How to get a guest column. Kickstart your career at Patagonia. +15 climate opportunities.

Opportunity Seeker highlights ways you can grow your career and personal impact. We’re here to open up opportunity so more of us can belong in spaces that need us.

Hello from the Scottish Highlands. I’m coming to you from my parents’ lounge room while looking at the beautiful Ben Vrackie⛰️. If you’re new here, welcome and feel free to subscribe, or hit reply and say hello.

Today we’re going to dive dive into:

• Opportunities to have an impact through regenerative agriculture (even if you’re not a farmer 👩‍🌾)

• Kickstarting your career at companies like Patagonia and Oatly

• How to get a guest column in Tech Crunch

• My pick of the best climate university courses you can do this Fall

• And how to become a chimpanzee guardian

To rally us up before we dive in, here’s the 👑 of conservation with some words of wisdom…

Embrace your inner farmer…

Regenerative farming focuses on how to produce the food we eat, the fibres of the clothes we wear, and the products we put on our skin, in a way that doesn’t only extract from the planet — but instead regenerates and restores.

A number of companies are leading the way on this, and while these tech, designer, Product and management opportunities won’t see you getting your hands dirty, they will have a positive impact on the 🌎…

• UK/Remote: What if we grew our wheat differently? Remember Groove Armada? Well one of the duo took up regenerative farming, won an award for incredible wheat and baking in France, and is now transforming the way bread is eaten in the UK. The Wildfarmed team is looking for a designer to support their work.

  • And if you happen to be reading this and are actually a baker, you can sign up to work with their wheat here.

• Remote US/Southern California: They’re a brand with cult status in the USA, and now Dr Bronner’s is looking for a Developer to support the scaling of their e-commerce work. They’re known for working tirelessly to source organic ingredients for their liquid soaps, their love of psychedelics, and and most recently their vegan chocolate.

• Remote EU/UK: Lush is another company transforming their supply chain with regenerative ingredients. They’re looking for a DevOps Engineer to support their work.

• Berlin: Working on ways to scale the tech to support regenerative farming, Climate Farmers is looking for a Head of Product. You’ll need to have 3-5 years of Product team leadership experience and be based in the EU already.

• Upstate New York: Soul Fire Farm is a community farm committed to uprooting racism and injustice in the food system. They’ve reached 60,000 people through their food sovereignty work and are now looking for a Senior Managing Director.

  • Want to get inspired to get your own community growing project going? Watch an interview with Soul Fire Farm’s Co-Founder, Leah Penniman.

Career kickoff opportunities

Maybe your career is just getting started, or you’ve done a full pivot and need to get some experience under your belt. Here’s how to get a foot in the door…

• France: Get off to a strong start with the company who’s in business to save our home planet — Patagonia is looking for a paid Marketing Intern to work with them for six months.

• Berlin: Meanwhile in Berlin, Oatly has a student role for someone who wants to kick off their Product career — you’ll need to be a German speaker.

• Australia: And for those who want to be hands-on with conservation, Bush Heritage Australia is looking for two paid interns, one focused on forest health data science, and another on conservation land management.

• Find your purpose: In a role you’re not loving and want to get into social impact? The On-Purpose associate program in London is now open to new applicants. With +300 hours of training, two social impact industry placements, and a stipend while you focus on pivoting your career, this one is ideal for mid to senior career professionals who want a big life change.

  • Also a big hello and welcome to all the On Purpose associates from this year’s programme who have signed up to the newsletter so far! 👋

Media shakeups and reporter roles…

• Washington D.C: The Washington Post’s Climate Solutions section is on the hunt for a new Climate Solutions reporter. Multimedia skills will be appreciated for this one.

• Remote EU: Backed by the Financial Times and covering Europe’s tech ecosystem, Sifted is looking for a reporter to work on their flagship newsletter. You can be based in any of the European tech hubs - think Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam or Stockholm.

  • Sifted also has a great Climate Tech newsletter put together by Freya Pratty send out weekly.

• London: It’s the publication that guides policy makers and politicians, and now Politico is looking for an Energy & Climate Reporter based in London. With most of the team in Brussels, you’ll also be the face of the publication in the UK.

• New York: Working closely with the UK and Australian teams, The Guardian is looking for a Newsletters Editor — you’ll be covering everything from politics, to culture and environment.

• New York: And over at The New York Times, they’re looking for a Deputy Tech Editor.

  • And it’s got nothing to do with climate or tech but Modern Love 💕, one of the most popular columns in the NYT, is looking for a producer to support their podcast.

*Not a journalist but interested in getting your work out there? Tech Crunch’s Editorial Manager, Walter Thompson shared a new guide on how to get a guest column. Hint: you have to be a subject matter expert with actionable insights.

Learning opportunities

• Get climate certified: It’s your last chance to put in applications for climate focused university courses before they close for the Autumn. Here are a few of my favourites..

  • SOAS, University of London has a PG Certificate in Climate and Development which can lead on to a full Masters. Application deadline: September 11th

  • Cambridge University has a 6-week online certificate in Climate Change for Decision Makers. Application deadline: September 18th

  • Yale’s School of Public Health has a Climate Change & Health Certificate composed of 4 courses focused on topics like climate communication and health adaptation. You’ll also do a regional specialisation localised in either Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, or the Caribbean. It’s held online and course fees are progressive and dependent on income. Application deadline: September 11th

Next week

Opportunity Seeker will be coming to you from London, if you’re in town and would love a coffee and a chat about climate, tech or career feel free to hit reply and we can set something up.

Signing off from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿…

P.S. Got a spare second and feeling generous of heart?

As our quote of the week is from Dr Jane Goodall, this week the giving partner is the Jane Goodall Institute, who does grassroots work with communities on the frontline of climate change.

In February, I went with a group of journalists to see JGI’s work on the ground in Uganda, where they were planting and regenerating trees to create corridors and ensure the 5000 remaining chimpanzees in Uganda survive.

Each surrounding village was voting in forest monitors, and with locally run nurseries, it was having a direct impact on incomes and food security, particularly for women. There are lots of ways you can support…

• Fund the scaling of their work in East Africa directly through monthly donations.

• Become a Chimp Guardian for an orphan chimpanzee.

• Switch to Ecosia who uses a portion of their profits to fund tree planting with JGI in Uganda (FYI I used to work at Ecosia and am a big fan of their impact model).

Want to be truly inspired by the woman behind it all? Listen to The Book of Hope: A survival guide for trying times. It’s a series of interviews with Dr Jane Goodall and just what the doctor ordered.