What it's really like to be a sustainability specialist

How to become a sustainability specialist 
With Dr Alex Baumber 
 
Duration 5min 6sec 
 
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:24:03 
 
Hello, I'm Doctor Alex Baumber, a sustainability researcher and academic at UTS. Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a sustainability specialist? Today I'll be answering your questions. Let's get started. What should someone study to work in sustainability? Well, the good news is you can study all sorts of things depending on your interest. So here at UTS you could do business or science or design or law and all of those areas 
 
00:00:24:03 - 00:00:42:23 
 
you could do a major or pick particular subjects in sustainability to add that dimension to your field, or you might even be able to add a double degree in sustainability environment on top of your first degree. If you've already got a degree and you're out there in the workforce and you're thinking about a career change, then a great option might be to do a postgraduate program 
 
00:00:42:23 - 00:00:47:24 
 
and that's a great way to bring together your preexisting knowledge and experience in industry. 
 
00:00:48:01 - 00:00:52:02 
 
But then add on that sustainability dimension and help you achieve a career change. 
 
00:00:52:08 - 00:01:12:09 
 
What skills matter most in sustainability jobs today? Well, I think we often think about the hard skills that come from having a particular degree, like scientific knowledge or technological knowledge or policy or legal knowledge. But I actually think it's the things that are often called the soft skills that are actually the really crucial ones in addressing sustainability challenges today. 
 
00:01:12:09 - 00:01:34:15 
 
So things like communication and collaboration, creative problem solving and the idea of reflexivity, which is the ability to actually think about how you're approaching a problem and what your beliefs and norms and assumptions might be, and being willing to challenge those. I think those are really the crucial skills that come into play when you're working with others to try to address sustainability challenges. 
 
00:01:34:15 - 00:01:57:01 
 
What different roles exist in the field? Well, it's a hugely growing field and diverse, so there's lots of different opportunities. Some of those roles might be explicitly environmental, like environmental scientist or an environmental ranger or something like that. But also large companies are going to have all sorts of sustainability initiatives and roles, maybe a sustainability officer or an environmental auditor or something in sustainability governance that comes right across that organisation. 
 
00:01:57:04 - 00:02:14:23 
 
Government agencies might also have sustainability officers or policy officers or programs officers. And of course, if you want to be your own boss, you could always create your own sustainability related startup. What my day to day work look like in this field? Well, it really is very diverse. So you might be doing something that's really hands on, like product design. 
 
00:02:14:23 - 00:02:37:05 
 
Or if you're an environmental researcher, you might be working out in the field or in a lab, or if you're working in a large organisation, it might be something more about achieving change in the practices across that organisation, maybe something to do with policies and programs internally within that organisation. Or you might do something that's much more externally facing, like developing a new marketing campaign to to shift consumer behavior towards sustainability. 
 
00:02:37:07 - 00:02:57:12 
 
What challenges do people in the field usually face? I think there's a few challenges in getting into sustainability. One is it's a very broad field, so people are often overwhelmed by the options and the possibilities that exist. Also, it can be a field where you can find frustrations that things don't move fast enough. If you're a really passionate person who wants to achieve change in the world. 
 
00:02:57:14 - 00:03:13:07 
 
You might find that the first job you get in that space isn't moving fast enough for you, and you might need to shift around and focus on a different area so you know it can take time to find your feet and to work out exactly what you want to do. What do you enjoy most about tackling sustainability challenges? 
 
00:03:13:09 - 00:03:37:16 
 
Well, I think the part of my job that gives the most satisfaction is getting out in the field and talking to people and hearing about what they've been doing to address things, and I do a lot of work with farmers, so it's often interviews or workshops where you're hearing these great stories about how people have tried a different approach to farming and it might have increased soil carbon on their property, or helped them reduce some of their inputs around fertilisers or pesticides or reduced emissions. 
 
00:03:37:18 - 00:03:59:07 
 
So it's really those personal stories that give me the greatest satisfaction. What's the biggest misconception about working in sustainability? I think probably the biggest one is that you need to be a scientist, or that it's all about science. Whereas in reality, there's so many diverse fields that really need to come together to help us address sustainability challenges. So business design law, social science policy, all of them working together. 
 
00:03:59:13 - 00:04:14:04 
 
What's your top tip for someone who wants to work in this space? Well, I would say you've got to find your passion and know what you want to achieve and why you're getting into it. But then also be willing to be adaptable because you may not find it in your first job or the first project you're working on. 
 
00:04:14:06 - 00:04:30:03 
 
You may find that, yeah, things don't move fast enough or people have different priorities. But if you know yourself and you know why you're getting into it and what you want to get out of it, I think you can have a great career in sustainability. What skills or mindsets will matter most for people tackling sustainability challenges in the future? 
 
00:04:30:05 - 00:04:54:10 
 
Well, I guess one of the key things is that sustainability challenges evolve. And the what's the big issue today may not be the same big issues in ten years time. And also we're going to see massive change around things like artificial intelligence and other technological advances. But I think the skills and mindsets that are going to be relevant, no matter what are things like the ability to collaborate with others to communicate the idea of creative problem solving and innovation. 
 
00:04:54:10 - 00:05:06:21 
 
And those are skills that really cut across all sorts of different disciplines and fields of expertise. That's all the questions for today. If this got you interested, check out the UTS website and search sustainability to learn more about working in this field.