Our Volunteers

After finishing university, Ruth decided to branch out from Chemistry and focus on trying to do something good for the planet. She spent a year undertaking online courses, covering content like environmental management and circular economics. Ruth was pointed in the direction of The Carbon Literacy Project, and, after reading a bit about our work, she began volunteering at the start of 2021. She began working on the evidence and certification team, before moving onto the toolkit team where she worked with Miranda supporting our Local Authorities toolkit. Ruth was then invited to join the staff team, helping to develop a new toolkit for the automotive industry.

Rosie began volunteering with The Project in January 2021 following her first Carbon Literacy training module given by her employer, The Environment Agency. Inspired by the training and enthralled by our uniqueness in cause, she immediately wanted to help out.

She sits within the evidence processing team, reviewing learner evidence and certifying those who successfully pass. She constantly takes ideas and inspiration from our learner’s pledges to reduce their carbon footprints.

Having previously obtained an undergraduate degree in Biology and a master’s degree in Ecosystem Services, Rosie is passionate about promoting the principles of carbon and natural capital accounting in the sustainable management of our land and resources.

Emily first became aware of The Carbon Literacy Project during her masters course in International Development: Environment, Climate Change and Development, at the University of Manchester. She has always been passionate about environmental issues and her interest in climate change education led her to volunteer for The Project. As a volunteer, Emily worked on certification, evidence and blog posts. She thoroughly enjoyed her time with Carbon Literacy and being able to see how positive change can be created through climate education. Emily feels that volunteering gave her great practical experience in the sustainability sector alongside her studies.

In her final year of university Jamila was looking for more experience in creative design and graphics, and to become more eco-conscious. She joined The Carbon Literacy Project in December 2020 through recommendation and applying through our website. She went on to work with various team members assisting in designing materials and graphics for CL. Following this Jamila was able to secure employment as a Social media and content creator.

Growing from his passion for the outdoors, Alex has developed a keen interest in environmentalism, sustainability, and the fight against climate change. His studies and work further convinced him of the inescapable nature of the climate crisis and motivated him to engage with it.

Having recently moved to Freiburg, Germany, from the capital of Berlin, Alex was attracted to the learning-centric approach of The Carbon Literacy Project and made the decision to volunteer.

He finds his role in the certification team equal parts stimulating and inspiring, as interacting with such varied and innovative responses to the carbon economy gives him a true sense of optimism. He has learned a lot from volunteering and is enjoying applying this knowledge to his work with the CLP and beyond.

Tom completed a masters in Climate Change & Environmental Policy from the University of Leeds. After graduating Tom wanted to find a place to develop the skills and knowledge gained in a practical context. Tom has been volunteering as part of the certification team at The Carbon Literacy Project since September 2020. Tom’s interests are sustainability and environmental policy and how policy can be used to help civil society become more sustainable and carbon neutral.

After graduating from a Masters in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development, Vydune went travelling and volunteering abroad which sparked her enthusiasm to give something back to her community. For Vydune, completing Carbon Literacy training herself was eye-opening and inspirational, and she believes that everyone should be given this opportunity. She now helps by reviewing through learner evidence and issuing certificates. Reading through the learner’s actions inspires Vydune to start a creative project to engage people and spread awareness on sustainable practices.

Cam is in his third of four years of Manchester Metropolitan University’s Master of Business Programme. He first discovered The Carbon Literacy Project through the ‘Train the Trainer’ 3rd term project at MMU, leading him to become Carbon Literate and a qualified trainer in one extended sitting. Due to the enjoyable and inspiring experience of becoming Carbon Literate and a Carbon Literacy Trainer, Cam began working as a student trainer immediately in October 2019 which he still does, started volunteering in Sept 2020, is developing his own freelance course and is working towards CL Consultant level competency. Cam hopes to combine his Carbon Literacy and Business skills to travel the world and influence change in high profile, influential individuals, organisations and institutions.

