Author: Anthony Teles

The summer of 2021 was hard for many parts of Canada, with heatwaves across much of the country and deadly fires in British Columbia. Elsewhere in the world, floods and fires have been increasing. Scientists believe that climate change is the reason for much of this wild weather. In the fall of 2021, many scientists, world leaders, and others met in Glasgow, Scotland, for the UN Climate Change Conference.

Each year, world leaders, scientists, and other people meet for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The 2021 conference was planned for October 31 to November 12 in Glasgow, Scotland. Normally, thousands of people attend these conferences from all over the world. They participate in talks to deal with issues related to the climate or to report on what happens there.

Officially, the climate change conference is called the Conference of Parties, or COP. The conference in Scotland is the twenty-sixth of these types of gatherings, and so it is called COP-26. Dealing with pollution, especially the effects of fossil fuels like oil and gas, is normally a major part of the conference. Scientists believe that pollution from greenhouse gases coming from these fuels is a major factor in climate change.

Greenhouse gases like carbon come from burning fossil fuels. Methane is often a product of farm animals. These types of gases prevent the Earth’s heat from escaping into space, warming up the planet. Wild weather, droughts, and floods can be the result.

Even though some years are normally cooler or warmer than others, scientists have discovered that the world has warmed up overall by about one degree Celsius. After 1.5 degrees, scientists believe the results could be very dangerous for the Earth.

Finding ways to prevent a climate disaster is part of the COP discussions. Coal is one of the worst polluters. Finding ways to stop using coal is one of the major issues for COP-26. Moving from coal to a less harmful source of power could help reduce the greenhouse gas problem.

Trees are another issue at the conference. These plants help to clean the air and to hold the soil in place. However, many countries are dealing with deforestation, with trees being cut down for agriculture, roads, or city growth. If leaders can help protect trees in their countries, they can help provide a natural way of dealing with climate change.

Besides coal and trees, COP-26 is about cars and cash. Reducing the use of private cars and getting more people to walk or take the bus could help reduce pollution and keep global warming down to a level that might help prevent a climate disaster. Money from wealthy countries is necessary to help poorer countries pay for the changes they need to make.

With help from richer countries, poor countries could afford to switch from using fossil fuels to cleaner sources of energy. They could plant trees and invest in transit systems or bicycle paths. Using the COP-26 conference to set up funding for these countries could help them to set up the systems they need to reduce their pollution.

The annual COP conference is important for encouraging that world leaders do what they can to reduce climate change and deal with pollution. The next challenge will be to ensure that the people involved in the conference keep their promises.

Bibliography:

BBC News. “COP26: Has the Glasgow Climate Summit Been Poorly organised?” https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-59150987.

Harrabin, Roger. “COP26 climate change summit: So far, so good-ish.” https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59150807.

Harvey, Fiona; Ambrose, Jillian; and Greenfield, Patrick. “More than 40 Countries Agree to Phase out Coal-fired Power.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/03/more-than-40-countries-agree-to-phase-out-coal-fired-power.

NASA. “The Ups and Downs of Global Warming.” https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/upsDownsGlobalWarming.html

United Nations. “Glasgow Climate Change Conference–October-November 2021.” https://unfccc.int/conference/glasgow-climate-change-conference-october-november-2021.

United Nations. “UN Climate Change Conference (COP-26).” https://www.un.org/en/un-climate-change-conference-cop-26.

By Erin Rebello

Over the past few months, our world has slowly been changing gears as we pivot from this pandemic and shift to a new normal. Although many things are going back to the way they were pre-pandemic, one thing that’s definitely here to stay is the shift to working and volunteering in a remote environment. Many opportunities typically held in-person with a fixed schedule are restructuring with more flexible hours and options to work online. Not only does this open up jobs and volunteer positions further away from you, but it also allows for you to get involved when you can.

As a result of this rather sudden switch, more and more students are looking for remote jobs and volunteer opportunities to prepare themselves for post-secondary education. However, when searching for any opportunities, including remote opportunities, it’s crucial to keep in mind that the work is still real work and that you still need to balance it with both your educational and personal time.

Finding a Job:

The first step towards working or volunteering online is finding an available opportunity, which might be easier than you expected! The best place to start looking for a job is by asking people you know; this includes parents, friends, teachers, guidance counsellors, and even previous employers/volunteer coordinators. By speaking with people you’re on good terms with, you might just be hot on the trail to finding the perfect job and receiving a stellar recommendation. The pandemic has opened up many jobs in a hurry, and without rapid marketing or recruitment, many jobs are still sitting open because people don’t know they exist!

If asking around isn’t your style, or if you’re not getting the results you want, you might want to try taking your job search online. Using websites like Indeed or LinkedIn allows you to search for jobs or volunteer opportunities that meet your specific needs. You can even use specific filters and keywords to focus on the types of opportunities you’re particularly interested in.

