I don’t know if you’ve ever spent anytime on the Appalachian Trail, but if you haven’t, you should. The trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, while the range of mountains touches as far south as Alabama and as far north as Newfoundland. It’s 1,500 miles of natural beauty that is prime territory for naturalists and adventurers. Back in 1876 there was a club called the Appalachian Mountain Club started in Boston for people who enjoyed the range. Now the club consists of more than 12 chapters and 100,000 members—it’s the “nation’s oldest outdoor recreation and conservation organization.” They’re still based in Boston, and they’ve developed into a non-profit that promotes “the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of the Appalachian region.”
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For most of us museums are just places to go to visit for a day and to learn something new. We rarely think about what is going on behind the scenes, but we should. At many major museums there is also a significant research function. A perfect examples is the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA, which sounds like a research institution, but it also runs a museum. In fact, The Academy is the “oldest natural science research institution and museum in the New World” according to Wikipedia. The Academy has been at the forefront of biological and earth sciences since its inception, and it continues to promote public education in those areas. Just to give you an idea of the scale on which they operate, their collections include more than 17 million specimens. That’s crazy!
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After my Freshman year of college, I decided that I wanted a summer job that would allow me to work outside. I ended up doing maintenance at a fish and game club. It was like a great experience—even if I only worked 20 hours per week. If you want to work outside and are looking for something a little more intense than 20 hours per week, then you need to check out the California Conservation Corps. It’s a government run program that “matches up California’s young people and its natural resources.” Every year the CCC hires 3,300 corpsmembers and pays them minimum wage to take on projects like working on backcountry trails, aiding salmon restoration, promoting watershed stewardship, and providing emergency response services. The CCC has been around since 1976, and since then they’ve employed more than 100,000 young men and women with 98% saying that they “would recommend the CCC to a family member or friend.”
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When I hear the words “pine barrens,” I either think of the area in New Jersey called the Pine Barrens or the band, which was also called The Pine Barrens, that played at my 7th grade class’ end of the year party. Until today, though, I didn’t really know what pine barrens were beyond a big forest of pine trees. There’s a lot more to them than that, and, luckily, Wikipedia is able to help out. Its definition of pine barrens is “plant communities that occur on dry, acidic, infertile soils dominated by grasses, forbs, low shrubs, and small to medium sized pines; most extensive barrens occur in large areas of sandy glacial deposits, including outwash plains, lakebeds, and outwash terraces along rivers.” These areas aren’t typically found in populated areas, which makes it surprising that Long Island has its own Pine Barrens (see the Wikipedia article for all of the specifics). That’s why the Long Island Pine Barrens Society exists—to protect an ecosystem that is constantly under pressure from development. They’re based in Riverhead, NY, and their focus as a non-profit is on education and advocacy.
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When I was in college, campus sustainability was just starting to become a common buzzword. I guess it makes sense that higher education institutions would be at the forefront of such a movement—you know, since they deal with students protesting by camping in tree tops all the time. Second Nature is a Boston based non-profit organization that is continuing this movement (no not the camping out in tree tops). They initiate and support “high-leverage national initiatives and programs aimed at re-orienting the higher education sector toward more sustainable outcomes.” It’s a smart idea, because they’re targeting the places where their ideas are most likely to catch on. If they can succeed by pushing sustainability forward on college campuses, then there’s a good chance that the sustainability movement can go a lot farther.
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I’m a nut about wildlife. I don’t watch Animal Planet all day or anything, but I get ridiculously excited when I see a new species in the wild. My hope is to one day run into a mountain lion in the wild, at least as long as I’m not being hunted. As fanatical as I am about wildlife, I bet I don’t even come close to the people at the Wildlife Conservation Society, a New York City based non-profit. They were founded in 1895 with a “clear mission to save wildlife and wild places across the globe.” Their first major success was aiding the recovery of American Bison, and now they’re working to “protect many of the world’s iconic creatures here and abroad, including gorillas in the Congo, tigers in India, polar bears in the Arctic, and ocean giants in our world’s amazing seascapes.” Beyond doing that, they also run 5 parks in New York City—the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo.
