The Climate Career Kit Story: Inspiring Eco-Minded Youth - A Conversation with Aishani Garg

Host Amy Farrell sits down with Aishani Garg, a high school student and founder of the "Climate Career Kit" podcast. Aishani passionately discusses her commitment to the environment and the driving force behind her podcast which is dedicated to helping young environmental enthusiasts like her enter the world of climate careers. This episode explores Aishani's inspiring journey and provides valuable insights into the realm of environmental advocacy and green professions, making it a must-listen for anyone seeking to be part of a sustainable future.

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Transcript

Lucy (Intro) 00:03

Welcome to SolPods Studio. We're not your average social network. We're a community of professionals, enthusiasts and students taking sustainability to the next level. Join us on our journey and get inspired by Earth Heroes just like you.

Amy 00:16

Hi and welcome back to another episode of SolPods Studio. I'm Amy Farrell based in the Bay Area of California. And I'm so excited to have a fellow Bay Area resident join me today on our first, live, virtually recorded podcast. I met her, I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Earth Day Festival in April of 2023 where she was actually presenting on her podcast, the Climate Career Kit. Aishani Garg is a junior at Design Tech High School which is a charter school based in Redwood City California, a very unique charter school that focuses both on the Design Thinking approach developed at Stanford University and also incorporates some sustainability into their curriculum. So Aishani, thanks so much for joining. 

Aishani 01:16

Thank you so much.

Amy 01:18

So excited to have you here today. So let's just start out in the very beginning, The Climate Career Kit which is focused on discussing, I guess different types of careers that touch climate change. You're so passionate about climate and climate change that you develop this for high school students. Can we just back up and can you tell me, you know, how you got inspired to be involved in climate, in the first place? 

Aishani 01:46 

I would say that I started getting into it over the Pandemic. Everything was weird, everything was changing. We experienced a lot of fires, a lot of the direct effects of climate change were felt by a lot of us in the Bay Area. And so that kind of inspired me to think about what could change because all we were taught about was, you know, you have to recycle and turn off the lights, but at some point that's not gonna work anymore. So I was really curious to figure out how I could make that into something that I could do in my career. But I'm not a particularly like STEM-focused person, like I don't want to be an engineer. So like, that's what inspired me to like kind of find out what exists out there. And I would say that, going into high school, my teachers, my environmental science teacher particularly, she inspired me a lot because she taught me about everything that there is to do with climate change in the environment and everything that happens in the world to do with the environment. And how humans are kind of affecting everything. And so that was like, kind of the first step that gave me like the initial knowledge and then I started to go out and try to find out more things that I could do. So, the first thing I did was I applied for the YCA program in San Mateo.

Amy 03:07

Wait, back up. What does that stand for? Because I’ve heard about it.

Aishani 03:11 

The Youth Climate Ambassador program. Yeah, it's through the county and they're actually accepting applications for cohort five. So if you're a high schooler, you should definitely go apply. Yeah. And it was amazing because they teach you so much about climate justice, climate action, everything that you can do in high school. And they gave you the tools to have a project of your own that you implement in your community. And so it really empowered me to like, take action and made me feel like I had the tools to really do something. 

Amy 03:47

Yeah. And I guess on that program is it, several weeks, and how involved is it in case there are students listening who want to go ahead in our county and get involved?

Aishani 03:59

It goes from around October to May, and there's a biweekly meeting. So it's every other Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. So it's pretty late. So any, after any sports practices and stuff and it's just a Zoom meeting and you have opportunities to learn in the first hour.

They're really good about education, and then they also give you like the last half hour, last hour to like, do the assignments that they assign you. And so they guide you through the process of like implementing several different projects. And you also get a $500 stipend at the end in May.

Amy 04:35

Oh, my gosh. That's amazing. Oh, that's really good for anybody in San Mateo County here in California. That could be something to look at and consider applying for.  And for SolPods members or  those outside of California and other areas you might check to see, if your state or local government has something similar. So that really got you focused, I guess, and learning more on what you can do, to mitigate some of the climate change impacts. What would you say then led you to actually launch the podcast because I have a podcast. It's a lot of work. I mean, you're in high school right now, you're, you're in the midst of thinking about colleges and applications and, you know, so to launch a podcast and go through all the work and finding people to interview and then finding the time to do the interviews. Like what inspired you to do this for other people to help other people?