Making Sure It’s a Good Fit:

When job hunting, you not only need to ensure that you meet an employer’s needs, but also that working for the employer meets your needs. When messaging recruiters or speaking with managers during an interview, it’s important to ask questions to see if the job meets the needs of your lifestyle. Some common topics you might want to ask about are:

• The type of work you’re being hired for
• The amount of money you are being paid (and how you’ll be paid)
• The typical hours required (and whether you can commit sufficiently)

Benefits and Consequences:

It’s also important to zoom out. Look at the bigger picture from time to time when searching for online work, considering the specific benefits and consequences of getting a job. You should try to make your own pro/con list, but to get started, here are a few common benefits and consequences that modern teens might consider.

Benefits

• Receive real-life work or volunteer experience that is helpful when searching for future jobs.
• Develop skills that make you an asset.
• Save money or rack up volunteer hours to either help with saving for university or when applying to scholarships.

Consequences

• Working, even remotely, can be a huge time drain, taking out large chunks of your weekly routine.
• Having a job can be extremely tiring, sapping you of energy you might have wanted to use during your free time.
• It can be hard to balance school and work, and you might end up neglecting either one or both commitments.

Striking a Balance:

If you’ve carefully considered your options and are still looking for remote ways to break into the job or volunteer market, the next item on your agenda should be learning how to keep a balance between school and extracurricular involvements. There are many aspects of striking a work-life balance that you should thoroughly consider. Here are a few things to bear in mind when trying to strike a balance:

• It’s important to keep track of school and work priorities.
• You will need to prioritize your deadlines in terms of importance.
• Don’t bite off more than you can chew; just because it’s virtual doesn’t mean it’s not real!
• Open communication with teachers and employers can be harder via email but is very important to keep communication lines open.
• Do a bit of research into more efficient study strategies, and try them for yourself.
• Try to work with both your teachers and employers for potential considerations they can make for your situation. If earning money is crucial to obtaining education, you might be able to speak with your teacher for reasonable extension accommodations, and with your boss for hours that work with your class schedules.

Overall, a virtual job is a great way to break into the workforce, but you should also remember that it is a real job. Lots of consideration should go into whether or not it would be a good fit for your lifestyle and prior commitments.

Having a bit of extra money is always helpful, whatever your age. If you are still in online school, you might have some extra time to earn some money. Doing some remote work could be a good way of getting both money and experience for future work. Various opportunities are available if you look for them.

During the lockdowns for the COVID-19 pandemic, you probably became familiar with remote learning. You would watch classes online and do your assignments at home, and your teacher would mark them. Your schooling might run on a specific schedule or be quite flexible, allowing you to fit it in with other activities like eating meals with your family or walking the dog.

Remote work can be similar in many ways. Tutoring is a good possibility for anyone who likes to help others. If you are good at mathematics, science, or grammar, you might be able to help other students with their studies. You can do this online if both you and your student have good Internet connections. You can even meet with several students at once and have formal classes, or you can work with students individually. Normally, the student and tutor arrange specific times for classes, although some work may be necessary outside those hours.

Writing is another good way of earning money. You could write for a blog or local newsletter and earn a small amount of money for each article. If you have a special area of knowledge like animals or sports, you could look for magazines or online sites that deal with these topics. Some magazines, including Reader’s Digest, pay quite well for short stories about topics like family, school, and friends.

Except for established authors, much writing work is freelance. This means that you are unlikely to find a regular weekly or daily writing job with a magazine or website until you have experience, and even then, it can be difficult. However, you can write for many different magazines if you want, and the pay can add up to a large amount.

Often, publications will give submission guidelines that give the topics and the number of words that they want for each article. Staying close to those guidelines is a good idea, because the editors are unlikely to want to spend a lot of time revising your article. Reading other articles in the same publication can give you a good general idea of what the editors want, including how formal the writing is and how personal the articles are.

Starting your own blog is an option if you know how to make money from it. In a blog, you could write about a topic you know well and then find ways of earning money through sales or advertising. You could even sell some of your artwork or crafts through your blog or website if you are able to make something that sells well.

Taking online surveys for pay is also a possibility. Each one pays a small amount for information on topics like shopping habits or pet care, and people can take the surveys whenever they have time. A free half hour every day might be enough to make some money through surveys.

If you are good with computers, other options might be available. Working with webpage design is good for people who know about HTML coding and other similar skills. In some cases, working with social media for a business or community organization might also be a possibility. You might not be able to answer questions from the public, but you could monitor the pages to be sure that they are working properly and possibly direct the questions to the right people in the company.

The pandemic has often seemed like lost time, with so many people working or studying from home. However, with a few ideas like these ones, you can make good use of the time and the opportunities that you have.

Bibliography:

Doyle, Alison. “The Best Jobs to Work Remotely.” https://www.thebalancecareers.com/top-jobs-to-work-remotely-2064308.

Omolulu, Enoch. “11 Legit Online Jobs for Students in Canada to Earn Money (2021).” https://www.savvynewcanadians.com/online-jobs-for-students-canada/.

University of the People. “10 Online Jobs for Students That You Can Turn into a Career or a Business from Home.”  https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/top-10-online-jobs-students-can-turn-career-business-home/.

The Work at Home Woman. “The Best Work-at-Home Jobs for Teens.” https://www.theworkathomewoman.com/jobs-for-young-teens/.