Take Action and Climate Careers

Take action

Every member of the San Francisco State University community plays a part in helping the University reach its sustainability goals. Make a difference by engaging in a student group, joining a committee or reducing your campus footprint.

See our climate action plan Climate careers Find opportunities Report energy waste and leaks

Reducing our campus's carbon footprint

Making our campus more sustainable through simple everyday actions.

Commute sustainably

Walking, biking, riding transit and carpooling are powerful ways to reduce your carbon footprint.

Ride your bike to campus
Take FREE public transit with your Gator Pass
Charge your electric vehicle on campus for only $1.00 per hour with no hourly limit

Learn how we commute

Zero waste

Learn what goes where in the 3-bin recycle/compost/landfill system and how to donate your old items
Reduce your personal waste with the Living Green Like a Gator Guide by learning how to lower your waste and carbon footprint
Print the one-page Green Gator Guide and keep it somewhere you can see it (like your refrigerator!)

Learn how we operate

Reduce your energy use

Turn off lights, printers and other electronics in your office or residence
- This saves energy and money while reducing our carbon footprint

See how we power our campus

Refuse and reuse

Reduce your waste by refusing single use items
- Bring your own bottle, mug, bag and utensils – most campus food vendors give a 25¢ discount for bringing your own
- No plastic bags or straws are offered on campus
Bring a reusable bottle or buy one on campus
- Then refill at one of the several filling stations on campus

Find refill stations for your water bottle on campus

Contact us

Want to bring sustainability into your class or meeting? Have a great idea we haven’t tackled yet? Suggest a new sustainability project and work with us or request a presentation.

Sustainability

The Office of Sustainability helps integrate sustainability, resilience and equity into SFSU’s academics, planning, operations and student activities.

sustain@sfsu.edu

Climate careers

Your career doesn't have to be directly linked to climate change or sustainability to be a climate career. Any career can be a climate career!

How can you do this? First, find out how you – specifically you – can help with climate solutions in your career with the Climate Action Venn Diagram!

Ask yourself:

What am I good at? Think about your skills, resources and networks. What are your areas of expertise? Who and what do you have access to? What can you bring to the table?
What is the work that needs doing? Think about system-level change. Are there particular climate and justice solutions that interest you? Maybe starting a composting program, protecting forests, or getting climate candidates elected? Heaps of options.
What brings me joy and satisfaction? What gets you out of bed in the morning? Don’t pick things that make you miserable and will burn you out! This is the long haul – find things that enliven and energize you.

Types of climate careers

It's important to know how you what to make an impact by choosing which type of organization you want to work for. No matter where you are in your career, you can always shift out of one area to another.

Career paths for impact
Category	Career Options / Work Areas
Changing the rules: Policy and community	Working for federal, state, or local governments
Changing the rules: Policy and community	Working for nonprofits or community organizations
Changing minds: Education careers	Working for schools or nonprofits
	Journalism
	Research
Changing the game: Business careers	Working on sustainability for companies, firms, start-ups, etc. (either direct employee or in consulting)
Changing the game: Business careers	Working for mission-driven businesses in renewable energy, sustainable food systems, etc.

How to take action at your current job

Climate Solution at Work is a how-to guide for employees looking to make every job a climate job and is a great example on how you can do this. Excerpt from Climate Solution at Work (page 6):

Inside most companies, only a handful of people with “sustainability” roles consider climate issues part of their workday. But in this most all-encompassing challenge in human history, every job must be a climate job. Asking your employer for any type of change—from new coffee makers to comprehensive action on climate—can be intimidating, especially when the request targets something core and systemic to the business, and may not be supported by leadership. But there are tangible, collaborative ways to harness your employee influence and spark climate action at any company. Bottom line: All action is valuable, and the climate crisis calls on every person to find their inroad.

Form groups with like-minded colleagues focused on creative brainstorming, identifying company leverage points, and instigating collective action. Whether through “green teams,” employee resource groups, or under-the-radar organizing, employees can pull from a variety of teams and skills, promote active participation, and set priorities and goals.
Conduct power mapping with colleagues to identify networks inside (and outside) your company that can be tapped for change. When considering requests to company leadership, these types of mapping exercises can help you understand where influence sits in your company. Rather than bringing a request to the most powerful decision maker, this process helps identify a more accessible staff member with the right type of leadership influence.
Join action-oriented groups like Climate Changemakers, Terra.do, or ClimateAction.tech (for those in the tech industry) to share resources and build community.
Learn the latest about global climate solutions and explore ways to work climate into your own job responsibilities.

Download the full guide to learn more.