Prior to this cafe talk I had no idea what a land trust is. Although I still don’t know the specifics of how land trusts work, I realized that they are a kind of organization which focuses on conservation and operates independent of the government. This line of work involves a strong understanding of policy, business, and the economy. While I care greatly about the environment, I don’t know anything about the three aforementioned topics. I was nevertheless intrigued by the topic and inspired by Andy Zepp’s enthusiasm for his work. I also think his journey to this career is interesting because it took him some time to find the right job for him but he seems to have really found his calling. I have some ideas about what I want to do after graduation, but his experience really illustrates how we continued growing and searching until we find something which sticks.

My main take aways from this talk were that I want to engage with nature in this region more (and definitely check out gofingerlakes.org to get an idea of which specific locations to check out), that there are major conservation efforts going on all around me that I am unaware of and which make a large and tangible positive impact, and that I never realized that there were careers which were intersections of business and conservation. My younger sister is still a highschooler and is considering many different options, but I called her after the talk to tell her about land trusts because she cares deeply about the environment and nature and has shown interest in business in the past. Occupations which utilize skills across areas of study or interests are especially fascinating and are a niche.