Having studied history at the University of Leeds and going on to work in charity marketing for two years, Jack developed an interest in sustainability and environmental management and decided to change his career path. Jack is currently studying MSc Environmental Governance at the University of Manchester and has a particular interest in the urban environment and the ways that managing the environment sustainably and fairly can deliver on social justice. Jack was drawn to The Carbon Literacy Project due to the organisation’s practical approach to community and corporate education on climate change and looks forward to implementing the skills learnt whilst volunteering in his future career.

Ruari began his volunteering in June 2020, between the completion of his undergrad in Environmental Science and the beginning of his Masters in Sustainability and Consultancy. His tasks during his time with The Project included reviewing evidence and certifying learners, updating our Salesforce database and aiding in the preparation of a presentation which would be used in a BEIS funded Carbon Literacy training course. He found the volunteering incredibly valuable and rewarding; and found himself constantly stimulated by the work, especially when working on the Carbon Literacy course materials. The experience gained working here has confirmed that he wants to work in sustainability for his future career, hopefully with emissions reductions being part of it, as he feels the volunteering has given him a good understanding of this area and the public attitude towards emissions reductions.

After completing a degree in Marketing at Ulster University in Northern Ireland, Catherine moved to Manchester where she came across The Carbon Literacy Project. In February 2020, Catherine began working with The Project as a Volunteer Social Media Assistant, where she combined her two passions of sustainability and digital marketing. Catherine creates content for our social media platforms, writes blogs, and analyses performance and data on our social media channels. In July 2020, Catherine also joined our Criteria Checking team where she helps to assess and accredit new Carbon Literacy courses against the CL Standard.

After completing a masters in International Development: Environment and Climate Change Development at the University of Manchester, Kris knew he wanted to work with an organisation where he could help make society more sustainable in a practical sense. He found The Carbon Literacy Project and began working with us, enjoying it from day one. Even as a volunteer, Kris feels he is constantly learning about more about environmental sustainability and how to apply it to daily life. Kris feels as though he is both teaching and learning in his role where he helps to certify individuals by reviewing their submitted evidence.

James began his internship at The Carbon Literacy Project in September 2019 as part of a placement year at university. After studying climate change on his Physical Geography degree course, he became inspired to change his lifestyle and felt it was important for him to work for an organisation that shares his same passion for sustainability and the environment. James’ main tasks involve certifying learners, blog writing, updating the Salesforce database and assisting other members of the team on various projects. James hopes to be able to take the valuable skills he will gain over the course of the placement and the message of sustainability into his future career.

After being inspired by the unique approach The Carbon Literacy Project offers, Will volunteered whilst completing an MSc in Climate Change and Development at the University of Reading. His main tasks were reviewing and updating the CLK Knowledge: E-Learning Framework, creating Newsletter Content and updating the Salesforce database.  It was a pleasure to work in an amazing team environment on a flourishing project which truly empowers others to act on climate change. He firmly believes the tools and skills learned will be invaluable for attaining future work in the environmental sustainability sector.

Daniel began volunteering with The Carbon Literacy Project in the summer of 2019. Following relocation to Manchester late in the previous year from Scunthorpe where he led the Social Media for a Substance Misuse Service, he was keen to re-integrate his Social Media background with his passion for working in areas that help create meaningful change. Daniel began aiding in content creation, whilst providing analysis on posts and managing the development of our Social Media accounts but transitioned towards a role helping certify learners as his commitments outside of volunteering changed.

Louise first came across The Carbon Literacy Project during her time studying Environmental Management and Sustainability at Manchester Metropolitan University. After being inspired by the training she completed the ‘Train the Trainer’ course and started delivering CL training. Having always had an interest in climate change and other pressing environmental issues, and due to having the advantage of being able to learn about it at University, Louise feels a responsibility to be involved in facilitating education on climate change. She wants to take steps in order to spread the message about reducing carbon emissions and moving towards a zero-carbon society, and hopes to gain valuable communication skills while working with us.

