Check out our guide on 12 ways to celebrate Earth Day as a family while sheltering in place!

How COVID-19 May Change Our Relationship With the Earth
PLUS: Free Downloadable Guide!
India just recorded its lowest average level of springtime nitrogen dioxide pollution ever. China's carbon dioxide emissions have dropped by 25% over the last few months. Emissions in northern Italy and New York have dropped, too. Air pollution in the Northeast portion of the United States has fallen by 30% in the last few weeks. The smog that had become a constant presence in traffic-heavy urban centers like Los Angeles and Mexico City is lifting, making skylines visible once again.
None of these wins for the environment are worth the high cost of human lives. (Though that argument is made more nuanced when you take into consideration the human lives saved by the reduced pollution—Stanford researcher Marshall Burke said in March that cleaner air in China likely saved 20 times more lives there than were lost due to the virus.)
Just like I wrote in our good-news roundup, I can't argue that the novel coronavirus is a good thing. Nothing that kills hundreds of thousands of people ever could be. The long-term consequences of rampant unemployment, economic slowdown, and extreme strain on mental and physical health are not to be underestimated.
But none of that changes the fact that as we approach the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the earth is experiencing an unprecedented break from relentless, human-driven destruction.
Protecting the earth is in our long-term best interest as individuals and as a species. Having clean water and clean air are vital to our health, as is being made even more clear as coronavirus-related deaths spike in heavily-polluted areas. And that's something that we're noticing on a global level and also on an individual level, as people turn to the outdoors to help combat pandemic-induced anxiety and benefit from the immune-boosting power of vitamin D.
However, shutting down all transit and keeping people inside their homes isn't a sustainable way to make continued progress at slowing down global warming, reducing pollution, and caring for our natural resources. So how can we make sure we take some of the positive, earth-saving impacts of the coronavirus into a world where we're no longer under extensive stay-at-home orders?
First, we need to recognize that a return to normal is the likeliest scenario, said Jacqueline Klopp, co-director of the Earth Institute's Center for Sustainable Urban Development, in an interview for Columbia. "As we face this moment of disarray, we don't want to be thinking an inch in front of our faces. A lot of money is going to be put into getting the economy going again, and if we just put it back into the same polluting industries, people will continue dying."
What does she recommend instead? That we whole-heartedly embrace the individual choices that we've shown we are capable of making.
The four highest-impact things individuals can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are to have one fewer child, live without a car, avoid plane travel, and stop eating meat, found a 2017 study done by the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies.
The pandemic has forced many people into doing at least three of those. (We'll have to wait and see whether there's a COVID-19 baby boom or not.)
As large quantities of workers prove that they can cut out their commute and work from home instead, they are making the case that they can continue telecommuting even after it's safe to go back into the office.
As individuals and families are canceling flights for far-off vacations, they could create a new set of expectations around travel. Perhaps the new normal could be families setting off on several local adventures and just one longer, air-travel-needed trip each year, instead of two or three week-long vacations requiring long flights.
And as households are turning to their kitchens and their gardens during shelter-in-place rules, families are learning to reduce food waste, start composting, maintain a vegetable garden, and cook with easy-to-find, shelf-stable ingredients like beans instead of scarce and quick-to-spoil meat products. All of those changes could continue into a recovery from the virus, helping to solidify more eco-friendly food practices.
It's reasonable to expect that lifestyle changes induced by the pandemic could continue even after it's over, says a 2018 study done by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. Researchers found that when people were unable to drive and were given access to free e-bikes instead, they drove much less once they eventually got their cars back.
Embracing everyday changes—like working from home versus commuting into an office, going on a "flight diet" and trading videoconferencing for in-person business meetings and local vacations for more exotic ones, and eating less meat—is a good place to start. But to really change our relationship with the earth, we'll need to keep advocating for climate-friendly policies at the national and global levels.
The very first Earth Day, 50 years ago, brought 20 million Americans (10% of the U.S. population at the time), out to the streets to protest environmental problems, and directly led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.
What can we do this time around, if we come together for the future?
From ways to be politically active as a family to earth-friendly crafts and games, check out our guide on 12 ways to celebrate Earth Day while sheltering in place here.