Aishani 05:36

Yeah. So as I mentioned before, like I'm not a very STEM focused person, and so I had the misconception that in order to work in climate in your future career, you have to be an engineer, you have to work in tech or you have to do something in that area. And I saw that that was not true because I was meeting so many different people that were working in sustainability but weren't in those jobs; they did marketing, they were fashion designers, they were lawyers, they were like literally everything else. And so I saw that there was kind of a gap in the education that we were getting about climate change, specifically. And I wanted to kind of fill that gap and show people, especially people in high school who have to make the decision right now, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life and show them that, you know, there are other possibilities. And so I wanted to find a way to educate high schoolers in that way. And I thought that my first story was I was going to interview people, and then I was gonna kind of share that knowledge with high schoolers like publicly, like somehow. And my dad kind of said “oh, wait, why don't you start a podcast? Why don't you, like, spread the knowledge that way so that you can get the information yourself. But also be sharing it to people at the same time and you could take that and do something else with it later.  But why don't you just start that now?” So that's what happened. 

Amy 07:05

That makes so much sense. It's great that your dad had that idea. So, so when did you actually launch the podcast? 

Aishani: 07:13

I launched the podcast in January of this year, and it's been running. 

Amy 07:20

Okay, and how many have you done? 

Aishani 07:22

I've done 22 episodes. I kind of took a little brea,k but there are 22 that you can go listen to from so many people in different areas. 

Amy 07:33

That's amazing. And did you find that people are pretty approachable? I mean, how do you, I know you met people through the program in San Mateo County. But how do you identify people? And, and I, I looked at your website, it looks like you've actually grouped the different interviews into categories. So if someone's interested in sustainable fashion or or, you know, clean tech, you, you've kind of segmented it. How do you find people to talk on those topics? 

Aishani 08:04

I often message people on LinkedIn and I know that sounds weird, but it’s my mom who taught me to first do that. I was like I wanna find people. 

Amy 08:14

OK. So you have a LinkedIn profile. 

Aishani 08:15

Yeah! My mom was like I’ll help you set it up. And then you just have to find people. And you have to message them, and you have to say this is what I’m trying to do and I was surprised - I got so many responses. They just kind of piled up at the same time. I had so many recorded podcasts that I had to edit, at one point. And it was amazing how many people were just willing to help me, how willing they were to share what they were doing to help other high schoolers because they know how important it is for the next generation to get into it. And I really appreciated that. 

Amy 08:49

Yes. That's, incredible that you are able to well, leverage LinkedIn, which technically is more of a professional networking platform. But, you know, it's open to everyone. So, and then that people responded.  What would be some of the most surprising interviews? I mean, where people caught you off guard? 

Aishani 09:09

In terms of like guests that I was able to get, I would say that I got someone from the US Department of Energy and it seems like it's like a real governmental organization. So that was like a pretty exciting thing for me. I also got an ex-NASA scientist who now works in different, yeah, weather data simulations and stuff. So that was cool. In terms of just like actual job to do with sustainability, I had a fashion designer, and so it was cool to see how they take sustainability into account when doing their job and it may not seem like it's like a crucial part of it but just each person like trying to make it a little more sustainable, really does make a difference.

Amy 09:51

That's so true. I mean, that's something we talk a lot about on the podcast and all the work we do at SolPods. Every little step counts. Even if it feels like a small action can actually collectively lead to big change. I want to ask about where you see this going. I mean, now you've been at it for several months. you've got your website, and, you know, social media as well. So, is it something you want to continue doing? Are you thinking about going more, in person or where, where are you going to go with this?

Aishani: 10:26

I want to for sure, continue educating and getting interviews with different professionals, but more than anything, I want to expand my reach and I wanna make sure it reaches more people. I want to, especially in the Bay Area, like go to different high schools and like present about it and I wanna make sure that it gets heard because I feel very strongly about it and I know that people, if they don't think they're interested in something, they won't go look for it. So I have a feeling that the people that I need to reach are people that I need to go find.

Amy 11:00

So Aishani, you said that you’re on LinkedIn.  I know you have a website, outside of going in person to the different high schools, say in the Bay Area. I mean, we know most high school students are, you know, users of social media. So how do you see using those platforms to get the word out?

Aishani 11:21

We have an Instagram right now, and I have someone who's helping me like make reels of my different episodes and posting them. They haven't gotten as much reach as we would like, but we just wanna continue doing that and also me recording other outside videos. So hopefully they get into those channels, and also we were thinking about possibly starting a TikTok and putting those same videos on there just to kind of get videos out there and make sure they reach people just to see what happens.

Amy 11:49

Yeah, that makes sense. And you mentioned you have someone helping you.  Are you finding other, you know, students at D-Tech are interested in helping you? 

Aishani: 11:58

Yes, just a few, but that’s all you need. 

