Since both of our previous guests mentioned ‘Carbon Management’, some of our audience asked me what that is. James, the program director for the online MSc Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh, spoke to us from Edinburgh.

Listen to the podcast or read the transcript below.

Greensider: Do you mind giving a brief introduction to the course? Why is this, why is it called carbon management?

James: The course was set up about 10 years ago by professor Dave Reay, then I took over two years ago. It’s fundamentally about understanding climate change and the role of carbon in mitigating climate change. On top of that, we also look at the impacts of climate change and how we adapt to it.

Greensider: What kind of backgrounds do the students come from?

James: Such a wide diversity. One of the fascinating things about the course is we have students from not only different age groups and countries, but also different (educational and professional) backgrounds. Some come from finance. Some have a more technical background, such as the energy sector. Some are keen to change their careers, so they want to learn about climate change. There are students who are farmers, or working for NGOs, governments as well as in the private sectors.

Greensider: How is the course preparing students for green careers?

James: If you take green careers as a whole, that could encompass a whole range of different topics. For example, there are Masters in the University of Edinburgh that are more focused on conservation or land management, which can be considered green careers. In our regard, we are solely concerned with training and educating students to better understand climate change. Clearly whatever green field you are in, climate change is going to be important. If you are going to work in conservation, you still need to know a lot about the impact of climate change on species, for example, and how to manage a nature reserve. Climate change is very topical. It’s been happening and there’s going to be bigger impacts of climate change in various parts of the world in the future. For a lot of students, it is important to understand climate change and it’s clearly quite important for all sorts of different career types.

Greensider: If anyone wants to shift their career towards sustainability and the climate change sphere, Carbon Management or similar courses can be a great stepping stone.

James: Absolutely. Even if you haven’t got the relevant background, the course assumes that all students aren’t an expert in this, so we start from basics. So if you are looking to switch careers, maybe you’ve had enough of your accountancy job or working in the city council and you want to learn more about climate change, then this is a great course to do. The proof is in the pudding: most of our alumni are working in the climate change field, such as climate change consultancy, or advising governments on climate change or working in the energy sector. The course is a means to an end for most students.

Greensider: Let’s talk about your green professional journey. What did you study and what did you work on before becoming a university teacher on climate change?

James: I had a very interesting background. I grew up on a farm back in the 70s and 80s. My dad was a farm manager and I always wanted to be a farmer. Before going into agriculture colleges, I spent two years in farms to get the required practical experience. However, throughout my time in agricultural college, I realised that my heart wasn’t in farming.

One of the last courses during that period was on conservation. I thought, ah, this is what I want to do! I went to do a degree in Rural Environment Studies at the University of London. I learnt all about environmental issues from global and local perspectives. When I graduated at that time, it was very difficult to get into the environmental sector. A lot of my fellow students were doing voluntary work for a year or two just to get a foot in the door. For me, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do, but I was quite determined to earn money.

I set up a little business for forest management, conservation work and landscaping. It was three years of great experience. It was hard work, but I learnt how to run a business and got more and more interested in the forest management side. Therefore, I pursued an MSc in Forestry in University of Oxford, which got me more interested in the academic side, the ecology of woodlands and forests, as well as the impacts of climate change on the natural world. From there, I wanted to do a PhD, but it took me a while to find funding and a perfect opportunity.

In the meantime, I worked for ADAS as an environmental consultant before my perfect PhD came up. It was at Oxford again in Woodland Ecology, understanding the climate change impacts on ash woodlands in the UK, followed by a few post-docs at Oxford and Nottingham University on the UK national ecosystem assessment. Then I moved to Edinburgh to join a research group in land use change with Mark Rounsevell.

A few years later, I got an opportunity to work outside of academia again — at Woodland Trust as a consultant. Then this teaching job came up. I thought I really enjoyed teaching forestry when I was in the land use research group, and that it’d be great to focus full-time on teaching. Here I am now.

Teaching is a very secure route. Even though my background is conservation forestry rather than climate change modelling, everything I’ve done has been actually quite relevant to what I do now with the Carbon Management course. I’ve gained a lot of experience and hopefully I can share that with the students

Greensider: Other than the fact that you really enjoy teaching, why did you switch from Woodland Trust to be an educator?

James: Partly because there was too much travelling for me. If I had a meeting in London, I would be getting up at 4am to catch an early train. By the time I got back home in Edinburgh, it was already 11pm. That wasn’t enjoyable. Partly, to be honest, because the salary in conservation NGOs wasn’t fantastic, certainly not as good as a university education salary. Also I just wanted to be focused, settled and get back into the university environment. Working in the university environment has a lot of pluses. It’s very dynamic. You’re surrounded by interested and intelligent people. It’s very international. You meet lots of new people all the time. Teaching itself is also a lot of fun. For me, it wasn’t a difficult choice at all.

Greensider: What does it take to be a university teacher on climate change or sustainability subjects?

James: Good question. I’m not sure what my qualities would be. When I look at other colleagues who are successful teachers, I think you need to have first of all, an understanding and appreciation and a passion for the subjects, whatever your subject may be. Of course, within climate change, there are lots of different topics we teach. Also, you’ve got to enjoy talking to people and lecturing and meeting people online. You need to have a certain amount of patience working with a university system. In some ways, you’ve got to be quite independent. There’s a lot of time you spend on your own working away. Fundamentally, you’ve got to enjoy teaching and transferring knowledge and skills to other people.

Greensider: Finally, what do you expect in the future for climate change education and professional training?

James: I think we’re going to see more courses arise. It’s going to get more competitive. But from a student perspective, it’s great to have more choices. I think there will be more online courses, particularly in light of COVID where we’ve seen a much greater increase in online teaching. It has shown to a lot of lecturers, universities and departments that online teaching is perfectly valid. Also, there are many opportunities out there with lots of people throughout the world specialising in all sorts of climate change related topics. It will create more competition for us, but I think on the whole it’s better. It definitely means that more and more people have the opportunities to learn and study about climate change.

Greensider: Yeah. I look forward to more people joining the green workforce as well.

James: Absolutely. When I think back to my childhood at school, we were never taught anything about environmental issues. We had biology lessons, but without any environmental component. I think things have changed now. I hope students in primary schools, secondary schools in Scotland, England and elsewhere are taught about environmental issues. It’s hard to escape climate change from the news. Also, it’s also vitally important to teach these things so people can understand the price of a high-carbon lifestyle and change behaviours.