I want to work in some way helping the environment, what jobs could I get into?

[booksandnooks]

I have never worked, went straight from education to motherhood so I can literally start from scratch. But I don't know what to do!
I enjoy growing plants (flowers, fruit and veg) but short of owning acres of land i can't really grow enough to sell as a job. Maybe but I don't know.
I also like making little bits and bobs for the kids, like little knotted toys with wool from the charity shop or little sewn up bits, fabric from stained clothes or ripped clothes.
I feel like this is my passion and I want to revolve my life around making a difference.
It is purely selfish as ever since my first child was born I feel like my eyes just opened to how wasteful I am, the world is and how worrying that is for my babies little futures.
bleak.
Low salary is fine, working for free is fine, I just need to do something but I don't know what?
Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do?
Going back to college or uni is certainly do-able.

I feel like the easiest way is to grow and sell, or make and sell reusable items but thats a drop in the ocean kind of deal. I feel like I can do more! I owe it to my children.

and I know its not really an aibu but sometimes forums like this can be really helpful for brainstorming and Google is less helpful than you would have thought

If low/no salary is fine, beach-cleaning would be an ideal fit for you. There's so much junk on beaches, either left by visitors or washed ashore. It's a never-ending job, clean a stretch of beach one day and there'll be another load to do tomorrow.

Can you create tutorials for others on making things? Run classes on crafts reusing items or something? Then you are helping other people waste less.
Volunteer for a local environmental charity?
Study a course on sustainability?

I wouldn't worry too much about the drop in the ocean ....if you start with one thing it doesn't mean you can't move on...

Are there any community gardening projects near you? Those near us offer a range of roles, as gardener (obviously), teaching and coaching.

@skirk64 ahh we do litter pick but we are in the Midlands so beach cleaning is well out of my reach.
Feels like there is a never ending pile of problems to tackle.

actually I suppose I could start doing little tutorials just for fun with the kids, on YouTube and Instagram. My son does like watching so we could have a nice little project 'making'
Actually yes there are a few community gardens. That is a great idea

Go work in the body shop. They do lots for the environment.

Many charities do countryside conservation work. Only one I can think of in UK is National Trust and that’s because I’m reading the book Rewilding which is about this estate in Scotland where they have rewilded this huge pinewood forest that was dying and would have been developed otherwise. But I am sure there are other conservation charities.

National Trust has various volunteering and apprenticeship options which would be fab for you

You could look at Groundwork and see what's going on locally www.groundwork.org.uk/

How about getting involved with your local wildlife trust? Ours run groups for all ages of children and getting involved can lead to a paid role doing school education programmes.

Oh and Green Gym if you are into gardening
www.tcv.org.uk/greengym/

Depends on how big a scale you want to aim at.

Someone near me has just set up a Facebook based shop selling eco/green products (eco cleaners, shampoo bars, refills of flour and pulses etc) which is going well. She buys wholesale and sells in 100g or 100ml quantities and encourages people to buy her containers for refill or bring their own plastic bottles for refill. There is no similar shop in the town and its a niche but growing market. Operates from her home.

Or you could do rag collections, either for free or charge folk £1 - £5 a bag and that gets you material to sort through, recycle the stuff you can't use and then you've got material to make things with wirhout huge outlay.

Growing flowers in your garden?

If you know what you want to do (sell stuff or remove material from the landfill stream) then we can help you brainstorm.

Have a look at the Ellen McArthur Foundation website, circular economy. It could help you identify a bit more clearly where and what you want to do. Think reuse of material and go from there.

In terms of litter picking, there is a community group that does it weekly round here and they are always asking for volunteers. Could you set one up or join one?

As well as volunteering suggested above, If you’re interested in studying the OU does some brilliant courses. There are free ones on OpenLearn which are worth a look but also their Degree in Environmental Studies (social science based rather than pure science) is really good - I’ve found it so interesting and helped me identify the areas I’m most interested in

One of our family members works leading volunteers in conservation projects. She loves it, although obviously there isn't much going on at the moment!

www.tcv.org.uk/find-tcv/ is the organisation. Maybe you could volunteer in the first instance? I think they also have a mailing list for paid positions.

You could always go to university and look at the following degree types wildlife / conservation/ countryside management / ecology / Environmental science.

There are literally load of professions you can move on to with these degrees. and many have transferable skills that suite what your interested in, even if you initially get a job in one area your not so keen on. There is money to be made in all these areas, and especially with the focus on environment in the next 10 years or so I see this sector booming.

I'm an ecologist and currently bring home 3k a month, good money for some others might say its not much. But every day is different and I get to see things very few other people do and the best thing is I make a difference to both the planet and many species of life.

Nowhere that sells anything in cutesy little packs - absolutely not the body shop or anything else involving makeup, smells, etc. No gifts, balloons, plastic shit. Even painted wooden stuff is just waste of resources.

The mucky jobs. Carry on with the litter picking, good for you.

look at going into local politics - if you really want to help the environment on a bigger scale than one person, you need to be a councillor or similar - a position where you can actually influence policy, about building roads or parks or bike paths etc.

All of the individual actions talked about are lovely. But if you want to actually have any impact then it's about working yo make government's and corporations make changes. It's our system which is environmental dreadful and this is what needs to change. So I think you need to think on this level. Otherwise your just appeasing your guilt.

definitely agree with just appeasing my guilt at the moment.
We, as a family make so much waste and that is with a parent at home all the time making loads of effort

If it's bigger scale you want, and that means influencing decision making and policy, you need the knowledge to back your passion up. If being a local Councillor is appealing, you've missed the boat in the latest election BUT you can spend the next few years building up your knowledge and credibility so that you know what you are talking about and the impacts from decision making.

Ellen MacArthur foundation has courses that can help you decide how to focus your passion. These are either a few weeks long or just info slides. Once something strikes a chord, then look for building your knowledge. Volunteer with an organisation or see if you can start one up. Once your credibility is there you can run to be a councillor to make a difference.

As well as the ecology and environmental management route you could look at Urban Planning (or Town Planning) as this career option works with creating the policy that determines where new development is located and how it's impact on the environment is reduced and sustainability measures are included. Having some understanding if this area can help if you want to be a councillor but also f you choose to be an activist or community volunteer trying to improve your local environment.

It's all very well people dismissing small scale action or local action as being only a drop in the ocean, but the more that is being done to make the "least environmentally impactful" choice the easy one for people, the more likely they will do it and the knock on or ripple effect happens.

So help folk make the decision not to use their car - can you set up a business reclaiming bikes from the local tip/recycling centre, work with someone to refurb and then sell them or hire them out for local trips? A bike shop here hires out bikes and one is a cargo bike.

Set up a clothing exchange? Or Take in old clothes and fix or mend or repurpose then sell. Or use as rags for other purposes or work with a charity to see if one out there has a need or use?

If you like growing, can you volunteer to set up a gardening club at local schools and nurseries? They can grow flowers and vegetables and encourage biodiversity back in to developed spaces. Also care homes would be happy for this too as it can involve residents but also make nice spaces for them to enjoy.

These are small actions but worthwhile.

What about encouraging others to do the same? Tutorials, social media, a blog. They can all be monetised

Try the Estates departments at your local council or university - there will be jobs you had no idea even existed.

Do you have a degree already?