Sabrina Hodes: “We’re doing what we said we’d do”

Bringing an array of experiences in banking, change management and sustainability, Sabrina works with a multitude of education staff roles to help them embed climate action.

Applying professional skillsets to climate action planning

“I look at my volunteering activities through the lens of my role. As a project manager, we do a lot of change management, bringing change to places where some people are for it, some are resistant, some against it because they are experiencing constraints about the budget, about resources.”

This approach has allowed Sabrina to identify and connect with a stakeholder within education settings that plays a major role in sustainable operations and management, yet sometimes is not the one receiving bespoke communications and support for climate action.

“Here I saw a specific need around business managers, as they hold the budget and they want to make a big difference, change that they can see and control. They can’t so much act together with the children, they don’t have visibility of the school as a whole, but they want to make a positive change like installing solar panels, changing suppliers, having the possibility to invest in insulating the school and getting a better carbon footprint.”

Knowledge sharing within and between trusts is on the agenda for Sabrina, as she aims to have a systemic approach to supporting business managers in the local community in Nottingham.

“I’m not tied to a fixed objective”

Following a desire to bring her values to the forefront of her life, Sabrina found the role of a Climate Ambassadors volunteer rewarding, challenging her to think innovatively. Having stepped into education premises, Sabrina sees her role as a supportive and present decision-making partner.

“I go into schools and tell them I’m here to help them. We break down the climate action work, piece by piece. I know that every step helps, and I leave them with a piece of work for when I next see them. And I often when I go back, they’re not at all where I thought they might be.”

Sabrina understands that each sustainability journey is a unique one, and embraces the ebbing and flowing nature of climate action planning. She highlights the “positive consequences of doing something – on children’s attitudes, knowledge, realising that the calculated carbon footprint shows the difference.”

“Acting at the right time for this generation”

Speaking to Sabrina, it’s clear she connects deeply with the underlying opportunity of a Climate Ambassador volunteer of embedding climate education and green jobs across education settings.

“We cannot start early enough to tell the children this can be a part of their job, their adult life. I mostly work with primary schools, so that’s not the stage where the pupils are choosing a specific orientation. We have an opportunity to open their minds about what’s available out there.”

And it’s not just benefitting the settings – Sabrina feels the benefits of volunteering too: “I’m glad that we’re acting at the right time for this generation. Most children have heard about decarbonisation, about biodiversity. Here, with climate education, we’re doing what we said we would do – we’re inside the premises, making a difference. Most of the time the schools are really willing to do it, and are happy to have us with them. I don’t work in the education environment, so it gives me something really different in my life – there’s hobbies, personal life, family, but this is something that’s really close to my heart and is making a difference.”

If you’d like to join Sabrina and over 1300 of our Climate Ambassadors volunteers, you can now register your interest.