Two weekends ago I did a volunteer shoot for Reston Association’s Habitat Heroes. It was my first time freelancing for an environmental organization and quite frankly, I loved it. I got to meet Reston Association’s Community Outreach Ha Brock, Media Manager Sean Bahrami, and several awesome volunteers. These hard workers were pulling out Garlic Mustard that had overrun a lot of the nature areas’ forest floor. The experience really showed me the value of a community committed to protecting it’s native wildlife. The experience also opened a valuable door into the the Reston Association’s many events. I hope to be working with Sean on many shoots to come. I used to work in Reston and often get onto the W&OD trail from here - I figure I should give back to the beautiful area. To check out some of the shoot here’s my site: 

http://500px.com/christophersophotography/sets/volunteer_work

     Something else that getting involved with the RA showed me was how environmental conservation can take many forms and how interconnected it is. Looking through the huge PDFs of the summer events Sean sent me I quickly realized how many activities and projects Restonians could get involved with. Barely 10 minutes away from me there were watershed cleanups, invase species removals, wildlife education classes and long half day bird watching adventures I had never even heard of! Both far reaching and compact at the same time, determined communities like Reston really offer the chance to make a difference. Conservation can take many forms, not just the big gov’t and NGO orgs I have been applying too, or obscurely located Alaskan coastal bird population surveys. They can be right in your community. I still want to travel far and wide, don’t get me wrong, but I was wrong to overlook the hard workers in my own neighborhood. 

     I got a call back from REI for the group interview! I got the call last week and have been very very excited about it. The company is everything that I could hope to work for. They are a consumer co-op and big environmental steward both locally and holistically. The big picture reason I’d like to work there is to learn about the various equipment as well experience more of the local natural areas. I hope to make good friends and to explore some beautiful places around here. Of course the 50% employee discount has a say in all this too haha. Just today I went to a ‘Hiking Basics’ REI class (not employee training, REI just offers awesome classes) and made sure to walk around the store for 30 minutes before. I’m not working there yet but I am already seeing everything in a different way (and making a wish list). The hiking class was extremely useful, we learned a lot about basic equipment, safety precautions and local mountain geography. Touching again on the interconnectivity of conservation, REI is also participating in this weekend’s Potomac River Watershed Cleanup. Something I took away from the class other than hiking stories though, was again seeing the bigger picture of all of this. This meaning the business of environment. I watched employees walk up and down the back rooms stairs, I watched a man stumble over returned items to get to his buried desk to make a call to HQ about a complaint and I listened to how we are supposed to camp 300’ away from the trail or the rangers will make you move away (it makes the trail look bad). REI is a co-op, yes, but in this day in age it is essentially a business. And even a business focused on selling products for 'human-powered outdoor recreation’ needs money to run. Like REI, environmental conservation in its entirety needs money to work. Parks need to stay healthy and pretty, parks need fees to be pretty, parks need patrons to get fees, parks need to be pretty to get patrons, you camp 300’ away from the trail. I’m not sure where I’m going with this but I’m certain I’ve hit something. The more and more I explore into this field, the more and more I get rejected from jobs, the more and more I just take the leap and get out there with these classes and volunteering, the more I start to see things clearly. I suppose, I’m growing up. 

     Last update, it has just been a sudden rush of progress lately, I finally manned up and completed the application to the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. It wasn’t easy writing the letter of interest because of how much I wanted to get into the program. Having been thrashed by the job market to the point of depression, this program came out of the darkness like a lightening bolt. If I am able to get into the program and get the scholarship (because I literally have no money) I would be living, breathing, eating environmental training for a whole semester. If there is one thing that being in the job search shark tank has taught me it is the invaluability of experience. These orgs don’t care too much about what fancy coursework you’ve taken, they want to know that you know how to do the specific job they are advertising for with the least amount of training and pay necessary. It’s like pokemon. Say you need to train a pokemon to a competitive lvl 50, you don’t give too much of a damn about the personality or food preferences of the pokemon you find, you will catch the one closest to lvl 50. You will always opt for the most profit with the least amount of investment (this of course not taking into consideration EV training and competitive breeding). As of right now, I am a passionate, dedicated, willing to learn lvl 25 nothing. This semester may be the only chance I have to get a foothold to dive into this field. There are cheaper ways of course, find local opportunities, keep searching, volunteer! I have and they have always let me go. There aren’t many benevolent hearts out there willing to take a chance on 'potential’. The sequester is effectively shoving its hand down many of the departments’ throats and putting a nice freeze on govt hiring and everywhere else frankly doesn’t give a damn.

Things sure have changed from the boy that applied to 5 USAJOBS positions and immediately started packing for adventure.   

I have come to learn and realize a lot of things. Even now my plan is shaky at best. IF I get the job at REI I will have until August to gain experience and savings whereupon I will enter SMSC IF I get accepted and get the scholarship. After that I need to work my ass off to learn everything I can while making as many connections as I can. Best case scenario, I am hired into Smithsonian from within and find myself in a program that I am in love with that will help me get my masters. Worst case scenario, I don’t get the job or get into SMSC and I start from the beginning again while continuing to work at my parents’ store and perhaps working at a Caribou Coffee or something. 

C'est la vie, non?

As I continue to ride this ever changing sea,

Trek On.

Chris