09/01/2025

Beyond Green Jobs: Helping Students Navigate the Realities of the Climate Crisis

By Nicole L. May and Michael J. Stebleton

The climate crisis poses volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) challenges. From record-high temperatures to natural disasters increasing in frequency and severity, no corner of the planet will be unaffected by the seismic climate changes that are underway (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2023). Current and future postsecondary students will encounter disruptions to their daily lives and added stress as society faces these challenges. Post-secondary career development professionals (CDPs) have an opportunity to support students by acknowledging the VUCA work context and helping students develop skills and strategies to cope with the changing landscape. The purpose of this article is to build awareness and focus attention on the emotional and career-related impacts of the climate crisis and to share several action steps CDPs can take to develop a climate-informed practice.

Emotional Impacts of the Climate Crisis

Approximately 81% of United States college students reported being “very worried” or “somewhat worried” about climate change, according to a 2023 survey from Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse (Ezarik, 2023). Although this is a high number, not all students are actively thinking about climate change and how it pertains to their futures. Some students may even deny the existence of the issue or the human causes of the crisis.  

For others, their deep concern about the future of the planet negatively impacts their functioning in daily life (Hickman et al., 2021). Eco-anxiety and related terms such as climate anxiety, climate grief, and solastalgia have been developed to describe negative emotional responses to ecological destruction and its associated uncertainties (Pihkala, 2020). The prevalence of eco-anxiety and the extent to which it impacts people is an emerging area of study. Yet, a global survey of 10,000 people ages 16 to 25 found that 50% of respondents reported feeling sad, anxious, angry, powerless, and helpless when they thought about climate change (Hickman et al., 2021). These strong and negative emotions can surface in a career development context when students look to the future and struggle to envision positive options.

Take Action

One way to counteract eco-anxiety and feelings of grief is to build students’ sense of possibility and agency. Career development professionals can contribute to this aim by acknowledging environmental realities, providing climate-informed career information, and identifying avenues for individual and collective action.

• Start small. Acknowledging the existence and severity of the climate crisis can help students feel heard and understood (Costa, 2023; Hickman et al., 2021). If it appears that students are having difficulty envisioning a positive future, speaking about the precarious state of the planet can open a space for them to share their thoughts and fears. Note that in some instances, students might disclose strong feelings or concerns that require referring them to a mental health professional.
• Connect with your local context. When CDPs are aware of local examples of climate impacts, they can spark career development conversations about how environmental changes affect working conditions, hiring in a particular sector, or the skills needed for a certain role. For example, in California, increasingly frequent wildfires have significantly affected air quality across the state (Poitras, 2025). In Western North Carolina and parts of the Southeast, Hurricane Helene dismantled water supply systems, causing lasting environmental damage (Rojanakakul & Tabuchi, 2024). These changes could impact students entering healthcare professions by influencing the types of cases they see and creating new needs for patient education.
• All jobs can be climate jobs. Green jobs and skills are in demand worldwide and exist across sectors (LinkedIn Economic Graph, 2024). In addition to career opportunities in fields directly related to climate, like renewable energy, environmental science, and civil engineering, many companies are looking for green skills such as energy tracking, sustainable design, and hazard communications as part of traditional roles. These job openings are already outpacing the availability of skilled workers and are predicted to continue growing in the coming years (Hora, 2023). CDPs need to stay up to date on these trends so they can inform students whose interests, values, and goals align with green opportunities (International Labour Organization, 2019; Mak & Mulangu, 2024; Russek & Thornton, 2024). Beyond green jobs, there are many opportunities for students to make any job into a climate job. Project Drawdown’s “Job Function Action Guides” (n.d.) provide climate action strategies employees can implement to promote climate solutions across job functions. Climate-focused organizations also need employees to fulfill traditional roles like human resources, accounting, and marketing. Learning about the wide range of climate-related career opportunities available can help ease eco-anxiety by providing a source of hope and building students’ sense of agency.
• Teach about it. Career professionals, including faculty and instructors, occupy unique roles to address climate-related issues within the curriculum (Hora, 2023). Climate action pedagogy is an approach that incorporates climate change awareness and examples of climate solutions within the existing curriculum (Costa, 2023). Integrating such information into course content arms students with knowledge about the types of challenges they might encounter, exposes them to opportunities to make a difference, and helps them process difficult truths in a supportive and communal setting (Mangan, 2023).
• Build a network of support. Learning about the depth and breadth of the climate crisis is a challenging and emotionally demanding task for career development professionals and students. Finding others engaged in the work can help counteract feelings of overwhelm and hopelessness (Alexander, 2023). CDPs can connect with similarly concerned colleagues and support student climate activism (Cramer, 2025) by attending student-led campus climate and sustainability events, joining or starting a climate-related interest group in your student services department, and getting involved with local community organizations (Climate Action Network, n.d.; Climate Justice Alliance, n.d.).

