-Life as a Sustainability Champion-
Sustainability is a term that evokes a myriad of emotional and intellectual reaction.
So much so, some would argue that the word has run its course from its early beginnings and arguably hip usage within academia and environmental circles as a means to label approaches and strategies for identifying and tackling of present-day ecological issues.
To some, sustainability has wrongfully become a convoluted catch all phrase for a wide array of matters and has been used over and over to the point of it losing its lustre and most importantly, clarity as per what it is truly is referring to.
Other buzzier labels, theories and approaches such as regenerative or circularity-based approaches and labels to environmental solutions are presently muscling their way into our collective consciousness.
Make no mistake though. Much of this largely comes down to semantics.
Whatever you reference or refer to when considering the state of the environment, or what needs to be done, the truth is that our planet does not care. It simply needs immediate action.
On today’s show, we have a guest who has dedicated himself with a laser like focus on tackling many of the issues our mother earth is facing.
In the process he has built an identity, ethos and career centred on improving the state of our environment in the now and hopefully for generations to come.
Introducing
Joel Hartter could be considered as a sustainability champion, superstar, superhero, rock-star or whatever superlative label you can conjure up.
Well, let’s start with this. He is an internationally recognized thought-leader, influencer, educator, and advisor in strategies that foster a culture of sustainability.
Professional Background
His experience spans pretty much all dimensions of sustainability and not limited to the following: project oversight, making business case for sustainability, policy and government affairs, philanthropy, stakeholder and community engagement, brand partnerships, environmental conservation, education, monitoring and reporting, operations, and collaboration with executive leadership teams.
International Work
His work as a National Geographic Explorer illustrates many of these points. Take his work on projects across East and Southern Africa and Madagascar at national parks. There he has worked on issues of sustainable farming, endangered wildlife conservation, climate change, resource extraction and human behaviour.
Domestic Work
You could also consider his leading of economic development for rural Colorado related to local farming and the outdoor industry, or even the sustainability strategies he developed for the ski and consumer packaged goods industry.
Are you buying into this Sustainability Superhero alter-ego for Joel yet?
Academia
Well he is also a Professor at the University of Colorado and the founding Director of one of the US’ largest sustainability programs which provides a talent pipeline for the next sustainability leaders.
Joel is also the founding director of the nation’s first graduate program supporting the outdoor industry through business and leadership, public lands policy, and economic development.
Professional Highlights
Through his work in the private, non-profit, and public sector, Joel has created new technology to reduce commercial vehicle emissions on over 1 million commercial trucks, developed some of the first open source hybrid vehicle software, started an international NGO focused on girls’ and women’s empowerment in Uganda supporting over 100,000.
Reasons to Listen
This conversation covers much ground from the perspective of providing practical knowledge and insights on the industry right on through to direct advice and insights on how to get involved and create one’s own career pathway within it all. Not to be overlooked is the peek into Joel’s own wide and varied experiences within it all.
This will be a talk worth listening to for:
- those looking to better understand the sustainability career landscape
- those interested in finding out what opportunities lie within a career within sustainability
- those curious to know what skills and experiences they can begin addressing now to develop their own sustainability based career pathway
Listeners will come away with insights on:
- one individual’s mission and drive to make a difference for people and planet
- what sustainability truly means to a person embedded within the movement
- what specific skills and experiences sustainability minded students can look to develop for their own careers
- the rewards and challenges of leading two highly respected and ground breaking professional graduate programs at the University of Colorado in sustainability
- sustainability minded career transitions talk
- what opportunities exist within this field of sustainability consulting
- how to leverage your existing expertise in one sphere to get involved within the sustainability movement
- why this is a great time to start a sustainability based career
- how strategically positioning oneself to be involved in the sustainability movement can be a savvy career move
- biggest challenges of promoting sustainability
- biggest challenges that organizations face when wanting to embrace sustainability and how Joel works with them to circumvent such issues
- personal challenges of working within sustainability
- a very powerful and emotionally charged story story illustrating both the reward and challenge of a career defined by sustainability
- much more!
A Memorable Quote from the Episode:
“If you try to make sustainability as a concept so academic, then that is where it stays. We really need everybody to play an important role.”
-Joel Hartter
Check out the Video Conversation:
For those who desire to view the full video conversation of this discussion, you can do so via Youtube.
Words of Wisdom:
Hear from Joel as he provides advice to those looking to explore a career based within sustainability.
Discover More
For those interested in learning more about Joel and his work, you can check out these links:
*His consulting website: www.goparallel.org
*Professional graduate program in sustainability: www.colorado.edu/menv
*Professional graduate program focused on outdoor economy: www.colorado.edu/program/ore
*Academic work: www.jhartter.weebly.com
Keep Listening!
I hope you enjoyed the episode. For more, check out additional episodes here!
