Her dream is to preserve our beautiful earth. She kept chasing after it and finally succeeded. She is Mandy Yuen, who works as an environmentalist in a well-known NGO, the Conservancy Association. Young Post interviews her to introduce her meaningful career.
Requirements
To be an environmentalist isn’t that easy. The primary element you need to have is a strong interest in environmental protection. Your passion and enthusiasm towards related issues can push you to continue. And it is extremely important when facing setbacks. Excellent communication and customer service skills are required since you have to cooperate with a lot of parties. You should be able to work under pressure too. There may be some conflicts and controversies over environmental topics and you need to analyze the topics calmly and show the facts clearly to convince others you have grounds. Outgoing character is preferred because you will have plenty outdoor work and may even work on Saturday or Sunday.
Qualifications
A degree in an environmental related subject is preferred, as for example, Environmental Science. Non-degree holders will work as assistants at first. Yuen says basic knowledge of nature helps you pick up the work easily. She suggests having an internship at an environmental association in summer holidays. You can get practical experience in a job and the experience is an advantage. Besides, a good command of written and spoken English, as well as Cantonese and Mandarin is needed. Some computer skills are required too such as MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Chinese Word processing and so on.
Responsibilities
Yuen is the project officer and she is responsible for several sections. Her major duties are coordinating with government departments, planning, budgeting and drafting proposals or reporting on environmental projects. An environmentalist also needs to prepare and draft education materials, reaches out to the community and executes projects, communicate with stakeholders to promote environmental awareness and delivers school talks on related issues.
A day at work
There are three main tasks environmentalists perform on a day to day basis. Yuen has to do research on environmental problems. After that, Yuen has to report on the changes discovered and come up with reasons and solutions. Then, she needs to use different platforms to talk to people from all parts of the world about the findings. ‘It is quite exhausting but I love my job,’ she smiles. Yuen says the crucial point is choosing the career based on your interest.