Throughout her degree in Business Management at Manchester Metropolitan University, Martha developed an interest in sustainability. She came across The Carbon Literacy Project during her second year of study when she took part in the Carbon Literacy training offered by MMU and was certified as Carbon Literate. Inspired by the work The Project do to raise awareness of climate change, Martha started volunteering alongside the final stages or her degree to gain experience in the sustainability industry. Martha mainly worked on certifying learners, writing blog posts for the website and updating social media. With the experience and knowledge she has gained, she hopes to take climate change awareness and sustainability into her career.

After graduating from The University of Manchester with a Masters in Physics, Georgia was looking to begin a career in environmental sustainability and climate change. She was impressed by The Carbon Literacy Project’s ethos of creating a positive cultural shift and decided to volunteer. She has been using her analytical and numerical skills to assess the impact of a new Carbon Literacy course for people who work in labs.

Flavia has always been passionate about environmental issues and decided, after graduating from the University of Manchester with a First-Class International Management degree, to work in the sustainability sector. For this reason, she joined Cooler Projects in September 2018. Her interest in sustainability issues, in particular on climate change, increased during her exchange year at Cornell University, where she was exposed to leading research in the field. She then kept expanding her knowledge on the topic and has recently joined the Manchester City Council’s Agency, Manchester Climate Change. She hopes that these experiences will help her gain valuable skills and experience in the field, whilst helping to raise awareness on climate change and tackling what she feels is the most pressing matter we face.

Eugene studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Manchester. Within The Project, he updated the Carbon Literacy: Knowledge e-learning framework so that it is up to date with 2018 events and initiatives. He has also assisted in migrating and cleaning up the database in Salesforce containing the extensive list of carbon literate participants. After what he considers his most ethical 4-week experience, Eugene has achieved his goal of moving away from the oil and gas industry and found a graduate job within a leading and progressive global consultancy.

As a design student at MMU, Oskar felt that completing a summer placement at The Carbon Literacy Project really helped him to fine tune his design skills in a more professional setting, while being surrounded by a supportive team. “I have learnt a tonne by just literally overhearing conversations on climate change in the office, and I’m always swivelling my chair around to have great chats with the rest of the volunteers and core team. It has been a very valuable experience.” During his time volunteering, Oskar created infographics, GIFs and process guides for the project which have proved very useful.

After graduating from Leeds University with a BSc in Sustainability & Environmental Management, Natalia came to volunteer at The Project after finishing up an internship at a sustainable events company in Manchester. She has been helping out with re-launching the ‘Pioneer Network’ by starting a new newsletter for CL trainers as well as learning to fundraise for the project. She is very passionate about Carbon Literacy and hopes to go on and become a CL trainer herself.

Whilst studying the first year of an Environmental Management degree at MMU Toby joined The Project in March 2018. Utilising his graphic design skills, he has created a series of infographics and animations to communicate key information through a sleek and engaging medium. He will be going on to study Information and Interface Design at the London College of Communication, with the aim of producing interactive experiences that educate people about environmental issues in a creative way. Furthermore, as a music producer, DJ, and curator of an audio-visual event series Toby aims to bring Carbon Literacy to his audiences and across the art and music industries.

Helen first came into contact with The Carbon Literacy Project in 2015 on a CL training day. After a study year abroad, her interest in the environment was reignited, becoming a certified Carbon Literacy Trainer on her return in 2017, running training for students at Manchester Metropolitan. In March 2018, whilst coming to the final stages of her degree in Human Geography, she decided to also join the CLP as a volunteer in order to gain extra experience and knowledge on The Project. Mainly focusing on writing blog posts and social media updates, she hopes this experience will help her find a job within sustainability in the future

After travelling in the UK and Ireland interviewing designers working on sustainable projects, Delphine decided to stay in Manchester and joined The Carbon Literacy Project in January 2018. Her interest lies in the communication of climate change and its potential for behavioural change. An experienced Product Designer and recent Social Sciences graduate, Delphine was looking to gain experience in environmental sustainability and carbon reduction. She took initiative to produce short compelling videos to promote and communicate the training sessions at Manchester Metropolitan University and is engaging more people from different sectors to share their Carbon Literacy stories. Don’t hesitate to contact her if you feel like sharing one!

