Goodbye Trail, Hello Transferable Solutions

In December, I announced the next phase of my project. When I started The Freelance Project, I wanted to explore what freelancing looked like in environmental education (EE). The people we've had the opportunity to meet through the podcast have shown us there are dozens of ways to approach working as an environmental education professional. 

With this understanding established, it is time to add the next layer to this project. This new layer requires a few updates to the website and newsletter. Our newsletter received a new name. The Trail is now called Transferable Solutions. The theme for this newsletter is "Environmental Skills, Reimagined." This next phase serves two purposes. First, it informs how independent professionals can establish a presence in other fields. Second, it provides a way forward for educators leaving EE to do environmentally-minded cross-sector work.

Why this change?

I've been feeling the conversation change.

I've had lingering questions, and I'm beginning to hear possible answers. Here is how I see things at the moment.

Freelance environmental educators have already taken a step away from the traditional field and are actively applying their skills to other situations. We have seen examples of this with every podcast guest on the show.

The question that has been following me around all this time is:

What about the environmental educators who leave because they can't afford to stay? The ones who still want to do environmental work in some capacity but choose not to start their own practice? 

It's a problem when emerging professionals and experienced environmental educators have to leave the field because they can't afford to stay. When I see this, I think of the field as "bleeding." I am beginning to hear ways to address this, so it's time to fine-tune my work and have new conversations. Let's take a recent survey as an example.

In October, I asked newsletter subscribers if they would read a publication about how one might transition away from the seasonal nature of environmental education work. I received a positive response. People shared with me what they would like to see in this type of publication. I am grateful for their insight. As the newsletter matures, I hope respondents will recognize the impact of their contribution. 

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