize.
For many, of course, environmental concerns cloud the horizon. There are certainly plenty of challenges to worry about: climate, deforestation, ocean acidification, plastic, forever chemicals, you name it. And while there are short-term outlets through which to express this concern – such as marching or gluing yourself to stuff – it is in career choices that the greatest potential for making a real difference lies.
Hence a quick poll that I posted on linkedin a week ago. The question I asked was: Which path offers today’s teenagers/students the biggest opportunity to make a difference re: the environmental challenges facing society?
The four responses I offered were:
- Finance
- Scientist
- Policymaker (e.g. study law/politics)
- Other
Since I am not a big social media influencer and this was the first poll I’ve ever posted, the 25 votes I got doesn’t seem like too bad a response rate. The joint-most popular choice was “scientist”, at 40%. Environmental issues are physical problems: there is physically too much CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, etc in the atmosphere; the global economy must become a circular economy with zero net waste, not just net zero emissions. This creates a thousand technical challenges.
And since science bleeds into engineering if effective responses are to be implemented in practice, we need engineers too. While the engineering route was not offered as a separate answer in the poll, there’s certainly a strong case for it; as one commenter, Sebastien M., observed: “There is a lot that can be done through architecture, construction, engineering; I guess being a successful entrepreneur in traditional industries could bring about a lot of change.” The entrepreneur idea was echoed by another commenter, Erik O.: “It’s always entrepreneurs and visionaries that solve big problems.”
Brandon W’s comment added a twist to the science theme: “I think it’s an intersection of scientist and something else. Having the ability to apply the scientific process/critical thinking and explaining it to others in a simple way that makes it relatable will be the super power of the coming generation.” Joe W. – who was one of the 12% selecting “other” – concurred: “As much as I would love to say science or policymakers, looking at my 20-something sons (all in science or finance) I’d say it’s marketing. If you can market it you can make it impactful.”
Also polling at 40% was “policymaker.” You have more direct influence being inside the rulemaking community than you do outside it. And despite those who were polled being drawn largely from the financial world, policymaker was seen as a much more effective path than finance, which was the least popular option at 8%. Markets are powerful, but as both climate protesters and corporate lobbyists know well, it is policy that shapes the incentives – and hence the effects – of business and markets.
This is an important point in the context of ESG investing. I do not buy the argument that ESG is a problem – it isn’t – but finance alone will not solve the world’s environmental challenges. Finance needs to be part of the solution, but it’s not going to take the lead.
In reality, all of the above are needed: science, policy, finance, entrepreneurship, engineering, communication and a lot of other skills besides. For anyone with a career ahead of them, there are lots of ways to make a real difference. In any given case, the best option depends on the individual; it takes different skill sets and different personalities to be a scientist than it does to be a policymaker or to be an entrepreneur. Perhaps it’s not so much the choice of career field that really matters, but how much you care wherever you end up.
A few final thoughts to wrap up: The poll asked about environmental challenges. If the focus was on social concerns – inequality, human rights – then the list would not be exactly the same; policymaker would overtake scientist at the top of my own list for example. The broad conclusions stand, though.
And while career choices are the biggest lever, it’s not the only one. Chris B. highlighted the importance – for those living in democracies – of making use of the right to vote: “In the United States, learning about the issues, getting involved and registering to vote (at 18) can be very empowering. Our democracy needs their ideas and energy more than ever. Every voice can make a difference.”
And I will leave the final thought to Sean S., who commented: “Education is key. More specifically, education about how the natural world works. The larger the proportion of people who understand this, the less arguing there will be about doing something about it.” Exactly.