Henry joined The Carbon Literacy Project in October 2017, shortly after finishing a degree in Politics and International Relations. Looking to gain experience in the environmental sector, he focussed largely on The Project’s social media and marketing, producing research reports, statistical analysis, and set out guidelines both for branding, and how The Project could better utilise social media and increase its public exposure. Now going travelling, he hopes to use the knowledge, experience and skills he’s gained from his time at The Carbon Literacy Project to gain a full-time role in sustainability on his return.

Fiona joined The Project in November 2017, after finishing her degree in Animal Conservation Science at the University of Cumbria. She would love to work with animals but lately understands there is a bigger picture of conservation. She is seeking new ways to raise awareness of the issues and impact people have on other species, their ecosystem and the Earth as a whole. Fiona began volunteering with The Carbon Literacy Project to gain a better understanding of climate change and seek ways to take action to tackle climate issues and support the environment. Fiona has been involved with a number of tasks with the CL database as well as researching and certifying learners.

Belkais joined The Carbon Literacy Project in summer 2017. She is a second-year biomedical science student at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she gained certification as Carbon Literate in 2016. She wanted to enhance her CV whilst learning more about sustainability, so found The Carbon Literacy Project a really good opportunity to learn new skills and support the environment. Belkais is involved with a number of tasks including using the Salesforce software to update the CL database, as well as creating and scheduling social media content.

Joe joined The Carbon Literacy Project in 2017. After completing an internship in the spring, he is set to resume his studies over the summer before returning to us in the autumn. In his time with The Project, he helped with the launch of the Salford Consortium. He is currently undertaking an MSc in Environmental Governance at Freiburg University, Germany. His thesis is on the topic of local climate governance in the UK.

Dr Rachel Harding is a published academic author. She joined Cooler Projects as a volunteer in January 2017 after deciding on a career change from earth science research. In May 2017, Rachel joined the team working as Advocacy Manager, focusing on our Salford Consortium, our customer relations management system, and research development. Rachel is passionate about science communication and spreading the word on how individuals can help mitigate climate change.

Emma became Carbon Literate in 2015, before going on to become certified as a CL Trainer, training students at both MMU and ENSEEIGHT in Toulouse. She interned with Cooler Projects from the summer of 2016 alongside the final year of her Geography BSc – during this time she was involved with a number of tasks and projects including the production of the CLK: E-learning Effectiveness Report. Emma joined us as Project Coordinator in 2017, shortly before graduating with First Class Honours.

Ned’s first involvement with Cooler Projects and The Carbon Literacy Trust was through his CL Facilitator training, lead by Jane. After completing this he has trained a number of his fellow students at MMU. He has written us a number of posts for our website and after graduating his degree in Environmental Management and Sustainability he has taken work in York but promises to keep volunteering with us remotely to maintain our online presence. Involvement in The Project has helped him to find his passion for sustainability education and awareness and we hope he takes this into all his future endeavours

After graduating from Plymouth University in 2014 with a degree in Conservation Biology, and later completing a solo travel adventure, Josh wanted to gain more experience in environmental sustainability and carbon reduction. He joined Cooler in August 2015 via Manchester: A Certain Future. Josh took on primary responsibility for our social media and written communications and collated a new digest for the Carbon Literacy website. He also became one of our primary researchers, researching everything from funding opportunities to climate change facts, and helping generate content for our e-learning framework: “Carbon Literacy: Knowledge”. Directly utilising this experience, Josh secured a full-time role as a Sustainability Officer at Leeds University in January 2016, where we are very confident he is a great asset to the team.