Check out our guide on 12 ways to celebrate Earth Day as a family while sheltering in place!
Want To Build Partnerships In Remote Environments? Follow These Tips!
đź’Ž Partnerships in remote environments is one of the most important aspects to construct in a company. Watch the video to the end to get good tips on how to do it successfully.
📼Wondering how to create partnerships in remote environments? Play this video to get three top tips that will help you to achieve it. You'll hear from Olga Shvets, HR Business Partner, and Viktoriia Litvinchuk, People Team Operations at Unstoppable Domains, who will explain the essentials of this process.
📼How to build partnerships in remote environments? Tip #1: Communicate Effectively. Communication is the key to enabling your remote team to be successful. Choose the channel that works best. For this, chat with your employees and see what they use to communicate, that's how you find the best solution. Also, make sure your team is on board with your internal tools and they know what, how, and where they need to use them.
📼A requisite for building partnerships in remote environments is Tip #2: Show appreciation. Appreciation is shown through your actions. Let your employees know that you value everything they do for the company. Create a special gratitude channel where everyone can share their appreciation for their colleagues for some contribution. Celebrate some wins, promotions, and everything that is important for the company. If you appreciate the employees, employees do the same for the company.
Create Partnerships In Remote Environments Using Trust - Tip #3: Give Honest Feedback
Use engagement surveys! They are a quick and effective way to receive honest feedback from your team and you can see what's working well and what needs to be improved. Your main priority is to create spaces where managers and employees can share honest, relevant feedback.
📨 Are you interested in joining Unstoppable Domains? They have open positions! To learn more, click here.
Get to Know Olga Shvets
If you are interested in a career at Unstoppable Domains, you can connect with Olga on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to mention this video!
More About Unstoppable Domains
Unstoppable Domains is bringing user-controlled identity to 3 billion+ internet users by issuing domain names on the blockchain. These domains allow users to replace cryptocurrency addresses with human-readable names, host decentralized websites, and much more.
By selling these domains direct to consumers for a one-time fee, the company is making a product that will change cryptocurrency and shape the future of the decentralized web by providing users control over their identity and data.
Careers in Web Development: Which One's For You?
We all have our favorite websites– the ones we frequent, bookmark, and recommend to others. You might even enjoy some website features so much that you’ve found yourself wondering why they aren’t more popular. Or maybe you’ve experienced times where you were frustrated with a website and wished you could add features or even design your own!
If you’ve ever found yourself intrigued at the prospect of designing and developing your own websites, then a career as a web developer might be just for you!
As a web developer you would be responsible for coding, designing, optimizing, and maintaining websites. Today, there are over 1.7 billion websites in the world and, in turn, the demand for web developers is on the rise. In order to figure out what kind of web development work best suits you let’s start with an introduction to the three main roles in web development that you can choose from.
The Three Types of Web Development Jobs
Front-End Web Development: The Creative Side
Think of front-end development as the décor of a house. The color scheme, furniture, manicured lawns, and overall aesthetic. In terms of a website, front-end development is laser-focused on the appearance of a website and its presentation on different devices. If you’re considering a role in front-end development, it’s important to learn programming languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These three languages go hand-in-hand. HTML allows you to create user interface elements, CSS helps you with stylistic elements, and JavaScript allows you to incorporate online tools and connect your website to back-end functions.
In addition to programming skills, front-end developers need to be detail oriented, creative, willing to keep up with the latest trends in web development, cyber security conscious, and geared toward user-friendly designs. The median salary for a front-end developer can reach well into the $90,000 to $100,000 range.
Back-End Web Development: The Logical Counterpart
While a house can be beautifully decorated, it’s incomplete without a solid foundation and efficient infrastructure. Similarly, a well-designed website depends on logical and functional code to power the features of that website. Back-end web development is code-heavy and focused on the specifics of how a website works. If you enjoy the analytical challenge of creating the behind-the-scenes code that powers a website, then back-end development is for you.