Amy 12:00

That's true. You only need a couple to get that going. Now, turning to D-Tech itself because, you know, the school sits on the Oracle Campus. Isn't that right? It's a pretty interesting charter school. Can you just tell me a little bit about how sustainability is incorporated into the curriculum there? Because I understand that they're one of the few schools that actually includes the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN SDGS in the curriculum.

Aishani 12:31

Yeah. For sure. First off, I would say that the first kind of thing that was sustainable at our school is actually the building itself. It was designed by the previous students. So when they were first building the building, and it was funded by Oracle in 2015, I want to say, it was designed by students and it is designed to be a zero emissions building. So we don't have running AC, we don't have those things. We do have solar panels and our buildings are completely glass. So it's natural heating and cooling. So they really do take into account like trying to be sustainable. Also, another really important thing at D-Tech is Design Thinking. So using Design Thinking, they incorporate sustainability into our curriculum. And so the first class that you take in ninth grade is just general Design Thinking. And then as you move into 10th grade, you start thinking about how can I use this process to help my community by being more sustainable. So we look at the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that were set by the UN, and you choose one and you choose like a target and then you try to make some change either at the school or in the community to try to make it more sustainable, try to advance it a little bit. And then, I'm currently in a class called Innovation Diploma. So that's kind of the highest one that you can get to. And it's a special diploma that our school offers. And it's essentially the same thing. You choose a UN Sustainable Development Goal and you design a project and you implement it, and you have to present it to a group of people and you have to defend it. And you have to say, like, this is what I did and this is what impact I had and then they choose whether or not to give you an extra diploma that you graduate with. So, I think it's pretty cool.

Amy F 14:21

That's incredible. So are you also measuring the impact that you've had? And what kind of tools are you using to capture that, that or measure that impact? 

Aishani 14:31

Yeah. I'm still in, like, the development process of my project but how it's going, I would say that I can measure it in a variety of different ways. I think one way I'll measure it is kind of through survey data, which is a pretty common way. And another way I would say is through social media interaction. So I'm planning on having like a social media for my project. So we'll see how the interaction there goes.

Amy 14:57

That's great. I love to hear that D-Tech is actually getting students to think about, not just the impact, but how you measure that because without the measurability or, or some way to see how it affects the community, you don't know if your project actually works, if it's actually affecting change. So that's, that's so cool. I guess in terms of where you see yourself going for the future - a big question because here you are just thinking about colleges, but I know you also are really involved in the Model UN at school. So, do you see diplomacy, or you said you're not a STEM person, but clearly you're, you're leveraging tech with your podcast. So, you know, do you have any ideas about what the future might hold?

Aishani 15:46

So generally kind of what I wanna do, I think is to go into some sort of I would say environmental policy career and that today kind of means a lot of things. So I don't know if that means that I'll be a lawyer. I don't know if that means that I'll work in government or even work for a private company, but just something where I can interact with people, you know, use my diplomacy skills, I love talking to people, and kind of helping people and companies be more sustainable. It's kind of just what I wanna do.

Amy 16:19

That's great. I'm so glad to hear that someone in high school is thinking about that now. And, and clearly you've met so many potential mentors, you know, through your podcast, that you have a lot of people out there you could reach out to for more information. All right. So let me ask you the final question, which is a little bit creative. We ask everyone who joins SolPods Studio, our podcast, this question: If you could have a sustainability superpower, what would it be and why?

Aishani 16:50

I've actually thought about this a lot. I would say that I wanna be able to inspire people to pursue climate action or make sustainable change. Like, even if it's a small one in their lives, like I just wanna inspire people through communication specifically to just make a small change.

 Amy 17:09

That's amazing. And you already are doing it actually. So now we just need to amplify it by teaching more people about your podcast. So I, I want to mention that you can listen to all your podcasts, right? At theclimatecareerkit.com, and or follow you on, you said Instagram. So, and maybe TikTok in the future and certainly, if you're interested in getting an interview on Aishani's podcast, you can reach out to her on Linkedin, or even I guess, reach out on, on your website, right? You actually have the ability there. So we'll definitely include all this information in the show notes, but we're so excited that you could join us. Thank you for everything you're doing for the planet, and and I hope you continue doing what you're doing and getting the word out to high school students.

Aishani 18:03
 
Thank you.

Amy 18:04

Thanks for joining. 

Lucy (Outro) 18:05

SolPods Studio is made possible by listeners like you. Join the free SolPods platform to become a part of our virtual community of change makers. Links to our social media, website, and platform can be found below in the show notes. If you enjoyed the show, feel free to rate and review our podcast. Thank you for listening and for your support.