Like most soon-to-be-high-school graduates, Molly Shannon isn鈥檛 sure what she wants to do with her professional life, though she enjoys science and talking business with her dad.
But whether Molly, 17, goes into public health, brand management, or veers onto some as-yet-unimagined path, she鈥檚 certain of one thing: Climate change is going to affect her career, even if it鈥檚 too early to say exactly how.
The rising global temperature, which has led to changing weather patterns, 鈥渁ffects so much more than just the environment. There鈥檚 politics, there鈥檚 agriculture,鈥� said Molly, a senior at Orange High School in Lewis Center, Ohio, near Columbus. 鈥淣o matter what career students choose, there will be something related to climate change that they鈥檒l have to take into consideration.鈥�
Her peers are becoming increasingly aware of this reality: Just over a quarter of the more than 1,000 teenagers surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center in October say that the threat of climate change has had an impact on their career plans. And 1 in 5 say it has influenced what they would like to study in college.
High schoolers like Molly are thinking far ahead of their school districts. Typically, the pressure to reshape career-oriented education starts at the top with employers, moves to postsecondary education, and finally to K-12, said Meena Naik, an associate director at Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit that concentrates on education and workforce alignment.
With climate change, that鈥檚 been turned on its head: The urgency is coming from students.
鈥淭he kids are pushing us not even because they鈥檙e seeing the jobs and saying, 鈥業 know that鈥檚 not going to exist for me,鈥欌�� Naik said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e seeing the world imploding in front of their eyes.鈥�
In fact, 30 percent of students recently surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center said they wanted to learn more about job opportunities related to sustainability and climate change, while just 22 percent of teachers say they talk to students about those careers.
鈥榃e鈥檙e talking about imaginary people for these jobs鈥�
There hasn鈥檛 yet been a widespread, national push to help high schoolers鈥攁nd eventually, students even younger than that鈥攅xplore how climate change might influence their choices, much less gain work-based experience in areas that are beginning to boom, such as solar energy and manufacturing with recycled materials.
But that needs to change fast, said Kyle Hartung, a vice president at Jobs for the Future.
鈥淲e are ultimately talking about imaginary people for these jobs unless we get real systems building underway to start engaging kids as early as middle grades in career exploration and coherent pathways into skills and credentials that lead to good jobs in this emerging sector,鈥� Hartung said.
There are some obvious jumping points for those conversations, said Taj Eldridge, the director of climate innovation at JFFLabs, the nonprofit鈥檚 innovation arm.
Electric vehicles are poised to take off. Plant-based agriculture will take on new prominence, as producing meat and dairy stretches increasingly scarce resources. And well-known companies are already turning to alternative, more eco-friendly materials to manufacture things like clothing. Nike, for instance, has a line of sustainable sneakers made from recycled materials.
And that may just be the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg.
Students like Molly are right when they say that nearly every job will be touched somehow by climate change, Naik said. 鈥淓veryone will have to have some awareness of green needs,鈥� she said, though the specifics will depend largely on the sector, she added.
While some jobs could simply take on a sustainability twist, others could transform more significantly. Gas station workers could connect cars to electric power, instead of fuel, for instance. Areas of the economy that aren鈥檛 able to adapt to new realities鈥攕uch as coal production鈥攎ight be displaced entirely, making conversations about new industries and job retraining especially critical for coal communities.
Maybe most important to today鈥檚 high schoolers: 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to have this whole category of brand-new, never-imagined jobs,鈥� Naik said.
Students are 鈥榳aiting for the rest of us to catch up鈥�
For now, it鈥檚 largely been up to individual teachers鈥攊ncluding Molly鈥檚 AP Environmental Science teacher, Jessica Timmons鈥攖o help students consider how their path through the workforce might be shaped by a rapidly changing environment.
That鈥檚 something Timmons has woven throughout her course, even as she pushes to get students ready for the AP exam, which can lead to college credit. She鈥檚 talked about jobs in the burgeoning wind energy sector, for example.
鈥淚f we know that the western part of the United States is known as the Saudi Arabia of wind energy, how are we going to update our infrastructure?鈥� she will ask students.
鈥淭here鈥檚 gonna be lots of jobs available,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e just have to figure out ways to get kids to see the possibilities.鈥�
Her school district, Olentangy schools, recently started a partnership with local businesses, including Chase Bank and Worthington Industries, a steel manufacturer, to show students that 鈥渨e have all these big-time employers in the area, and you have job options,鈥� Timmons said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 not a whole lot about environmental science.鈥�
Her students are hungry for information about those types of careers, she said.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e grown up with natural disaster after natural disaster that can [be tied] to climate change,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not stupid. They know things have to be different. They鈥檙e just waiting for the rest of the education system to catch up.鈥�
When Timmons鈥� students ask about careers linked to their interest in environmental science or combatting climate change, she鈥檒l sit down with them after school or during study hall and research possibilities, including which colleges might offer a particular specialty. The school counseling office has also been a resource for students.
Timmons can tell her current students what her alumni are up to, for some additional inspiration.
Bonnie Burns, who graduated from Orange a few years ago and is now in college in Florida, loves creating lighting for theatrical productions. She thinks she may want to devote at least part of her career to helping lower the carbon foot of the performing arts. Another former student, Jackson Schiefelbein, is getting an advanced degree in social entrepreneurship, with an eye toward helping sustainable businesses.
And Shefali Sinha, now a sophomore at nearby Ohio State University and a first-generation college student, initially eyed environmental law. But now she鈥檚 thinking she would like to do something more hands-on for the environment, though she鈥檚 still searching for exactly what that job might be.
Sinha recalled how Timmons sat down with her and talked about potential careers, then sent her links to articles and information about environmental law. She remains grateful for the help. But she doesn鈥檛 think her teacher should have had to go out of her way to find those resources.
鈥淚t really feels to me that so much of the burden is being put on teachers with not nearly enough support,鈥� Sinha said.
Still, the work Timmons and her colleagues across the country are doing with their students may eventually lead to the kind of change that will help career education鈥攁nd maybe other parts of the economy鈥攁dapt to the realities of climate change, JFF鈥檚 Eldridge said.
鈥淭he future of this innovation is going to come through the conversation that the kids are having now with their teachers,鈥� he said.