Since this role is more code-heavy, it’s important that you learn numerous programming languages and understand algorithms and data structures. Some languages that are essential to back-end development are Ruby, Python, SQL, and JavaScript. Back-end developers also ensure that users can successfully retrieve and access data. This requires creating and using APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) which act as messengers that relay data related requests. Additionally, developing the code for the inner workings of a website also requires back-end developers to be conscious of the user interface features designed by front-end developers and to internally mitigate potential security risks. Due to the increased technical aspect of this position, back-end developers normally earn higher salaries than front-end developers. The average median salary for this role is around $118,000 per year.
Full-Stack Web Development: A Little Bit of Everything
A full-stack developer is essentially the Jack (or Jill)-of-all-trades in web development. Full-stack developers need to be knowledgeable about both front-end and back-end roles. This does not necessarily imply that you would need to be an expert in both roles, but you should fully understand the different applications and synergies they each imply. In order to work in this position, you will need to know the programming languages used by front-end and back-end developers. In addition to these languages, full-stack developers also specialize in databases, storage, HTTP, REST, and web architecture.
Full-stack developers are often required to act as liaisons between front-end and back-end developers. Full-stack developers need to be both problem solvers and great communicators. The end goal for a full-stack developer is to ensure that the user’s experience is seamless, both on the front-end and on the back-end. In return, you can expect to earn a median salary of $100,000 – $115,000 a year for this role.
Taking the Next Step
Web development is both in-demand and lucrative! All three roles described above contribute to specific aspects of web development and the scope of each one can be customized to the industries and positions you feel best suit you. Regardless of which role you choose, all of them need a foundation in programming.
To gain the programming skills needed in each role, you can enroll in courses or learn independently. Coding bootcamps are a great way to boost your skillset quickly and efficiently.
Click here for some of our highly rated programming bootcamp options! Make sure to check out the discounts available to PowerToFly members.
Want to join the engineering teams at Workiva? Learn more about them!
đź’ŽWant to know what engineering teams are like at Workiva? Watch the video to the end to find out!
📼 Engineering teams at Workiva are constantly hiring. Marie Yue, Senior Engineering Manager at the company, tells you what they look for in a candidate and what the dynamics of teamwork are like.
📼 The typical path in the engineering teams at Workiva is that you grow into a senior, and then you move into a lead role. From there, there are a few different tracks that you can take depending on your interest. You can become a staff engineer, an architect, or even an engineering manager. What are you waiting for to apply?
📼In the engineering teams at Workiva every member should feel empowered to do their job effectively. For this, each has to understand how the work they do day to day solves customers’ problems. Managers will always seek to be aware of members’ career path aspirations so that they can look for opportunities and projects to help each person reach the next step in their career.
Engineering Teams At Workiva: A Safe Space
Marie Yue’s team is a safe space for people to make mistakes and ask for help, and each member feels a sense of belonging and inclusion. She wants to make sure that everyone is individually empowered to lead and make decisions. For this, the team has regular meetings where they do fun things like play virtual games or eat lunch together, and they also like to re-review and add to their team working agreement once a quarter.
đź§‘đź’Ľ Are you interested in joining Workiva? They have open positions! To learn more, click here.
Get to Know Marie Yue
If you are interested in a career at Workiva, you can connect with Marie Yue on LinkedIn. Don’t forget to mention this video!
More About Workiva
Workiva was founded to transform the way people manage and report business data with various collaborators, data sources, documents, and spreadsheets. Today, people all over the world use their platform to seamlessly orchestrate data among their systems and applications for transparent and trusted connected reporting and compliance. At Workiva, they are innovative in everything they do—from how they build their software, to how they serve their customers, to how they treat their employees.
Never Done Shining — ​Introducing the 2022 NIKE, Inc. Internship Program
After two years of remote programming, we’re excited to welcome the 2022 NIKE, Inc. Internship Program back to our U.S. offices this week!
This year’s class of 318 represent the top 1% of 34,000+ applicants from 113 universities – including 10 Hispanic Serving Institutions and five historically Black colleges and universities. And that’s not all! Many of this year’s interns are Division 1 student-athletes, representing Track and Field, Rowing, Soccer, and Volleyball, to name a few.
During the nine-week internship – built around the theme of Never Done Shining – interns will work across Nike, Jordan and Converse taking on meaningful projects for the business areas they’re supporting. We can’t wait to watch this talented, diverse group kick off their Nike journey and shine!
Want to learn more about the program? https://jobs.nike.com/internships
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