Jack joined Cooler as an intern as part of the work experience component of his MMU degree course in Geography, and we gave him responsibility for creating and assembling the Low Carbon Walking Guide to Manchester, a Cooler Project in support of Carbon Literacy. He researched a range of exemplar, low carbon projects going on all around us in Manchester, but which are largely invisible to the casual passer-by. The online guide reveals some of these hidden “low-carbon gems” via a structured walk around the city, with pictures and audio content at each location. From the energy efficient lighting systems at the Royal Exchange (pictured) to a close brush with bees on the roof of the Cathedral, the project left Jack with quite a buzz!

Brittany joined The Project in November 2014, after hearing about Cooler Projects through Action for Sustainable Living. She wanted to gain practical business experience in sustainability after graduating from Lancaster University with a degree in Environmental Biology. She helped create The Project Newsletter, was our primary climate change researcher, and set up an automated Twitter feed full of interesting facts to promote Carbon Literacy and expand The Project’s social media presence. She undertook a paid internship in sustainability, before rejoining us as Project Coordinator in 2017. She is currently working towards a PhD studying the role of stress on crop productivity.

Mariana always wanted to work in the sustainability sector, but it took her a while to find this out. After working as a teacher and travelling the world as a flight attendant, she found the perfect opportunity to take the first step towards a professional career in sustainability: through a casual conversation with a passenger on her flight, who just happened to be the MD of the founding sponsor of The Carbon Literacy Project. She joined the team in January 2015 as a full-time Project Worker for a one-year post, and was instrumental in helping develop the e-learning framework Carbon Literacy: Knowledge, our certification processes, research, events; basically everything that Cooler could throw at her! Mariana completed her year in Paris, as we worked for two weeks as part of our TAP award at COP21 in December 2015.

Coming from an Architectural Engineering & Environmental Design background, Parisa assisted us in the development of our e-Learning course ‘Carbon Literacy: Knowledge, Parisa was also our primary climate change researcher and our graphic designer. Parisa worked to issue Carbon-Literacy certificates and approve Criteria Checkers from Carbon Literacy Trainers. Parisa has been undertaking a series of paid contracts in the sustainability sector, but between contracts continues to work with us.

After graduating in Environmental Science and working in environmental education, Amy initially met the Carbon Literacy team at the 2014 Carbon Active event, through volunteering with Action for Sustainable Living, another Manchester-based organisation. After a day of encouraging the public to take action to lower their carbon footprint, Amy was inspired to help spread the word on Carbon Literacy. She began volunteering for The Project in August 2014, contributing to a range of tasks from research for the e-Learning resources to criteria-checking and fundraising.

Maria joined the team in June 2014. She initially worked to map the environmental criteria of Manchester schools, followed by a comparison of our Carbon Literacy Standard against other qualifications. Maria spent time working as an excellent personal researcher, gathering up-to-date scientific facts on climate change and injecting them into our e-learning project – an e-learning resource that we have developed to help deliver Carbon Literacy online. She left us only to move to London and start a family.

Bernadette joined us in April 2014 and volunteered to gain experience and skills whilst she completes her MSc in Environmental Governance at the University of Manchester. Bernadette was our experienced website editor, newsletter writer and reporter, and visited Carbon Literacy trainers and other VIPs to find out more about what they are doing to train in Carbon Literacy. Thanks to her, we were able to release our online newsletters more regularly than we have ever done otherwise before or since!

Colin joined us for his student placement as part of his degree in Environmental Management and Sustainability, at Manchester Metropolitan University. He got stuck into some really complex and challenging work for us, mapping our Carbon Literacy Standard against other environmental qualifications and courses. His work has enabled us to build our Carbon Literacy connections across Greater Manchester and for organisations which are training their staff to other environmental qualifications to use these as accredited prior learning for Carbon Literacy. Following his placement, having been insufficiently scared working for Cooler, Colin ventured to South Africa to work with lions, and then returned to MMU to complete his degree.

