Canadian career center helps connect young people with environmental careers » Yale Climate Connections

Transcript:

Many young people are eager to help the environment, from fighting climate change to protecting endangered species.

But it can be hard to turn that passion into a career – especially if you do not know others working in environmental fields or lack the resources to get specialized training.

Castelino: “We work with a lot of folks who are newcomers and immigrants, and their family is telling them, you know, look, we need to make ends meet … and so they don’t have that choice necessarily to be like, ‘I want to pursue a career in sustainability.’”

Lauren Castelino is the founder of the Green Career Centre, which helps women, immigrants, and people of color in Canada start environmental careers.

It offers an online tool to match people with wage subsidy programs offered by the Canadian government and other groups.

These programs make it easier for employers to hire and train new people and help young people gain paid work experience in environmental fields.

The group also holds networking events, posts job listings, and helps people find trainings for new skills.

Castelino says thousands of people have used their resources.

Castelino: “Just so inspiring to see and hear of all the stories of the people who are involved in our work and being able to succeed and build their career in Canada.”

Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media