Why The NSW Floods Have Me Stressed About Graduating Uni
I’m finishing my university studies at the end of this year and I’m worried about finding work. Not because of the hard work it might take, not because of a competitive job market, and not because I think I’m a weak job candidate. I’ve got a great breadth of desirable skills combined with interesting, character-building life experience and I’d like to think I’m pretty personable (I could talk to anyone about gardening or cooking until I’m blue in the face). Plus, there’s opportunities for UX work in a whole range of different industries and niches — I’m pretty well prepared to enter a booming industry I’m genuinely interested in, which is more than a lot of folk can say. The thing that’s really got me nervous about graduating? Finding work in a climate crisis.
As Australians, we need not look far to see the immediate impact of a changing climate on the environment around us. From the bushfire season of summer 19/20, to the bleaching of our coral reefs, to areas of ongoing drought now being broken by devastating floods. It feels as though each quarter brings us another ‘once in a 100 years’ event and yet month after month, year after year we continue to see at worst complete inaction from government and at best skilful corporate greenwashing to keep profits and consumer sentiment toward brands in check. Rather than rethinking systems for a carbon neutral future, rather than really starting from scratch and evaluating what we’re here for, really making those sweeping changes to practises that are critical for our lifestyles to remain sustainable beyond our own careers, it seems businesses and parliament are happy to slap a ‘carbon offset’ band-aid on it and get the green tick of approval in order to keep up business as usual.
Wake up!!
Business as usual is not working!
As an employee, I can’t be a part of that economy. I physically don’t think I can bring myself to work to put money in pockets (be it my own or my boss’) and keep the capitalist machine turning while the planet crumbles around us. What would all my efforts to lower my personal carbon footprint be worth if I’m contributing to the problem whenever I’m on the clock? What point is there in collecting my soft plastics, sticking to my plant based diet and tending to my little worm farm if I turn around and work to pump out products for a business with no regard for their impact save for maybe some recycled packaging and a branded KeepCup?
I strive to take responsibility for my existence and consider the climate impact of every part of my life and it really feels as though my options for doing so in my career could be counted on one hand. I’ve long passed the point of putting my values aside and accepting the reality. No more. It’s too late in the game and we literally do not have the luxury of time on our side any longer. Things need to change NOW and I refuse to accept any less.
We need zero emissions and we’re getting zero fucks.
Well you know what? I’ve got a lot of fucks to give.
When I properly start my job search, I’ll be ready. Ready to put the planet and our collective future first. Ready to read up on what my potential employers are doing to lower their emissions, to ask for their policies on reducing waste, to question where they source their energy, to find out how they’re incentivising employees to reduce their car usage, and to really understand how they’re adapting everything they do to be ready for an emissions-free future. And if I can’t find out or they’re coming up short? I’ll keep looking. I’ll abandon that application. I’ll walk out of that job interview. I’ll build a damn spreadsheet to track which employers are worth my time if I have to.
I will not be a part of an economy that refuses to change and I really hope my fellow graduates won’t either. After all, what would these corporations be without us, the workers? We have the collective power to choose what we invest ourselves in and it’s time to use that to our (and the planet’s) advantage. It’s going to be a big challenge and will add an extra layer of complexity to starting our careers, but so be it. We need to come together and put our energy into the few places that are taking action or we’ll be staring down a largely uninhabitable country in a few short decades.
So while I watch on at this week’s extreme weather event and ponder how long it might be until the next one, I worry. I worry about how slowly society is moving, how quickly things are deteriorating and just how I’m going to find somewhere that I can truly feel proud to work once I’ve finished off this degree.