Micaela volunteered with us to supplement her professional experience, after working for a year following a degree in Communications and PR. She worked primarily on The Project website, advised on social media technology and events, and designed our email newsletter and the back-office systems which run it. She left to take a full-time role as a copywriter with a Media City-based communications agency Media Agency Group. In the picture, Micaela represents The Carbon Literacy Project as she leads Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government, Sir David King, through a Carbon Literacy floor-game at DECC’s British Energy Challenge event (September 2013).

Ayma volunteered with us across the summer of 2013 and into her third year, to supplement her academic work on her degree in Management from the Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was however already Carbon Literate, having completed one of the very first Carbon Literacy courses piloted at MMU. She quickly helped streamline our certification processes, helped criteria check and certify training initiatives, worked on our online resources library and helped deliver and then blog about our public-facing events.
Ayma took a break to focus on her final year but still pops in from time to time to help and support us.

Pedro, a passionate advocate for environment, energy and low carbon culture, came to us as a voluntary Project Worker. Already very experienced in the sector, he supported us enormously by setting up a new, comprehensive version of the Carbon Literacy Resource Library, populating the database and creating the slide library, and supporting the development of Powerpoint material for Carbon Literacy Trainers. Finally, he gave us a welcomed helping hand (and legs) during our Carbon Active 2013 event (Yep: that’s him on the bike.) Pedro put his experience to good use to gain a place on the masters’ programme in Energy Management at the University of Stirling and then by moving directly into full-time employment as an energy analyst at a Scottish Energy company.

Matilde joined The Project after recognising an opportunity in a casual conversation at the coffee bar in Pop-up Bikes! She worked with us throughout the summer and autumn of 2013 to fulfil the work experience requirement of her degree in English from the University of Huddersfield. Matilde certified participants and courses, helped with our trainer certification process and helped with the early stages of our Carbon Literacy for Registered Providers project (CL4RPs), before returning to the University of Huddersfield to finish her degree.

Rebecca joined The Project after becoming one of the very first Carbon Literacy graduates from one of the very earliest Carbon Literacy courses piloted at Manchester Metropolitan University. She helped organise and deliver The Project’s public launch in 2012, worked on our huge Carbon Active event in Climate Week 2013 and wrote case studies for a range of Carbon Literacy training initiatives. Graduating in the summer of 2013 Rebecca, used her work experience directly, being recruited to join the UK arm of Handelsbanken, one of Sweden’s top full-service banks.

Virginia initially volunteered for Cooler during the run-up and delivery of Carbon Active 2013, joining to work specifically on this event and building her experience in Events Management. Virginia then returned to us in 2014 to work for us full time as our Project Co-ordinator. She continues to work on all aspects of The Carbon Literacy Project, though now divides her time with a Masters degree at The University of Manchester.

Jane joined The Project after graduating with a degree in Environmental Management and Sustainability from MMU. Already experienced in the world of work, she wanted to enhance her CV, and move into the area of sustainability, and saw experience in The Carbon Literacy Project as a good way to do this. And so it proved. Having worked extensively on the pilot stages of The Project on everything from admin to certification to event organisation, she successfully applied for a full-time role working for MMU on Carbon Literacy within the sustainability team. As such she can genuinely claim to be the world’s first Carbon Literacy employee. She has gone on to support MMU’s pledge to make all its staff Carbon Literate, and support its status as the UK’s “No1 Greenest University” in the UK universities league table. Jane now works as a Carbon Literacy Trainer, rolling out Carbon Literacy across Greater Manchester.

Safia was Cooler’s very first volunteer and managed to work regularly with us one day a week whilst also completing a full working week managing volunteers for Age Concern. Safia worked with us developing our earliest administrative systems, our contact databases, certification processes, designed and issued our very first e-newsletter. She helped us organise workgroup meetings and events and undertook volunteer inductions and supervision. Safia generally helped get us going at a vital time in our development. She took her Carbon Literacy expertise to GMCVO where she now works full time as an organisational administrator. Safia has now started developing her own Carbon Literacy courses to roll out across Greater Manchester.