Registered Offices John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
Editorial Office 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK
For details of our global editorial offices, customer services, and more information about Wiley products visit us at www.wiley.com.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print‐on‐demand. Some content that appears in standard print versions of this book may not be available in other formats.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty While the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication data applied for
Hardback: 9781119052845
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: Courtesy of Bailey Taberham
I would like to dedicate this book to my Mum who inspired my love for books; my Dad who instilled in me the need to work hard and have ‘stickability’; and to Jasmine for her constant love and support. Many thanks to my children for their involvement – Bailey for the book cover image, Ethan for keeping me well fed and amused and Lara for proofreading. This book is in memory of my Dad and Mama Lee, who gave me great support while I was writing but never got to see it finally published.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the entire team at Wiley who have helped to bring this book to fruition and most notably to Andrew Harrison, Senior Commissioning Editor and Mandy Collison, Managing Editor.
A group of reviewers helpfully reviewed the book text and passed on their expertise to help make the book more valuable to readers. They are Carol McClelland Fields, Kevin Doyle, Lisa (Yee) Yee‐Litzenberg, Laura Thorne and Sharmila Singh.
I would like to thank my networks and the numerous volunteer contributors, text reviewers and experts globally who have made the book more global, relevant and information rich.
The names of many of the major contributors are noted at the end of the book, but there are also hundreds of additional helpers who chipped in with views and helpful ideas. My thanks go to all.
Justin Taberham, London
June 2021
1 Introduction
1.1 Author Introduction
The author, Justin Taberham, is an environmental professional and Chartered Environmentalist with more than 30 years’ experience in the global environment sector, working for Government agencies, a water utility, a lobbying charity and a global professional body. He is now a Consultant and Advisor, working in environmental publications, business and careers. He has significant experience of environmental recruiting, developing staff and advising and mentoring people globally who seek to develop a career in the environment sector. His website is www.justintaberham.com, and the site has a full professional profile.
Figure 1.1 The Green World of Work.
Source: Martens 2020. © Joanne Martens.
The Env.Careers Website
The author manages the Env.Careers website www.env.careers which is ‘The “one stop shop” for people who want to develop a career in the global environment sector’.
The Env.Careers website is an allied resource to this book, and it helps deliver ongoing additional content. The website is also a standalone resource with tips, advice and mentoring for those seeking a green career.
1.2 The Author’s Green Career – Any Lessons to Learn?
I grew up in the Norfolk countryside, in rural England. I was an enthusiastic scout, angler, hill walker and conservation volunteer. I was also keenly involved in environmental campaigns on issues such as Rainforest Conservation, Acid Rain and Species Loss. My parents were very tolerant of me bringing home ‘roadkill’ and other natural finds to ‘study’.
As I got older and had to make career direction and subject choices at school, I was often shunted into a specific area of interest which would enable me to more easily get a ‘standard’ job – early suggestions from careers questionnaires were Policeman, Insurer and Teacher. None of these were of much interest to me – it was a mystery why the questionnaires never asked, ‘What do you actually want to do?’ Careers advice tended to just look at the limited subjects I was studying and extrapolate what career field was broadly relevant; the more sophisticated current career survey techniques still extrapolate from your school subjects, general interests and personality traits and find you very common areas of work, in an almost apologetic attempt to pigeonhole you.
In the early 1980s, very few people worked in the environment sector and I struggle to remember any careers talks that mentioned it. ‘The Environment’ tended to be a subject for hippies and drop‐outs, and environmentalism was not perceived in the more positive light that it is today. The ‘Natural World’ was being promoted to the public by the likes of David Attenborough and Jacques Cousteau, but it seemed very exotic and separate from normal career options. Protecting and managing the environment as a career wasn’t promoted, even following the major nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl in 1986 and the scourge of acid rain in the 1980s.
Many people I have met who work in the global environment sector have grown their passion from childhood experiences with nature and I’m an example of this. Just because a quality has been developed in early life, this doesn’t preclude it from playing a part in your future career decisions.
I decided at school that I would take ‘general’ A‐Levels (UK examinations pre‐university), investigate environmental degrees and consider what jobs were on offer. It must be noted that this was a time when internet searches were not possible, and university and jobs information had to be found in a school or public library, by searching the indexes and shelves. School