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I love rivers (mostly because they’re where I usually go fly fishing). They’re the lifeblood of our society, and even though we’ve figured out ways to move water on our own, they’re still a huge part of our infrastructure. There’s no question as to why most major cities sit on the banks of a large river. The problem with that is that it means that many of our greatest rivers have been subjected to significant abuse. Dams, pollution, irrigation, and overconsumption have left many of our rivers in pretty sad states. American Rivers is a Washington, DC based non-profit that hopes to fix this. They describe themselves as “the leading conservation organization standing up for healthy rivers so communities can thrive.”
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You’ve probably heard the term “heirloom,” in reference to fruits or vegetables. For the longest time I had no idea what it meant, but eventually I asked someone and the gist of the definition is “any garden plant that has a history of being passed down within a family, just like pieces of heirloom jewelry or furniture.” More often than not the plants are passed down in the form of seeds. Heirloom breeds of plants are important not only for sentimental reasons, but also because they provide genetic diversity. By maintaining old breeds of plants with their unique resistance to disease and pests, we are able to ensure the security of our food supply. Seed Savers Exchange is a Decorah, IA based non-profit that “saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations.”
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I love our oceans—everything about them. I love swimming in them, eating the food that they provide, fishing in them, watching sunsets over them, and all of the other wonderful things that they offer. However, our oceans are both blessed and cursed by the same thing—they seem infinite. That’s what makes them so great, but it’s also what has led us to abusing them nearly to the point of no return. A little pollution will disappear in the vastness of an ocean. Overfishing doesn’t matter because there are always more fish. Scraping up the bottom isn’t a big deal because we can’t see the bottom. I wish that oceans were that resilient, but they’re not. Oceana is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that “seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy and abundant as they were in our grandparents’ youth.” They recognize the value of their oceans, and they’re doing something to protect them.
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Whether or not we’re really going through a green revolution is up for debate, but I can assure you that Marketing departments across the world are taking advantage of the public’s appetite for “green” products. Unfortunately, “green” doesn’t really mean anything. To you it might mean one thing, and to me it might mean another. We assume that something that is labeled or advertised as green will be better for the environment, but how do we really know? That’s where Green Seal comes in. They are Washington, DC based “independent non-profit organization dedicated to safeguarding the environment and transforming the marketplace by promoting the manufacture, purchase, and use of environmentally responsible products and service.” They do this by certifying products that meet their Green Seal standards. By having an independent third party set standards, consumers can actually make informed choices about the products they buy (as long as they’re Green Seal certified, of course).
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We all know it; studying abroad can be a total joke. I know plenty of kids who partied in a different country for a semester and managed to get college credit for it. Fortunately, there are plenty of study abroad programs that focus more on the “study” than the “abroad.” One of those is The School for Field Studies. Now, you may be skeptical when you see their list of locations sounds more like your top 5 vacation destinations (Costa Rica, Turks & Caicos, Kenya, Mexico, and Australia), but look at all of their student accomplishments. The School for Field Studies is “the nation’s oldest and largest environmental study abroad program,” and it combines “hands-on environmental studies with scientific research to develop sustainable solutions to critical environmental problems.”
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Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays—not only because it signifies the start of summer, but also because I love small town patriotism. My hometown always has a fantastic parade that is often accompanied by a fighter jet fly over. Now, today’s employer may not immediately make you think of Memorial Day like last year’s did (it was Weber-Stephen, the manufacturer of my favorite charcoal grills), but you’ll realize pretty quickly why the National Park Service is a great choice for today. Not only are some of the parks that they manage great places to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend outdoors, but they’re also responsible for quite a few memorials including The Marine Corps War Memorial, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Korean War Veterans Memorial, and The World War II Memorial. Memorial Day is really about our fallen heroes, and the National Park Service is constantly working to honor them by maintaining and managing our memorials.
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If you’ve made it all the way to college without ever watching or reading some sort of National Geographic material, there has to be something wrong with you. Despite their dot com web address, National Geographic is actually “one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world” according to Wikipedia. Their main focuses “include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history.” You probably know them best for their yellow-bordered magazine covers and fantastic documentaries. The organization is more formally known as the National Geographic Society, and they are headquartered in Washington, DC. They’ve been around since 1888, and they continue to be a powerhouse when it comes to publishing educational content about the natural world.
