Ya gotta go where the money is.

Almost any show worth anything on NPR is supported by a small handful of foundations that can be found here: https://stateimpact.npr.org/supporters/

Each of those organizations give money to people to support their funding mission. Like the Hewlett Foundation who have given more than $144m to organizations working on environmental issues, this year alone.

Then you dig in to the organizations that they have funded. Go to their web sites. Look into what they do. What positions do they have open? Do they have internships? Job openings? Partners they work with? What about those partner orgs? Are they hiring?

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Big picture, here, you are trying to get work in an industry that doesn't MAKE money. It SPENDS money. So you will never earn much money. Jobs will always be hard to find, because every dollar spent on your salary is a dollar not spent on furthering their mission.

And none of these jobs are gonna be in your area. Nashville is just not where the leading companies working on climate change are located.

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Another option is to go to work for a local company that shares the environmental goals you seek to encourage. Find a sustainable coffee company. Or a landscaper that uses native plants and minimizes water usage. This type of experience will lead directly to you gaining practical, boots on the ground knowledge, that employers will look favorably on.

There is also Tennessee's own department of the environment: http://www.tennessee.gov/environment/article/efo-nashville

And even the Mayor of Nashville is pushing to make Nashville the "Greenest City in America". But the problems she faces have mostly to do with policy.

So dig into local politics. Champion issues that support the Mayor's mission. Work with local orgs to get people to vote for good policy changes, that will help the Mayor make things happen.

Climate change is a problem with a thousand facets. Creating another poorly funded think tank web site to spew a bunch of words out, is simply going to take that money from other orgs that can do that work better already.

So get out there. Get stuck in. Try and schedule a meeting with the Mayor. Follow and read ALL of the links in that article about the Mayor's plans, and get up to speed on what needs to happen in the local political scene.

Because, in the end, legislation and policies are not written from scratch. They are edited versions of other policies that were successfully implemented elsewhere. If you get a good policy passed in Nashville, you can share it with other environmental policy leaders in other cities and states, and get them to implement it as well. Bit by bit, the ship turns, and you have your hand on the tiller...