Environmental Concentrators Are on Unsteady Ground

For students planning careers in environmental fields, the landscape has shifted.

“So many things we thought were bedrock turned out to be a little softer,” says N. Michele Holbrook, the chair and head tutor of the Environmental Science and Public Policy concentration. “We’re still waiting to see what’s going to happen.”

Holbrook’s sentiment is shared by many faculty and upperclassmen in the ESPP and Environmental Science and Engineering concentrations. Since President Trump entered office, the Environmental Protection Agency has attempted to pause $20 billion in funding for nonprofits, endured mass layoffs, and experienced deregulations. Just this week, the Trump administration dismissed all of the scientists and experts working on the federal government’s flagship report on the impact of global warming in the United States.

Students and faculty in environmental fields recognize that public sector jobs, particularly within the federal government, are less available and less stable.

“Scrambling is probably the right word,” says Eamon C. C. OCearuil ’25, an ESPP concentrator and peer concentration advisor.

“Many of those opportunities that would have existed are just not there anymore,” he says.

As federal jobs — a traditional middle ground for students interested in balancing career stability and impact — disappear, post-graduate plans are diverging on two paths: green consulting and finance or community-focused public service work.

“A good number of my peers are headed into either management consulting or finance, perhaps on the green finance side, so they have more security than those of us who are not pursuing those routes,” OCearuil says. He recently finished his thesis on water policy — an interest that began with ESPP 173: “Water Resources in Developing Countries,” which included a trip to Trinidad and Tobago. Now, he is hoping to pivot towards state and local government jobs.

According to Holbrook, it’s only natural that students gravitate towards more established, stable paths like consulting and finance in times of economic uncertainty.

Eshaan J. Vakil ’25, another ESPP peer concentration advisor, says that “there’s this very real consulting pipeline, which I think there are a lot of ESPP concentrators who are in.” Vakil himself is interested in organizing and public interest work, what he calls his “bread and butter.”

“I feel like there is this belief that as a Harvard student, it is your duty to assume a high office,” he says. The silver lining of fewer public sector jobs, he hopes, is that students will choose to “be on the front lines and actually see the effects on marginalized communities.”

Faculty members, too, see potential for new opportunities outside of traditional government work. Robert N. Stavins, professor of Energy and Economic Development at the Kennedy School, suggests that while federal cutbacks are real, other sectors may be expanding.

“There’s the NGO realm, non-governmental organizations, in particular, environmental advocacy groups. They are gearing up and so they’re going to be very actively recruiting,” Stavins says. “There will be new, better opportunities there because of what’s happening with the Trump administration in Washington.”

Still, students currently entering the field describe a different, more difficult reality.

Jack Towers ’25 describes himself as passionate about food policy and security, a field with many roles in the nonprofit sector. However, as nonprofits face tight budgets and a more competitive job market due to federal layoffs, he has faced difficulty finding post-grad opportunities. Towers has broadened his job search to include roles in corporate green strategy departments.

Students are also factoring in a competitive job market, as long-time federal employees enter private sector jobs in competition with recent graduates. Talia C. Vaught ’26 has been warned of this competition by her ESE advisers, as “people who have been in the field for 15, 20 years and are very experienced are now being fired from their jobs.”

Holbrook acknowledges these challenges but stresses the importance of public service remaining a central part of the career conversation for ESPP students. Even if pursuing service straight out of graduation isn’t feasible, Holbrook urges students to ask themselves: “Where in my career path will I include some degree of public service? Will it be the school board? Will it be the state legislature? Where? How will I be part of the public goods that we all share and enjoy?”

OCearuil echoes a similar urgency. “The world is very much in need of people who are willing to fight the good fight on behalf of the environment,” he says.