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Having grown up in Connecticut and now living in Illinois, I’ve lived in areas that don’t have too many National Parks. Luckily, I’ve had the chance to see Yellowstone and Grand Teton. They are unbelievable. Our National Parks here in the US are one of the best things that the government has done – they’re a big part of what makes this country so special. Unfortunately, the same government that gave us those parks doesn’t always seem to have their best interest in mind. That’s why National Parks Conservation Association exists. They are a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC that is focused on “working on key initiatives to restore America’s national parks by the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016.” If you’ve never visited a National Park, you should. You can use this locator provided by the National Park Service to find the park closest to you.
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I’ve already recounted my whale watch story in our post on internships at the Whale Center of New England, but I will say again that I think whales are absolutely amazing creatures. To see them in the wild is an experience that I think everyone should be able to have. And one of the reasons that we continue to be able to see whales in the wild is Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.They’re based in Plymouth, MA, and they are “the global voice for the protection of whales, dolphins, and their environment.” Their internship coordinator e-mailed me to tell me about the organization and its internships, and because they sound so great, I’m sharing them with you. I also figured that if you were anything like the kids I grew up with, a good number of you wanted to be Marine Biologists at some point. For those of you who still have a strong interest in Marine Biology, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society offers amazing opportunities year round.
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Happy Groundhog Day! Unfortunately, it looks like we’re headed for 6 more weeks of winter according to Punxsutawney Phil. That really aggravates me, so I think that I’m done trusting the rodent for my weather prediction. Last year we recommended working for the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club on One Day One Job, but this year we want to lead you towards a career where you’ll actually be able to predict the weather. That’s why we want you to take a look at internships with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. NOAA is a government agency “that enriches life through science,” which makes them almost the exact opposite of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. NOAA’s responsibilities range from “daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce.” In fact, “NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product.”
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Although I got to work at a private fishing club during one summer in college and spent two summers interning at Orvis, I still wish that I could have done something like interning with Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks. Being a lover of the outdoors, I can’t imagine many things better than spending a summer in Big Sky Country. In case you’re not familiar with what Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is, they’re Montana’s state agency charged with managing conservation of many of the state’s natural resources. Obviously, much of what they do is centered around managing fishing and hunting regulations, but they also have a huge responsibility of managing all of state parks (and there’s a whole lot to manage in a state like Montana).
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For me the wilderness is central to life itself – I can’t be happy without time spent outdoors. That doesn’t mean that I’m not enjoying life in downtown Chicago, but I plan on spending lots of time in the woods and rivers of Wisconsin and Michigan once Spring starts to show its face. My philosophy is shared by the people at The Wilderness Society. Their About page says that “It is our calling and our passion to protect America’s wilderness, not as a relic of our nation’s past, but as a thriving ecological community that is central to life itself.” I couldn’t agree more. They’re a non-profit organization that provides “scientific, economic, legal and policy guidance to land managers, communities, local conservation groups and state and federal decision-makers” to “ensure the best management of our lands – national forests, parks and refuges, as well as public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.” I’ve seen one of my favorite places in the world (a Northern Michigan tract of wilderness and quality fishing areas) put at risk by poor land management policies that would have allowed natural gas drilling in an extremely sensitive area, so I know how firsthand how vital The Wilderness Society’s work is.
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One of the cooler fly fishing moments that I’ve had was sea turtle related. I was in Costa Rica fishing for sailfish when we trolled past a couple of sea turtles. Immediately a dorado (aka mahi mahi aka dolphin fish) came out from below the sea turtles (they love hanging out under debris… or turtles) and started chasing the hookless plugs that we had let out behind the boat. We teased the fish in to the boat, I cast my fly to it, hooked it, and caught it after an amazing battle. It was a perfect example of how ecosystems work with the fish using turtles as cover to ambush prey. Unfortunately, our experience with sea turtles from the previous year’s trip wasn’t so heartwarming, as another boat from our party came across a turtle that had been tangled in commercial fishing long lines (nothing like what sport fishermen use). Luckily they were able to get the turtle in the boat and cut it free from the tangle of lines, but it was a reminder of how many risks sea turtles are facing out in the wild (see below for a picture of the turtle as it was being rescued). The Sea Turtle Restoration Project is a non-profit organization that is trying to protect sea turtles from these threats of pollution, coastal development, commercial fishing long lines, and shrimping nets.
