About the speakers & Mediation:
Mediation: Evelyn Araripe (Youth Climate Leaders - YCL)
Speakers: Angela Morgado (WWF Portugal), Davi Martins (Greenpeace Brasil), Ilan Zugman (350.org), Gabriel Ribenboim (Instituto Welight).
LESSON: The work in an NGO is inspiring but not an easy one - there is a lot of work and emotional stress from seeing the impacts of the climate on a daily basis, therefore it is important to remain positive and have a kind attitude. But also There is not a clear path to land a job in the field, therefore some of the pathways are building a network, volunteering and persisting in the job search. Resilience, dynamism, multitask, professionalism and empathy are among the most important skills to land a job in the field.
The talk started with a video recorded previously with the talk from Iago Hairon, Climate Justice Program Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean at Open Society Foundations. He stated that to land on his current job, he learned a lot from several volunteer experiences, which helped him get experience and connections that helped him in landing more opportunities and a career in climate change. But his most important lesson, in his opinion, is to not take any climate related jobs for granted, everyday people are dying because of that, and if we are able to work with that, we are in a privilege position and can be in a decision-making position instead of having our houses and families destroyed by this crisis. Mostly, it is important to relate to the people that are being impacted by the climate crisis and see this crisis through these eyes.
The following speaker was Davi Martins, from Greenpeace Brazil. Davi is a mechanical engineer and now works as a campaign manager for climate change at Greenpeace Brazil. He never worked as an engineer but was very close to urban mobility movement, which is why he decided to do a master's degree in sustainability. He stated that his day always starts with meetings, which show the importance of dialog and organization skills to work in the field. He stated that the work in the third sector has different spectrums and is a multidisciplinary field, that requires multidisciplinary skills and a multidisciplinary team to deal with them. One of the coolest things in his job is the possibility of meeting new and different people. He continued by stating the importance of kindness - this is a two-way street, you have to be kind to get kindness not only from your close ones but also to yourself. Last he closed that one the personal choice of working in an NGO is not an easy one, as there other careers that can bring more financial return. But in the end of the day, it is not only about money, but also a drive of being part of a good cause, being able to meet great and like-minded people, and get the opportunity of engaging in incredible and unique experiences, such as travel aboard a Greenpeace boat in the Artic, for example.
The following speaker was Ilan Zugman, from 350.org, an non-for-profit organization founded in 2008 by a group of university friends in the United States along with author Bill McKibben, who wrote one of the first books on global warming for the general public. The goal was to build a global climate movement. 350 was named after 350 parts per million — the safe concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. He stated that when got his first job in a normal office was quite boring and became frustrated. At the same time, he was a surfer, and loved nature and really wanted to have a career that could bring him closer to that. He engaged a post-graduation and a master's degree in environment, and started to meet more people in the field, joined events and builded connections on this journey, that led him to a job at 350.org, He is very happy and stated that he found himself in his career, but he reforced that to get to this job, it took him at least 4 years to find a job he liked - therefore he stated it is important to persist and do not give up in trying to find passion in what you do. On the day to day, there is a lot of work and it is very busy, with a lot of calls and meetings. There is a lot of work in climate action - there are a lot of vulnerable people to help, many campaigns happening at the same time.
The following speaker was Angela Morgado, from the WWF Portugal. Over the past 11 years she worked in many different departments there, from marketing, to fundraising, campaign management, and now is the Executive Director. Her background is in sociology, and her master's degree is in communications. After a successful career in PR agencies in Portugal, she found herself in a personal crisis with all the destruction and human suffering that our current economic model is creating and could no longer continue her work business as usual. Therefore she left her job did a consultant project for fundraising and marketing for a conservation organization, then founded ANP — Associação Natureza Portugal, and now as she is ahead of WWF Portugal. Her tips for younger generations are three. First: if you are not happy, you don't do what you do, you will try to do it another way. Second: if you start by the entry level, it is possible to achieve higher positions in the organization, you must persist, work hard and believe in that - and this is only possible if you are profoundly honest with yourself and your choices. Third: it is true that our work is inspiring, and make no mistake - this is a job and we should treat it like a job and take it seriously. And an extra tip: always fill the people around you, show empathy with them, connect with them - this is a career filled up and boosted up by the people, and if they care for you, this can take you to more opportunities.
The last speaker ws Gabriel Ribenboim, from Impact Bank. He is initially a biologist, but nowadays he manages a startup company in finance and positive impact. He stated that when he was younger, he wanted to become a biologist but did not want to be a teacher. He also didn't want to work in an NGO, nor banks or capital markets. But from the start he was profoundly moved by the ambition of regenerating nature and society, and how much this was more than moral or biological, but also an economic paradigm. Therefore, he decided to build his career in the third sector, but always in an innovative approach, connecting funding with philanthropy actors. After building many different projects in the field, he decided to create Welight, a non-profit, non-governmental organization focused on socio-environmental innovation and advocacy based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At Welight, they are a team of passionate, multidisciplinary professionals, therefore listening is important for a productive and effective day to day routine.
See the record of the talk below:
About the Day of the Climate Professional:
The Day of the Climate Professional (DCP), celebrated on November 24, is an annual date to celebrate and catalyse the professionals accelerating solutions to the climate crisis. The 2020 inaugural edition was marked by an all-day virtual summit—networking activities, workshops, keynote presentations, interactive Q&As, and more—fostering reflections and actions on the interdisciplinary of climate change, its urgency, and the importance of working to tackle it through varied professions and sectors of society. Learn More.
