Green careers can provide a new way forward after prison » Yale ... - Yale Climate Connections
Green careers can provide a new way forward after prison " Yale Climate Connections
Kerry Vadasz was sent to prison when she was 20. For years behind bars, she struggled to find direction.
But she says her life changed when she got involved with an environmental literacy and green job training program called Roots of Success.
Vadasz: “It offers opportunity for men and women to actually find a path forward in their life and not have to go back to their old lives.”
Roots of Success is offered at prisons, schools, and job training centers. It exposes participants to career paths in renewable energy, green building, clean transportation, and other environmental fields.
People also learn job-readiness skills such as writing a resume or preparing for an interview.
According to outside research, the vast majority of graduates say they are more informed about green career paths and more prepared to pursue them.
Now out of prison, Vadasz plans to continue working with Roots of Success, training others to teach the program. And she’s applying for a training program in solar panel installation instruction.
Vadasz: “I think that Roots of Success allows people to find their own power. … It allows them to actually see that … they can actually have a meaningful income with a meaningful career and have a meaningful life.”
Reporting Credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”