Historically, the career development profession has always been embedded in social justice advocacy work (Pope et al., 2013; Stebleton & Jehangir, 2020). Addressing the impending climate crisis is the next big opportunity and challenge for career educators.

Career development professionals are uniquely positioned to prepare students for the impending impacts of climate change and connect students to career pathways that make positive contributions to society. CDPs should seek out opportunities to address climate-related issues and, most importantly, to support students with eco-anxiety concerns.

References

Alexander, B. (2023). Universities on fire: Higher education in the climate crisis. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Climate Action Network. (n.d.). Climate Action Network – Home. https://climatenetwork.org/ 

Climate Justice Alliance. (n.d.). Climate Justice Alliance—Home. https://climatejusticealliance.org/ 

Costa, K. (2023, August 30). 5 steps to integrate climate action into your courses this fall. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/5-steps-to-integrate-climate-action-into-your-courses-this-fall 

Cramer, K. (2025, June 1). Career development education through civic engagement. Career Convergence Web Magazine. https://www.ncda.org/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/594016/_self/CC_layout_details/false 

Ezarik, M. (2023). Actions and hopes of the sustainability-focused student. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/academics/2023/01/02/sustainability-actions-students-take-and-want-their-colleges 

Hickman, C., Marks, E., Pihkala, P., Clayton, S., Lewandowski, R. E., Mayall, E. E., Wray, B., Mellor, C., & Van Susteren, L. (2021). Climate anxiety in children and young people and their beliefs about government responses to climate change: A global survey. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5(12), e863–e873. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(21)00278-3 

Hora, M. T. (2023). Higher education’s response to the climate emergency is failing to help prepare students for the future of work: Why preparing our students for lives and careers within a disrupted biosphere is a critical, sectorwide responsibility. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 55(5), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2023.2235252 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2023). IPCC, 2023: Summary for Policymakers (Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/downloads/report/IPCC_AR6_SYR_SPM.pdf 

International Labour Organization. (2019). Skills for a greener future: A global view based on 32 country studies. https://www.ilo.org/publications/skills-greener-future-global-view 

LinkedIn Economic Graph. (2024). Global green skills report 2024. https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/economicgraph/en-us/PDF/Global-Green-Skills-Report-2024.pdf 

Mak, H., & Mulangu, J. (2024). Preparing future generations: Building the conditions for BIPOC/BAME youth to succeed in sustainability. Diversity in Sustainability. https://www.diversityinsustainability.com/ 

Mangan, K. (2023, February 13). The climate-conscious college. The Chronicle of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com./article/the-climate-conscious-college 

Pihkala, P. (2020). Eco-anxiety and environmental education. Sustainability, 12(23). https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310149 

Poitras, C. (2025, January 22). In California, wildfires, climate and health collide. Yale School of Public Health. https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/when-climate-and-health-collide/ 

Pope, M., Briddick, W. C., & Wilson, F. (2013). The historical importance of social justice in the founding of the National Career Development Association. The Career Development Quarterly, 61(4), 368–373. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-0045.2013.00063.x 

Project Drawdown. (n.d.). Job function action guides. https://drawdown.org/programs/drawdown-labs/job-function-action-guides 

Rojanasakul, M., & Tabuchi, H. (2024, October 25). Many wells in North Carolina remain unsafe after Helene's deluge. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/25/climate/private-wells-hurricane-flood.html 

Russek, H., & Thornton, J. (2024). Career development 2040: Preparing for possible scenarios of work & careers. CERIC. https://ceric.ca/publications/career-development-in-2040/ 

Stebleton, M. J., & Jehangir, R. R. (2020). A call for career educators to recommit to serving first-generation and immigrant college students: Introduction to special issue. Journal of Career Development, 47(1), 3–10. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894845319884126 

Nicole L. May is a PhD student, instructional designer, and adjunct instructor in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. She teaches theory-to-practice courses with field experience components and supports faculty to incorporate career connections within their courses. She has been an educator for 20 years. Her research centers around higher education’s responses to the climate crisis and sustainability leadership. She can be reached at nicmay@umn.edu. 

Michael J. Stebleton is Professor of Higher Education in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.  His research and teaching interests focus on college student development and career development with an emphasis on the undergraduate experience. His work has appeared in numerous career development journals. He can be reached at steb0004@umn.edu.