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Do you feel most at home when you’re surrounded by trees? Would you rather be in the woods at risk of being eaten by a bear than walking through the city at risk of being hit by a bus. Well if you want to intern for Forest Trends because of your love for great forests, you’re going to have to risk being hit by a bus, because they’re located in Washington, DC. Still, it will be worth it. Forest Trends is all about conservation “by capturing market values for ecosystem services such as water purification, flood control, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation.” You can’t do that it in the woods, but when you’re done interning, you’ll have helped to ensure that the forest is still there for you to enjoy.
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If you’ve been paying attention over the past few weeks, you may have noticed that I recently moved to Chicago. I’m trying to make a list of things to do and places to see, and one of the attractions that I’m excited to visit is the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. It’s exactly what you’d expect a nature museum to be – they have butterflies, praying mantises, and water snakes. They have all kinds of exhibitions and special programs that include daily animal feedings. It looks like a wonderful day to visit, and it also looks like a fantastic place to have an internship. And in case you were wondering Peggy Notebaert is the wife of Richard Notebaert, the CEO of Qwest, who donated $5 million to the construction of the museum with the stipulation that it be named after her (we really had to dig to find that).
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John James Audubon loved painting birds. His seminal work, Birds of America, was a collection of 435 beautiful life-size prints. To this day, when you hear the name Audubon, you think of birds. Interestingly enough, John James Audubon had no direct involvement with the founding of the National Audubon Society. Audubon’s widow, Lucy, tutored a man named George Bird Grinnell and some of Audubon’s love of birds must have rubbed off, as Grinnell was one of the Audubon Society’s founders. To this day, the Audubon Society persists in its mission “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.” The Audubon Society works to achieve this mission through a national network of community-based nature centers and chapters and scientific, educational, and advocacy programs.
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This is our last Summer internship post for a while. We’ll be taking a couple weeks off to rejuvenate and find great Fall internship opportunities. We will publish a post tomorrow that will provide resources for a last minute internships search, so if you’re still hunting, we won’t completely abandon you. For our last Summer internship posting, we’ve chosen a non-profit organization founded by Bette Midler, yes, she of Hocus Pocus fame. We wanted to take the opportunity to make some jokes about a celebrity do-gooder, but we’re actually going to restrain ourselves because we’re really impressed by the New York Restoration Project and the work it does.
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This isn’t the first time we’ve featured internships at a botanical garden, but we thought it was time to reach out to those plant science and botany majors again. It must have crossed our mind when we realized that spring is in full force at One Day, One Job Headquarters. Everything has bloomed, and not only is it beautiful here, but it also smells great. Whenever we open a door or window we get a fragrant burst of springtime. Since we hear from a lot of people that we focus too much on internships in New York and California (hey, that’s where a lot of them are), the addition of the Chicago Botanic Garden to our list of companies and organizations that hire interns should be welcome.
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Judging by the name, you might think that Southface is a company that produces “barely there” fashions for destinations that one might visit on Spring Break. Since the North Face is all about warm clothes, that’d be a good guess. Too bad it would be a wrong guess. Southface isn’t a company (it’s a non-profit organization), and it doesn’t manufacture clothing. They do work to provide “responsible solutions for environmental living” through education, research, advocacy and technical assistance.
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The One Day, One Job/Internship team is partaking in the tradition of Spring Break (even if some of us aren’t in college anymore), so our posts are going to be on the shorter side for the next week or so. We figure, time off from school should give you plenty of time to do the research yourselves, right? Our compromise is that we’re going to give you more links, and less commentary. How’s that? I’m enjoying the wildlife of Puerto Rico, which includes ospreys, tarpon, egrets, iguanas (invasive, but still cool to look at), and a lot more, so it’s appropriate that today’s internships come from the National Wildlife Federation.
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