What I learned from working at Feedback

Rukhsar Shaikh spent two weeks working at Feedback in July 2018.

During my two weeks of work experience at Feedback, I have learnt an immense amount about the devastating current state of climate change, which can still be resolved. I learned how Feedback’s work, along with young activists like me, can act to stop the consequences of our unsustainable behaviours. I learnt about the campaigns that are run here including the Gleaning Network, Feeding the 5000 and The Pig Idea. These campaigns help to tackle the 1.3 billion tonnes of food waste around the world which is one of the main contributors to climate change.

Through my research and supporting Claire prepare for her school workshops, I learnt how over-consumption of food is having a disastrous effect on deforestation. This is because large amounts of land are needed to grow the crops such as cocoa and coffee beans which results in the removal of trees. Trees are necessary for our environment as they store carbon and provide oxygen. This is necessary because our lifestyles emit huge amounts of carbon dioxide and shows how we need to only purchase goods that we need. We should have a positive mindset that we are citizens rather than consumers, to consider the impacts on the environment as a result of our purchases.

As I currently study Economics at A-level, alongside English Literature and Psychology, I have been practically applying my knowledge on market failure to the problems that the projects are working to fix. Through some tasks with Krysia, I have noticed a new aspect in Economics which exposes how classic economics has a main objective of profit maximisation, and does not consider the negative effects on the environment, which is a major flaw. Furthermore, I worked with the finance team where I learnt new functions on Excel and how expenditure reports are created as we are a charity, which is a profit/loss receipt for a firm. After completing the tasks, I now have an approximate three weeks head start on the accounting course according to Krysia!

I carried out various other tasks, I particularly enjoyed the journalist task because I had to simply research a list of journalists and organise their details on Excel spreadsheets, allowing me to attain an idea of how it would be to work in an administration role. The spreadsheet would then be transferred onto Salesforce which securely stores all the data of all the contributors of the charity. I really enjoyed this task as I was independent and the feeling of satisfaction after seeing the ordered data was pleasing. I also learnt about various journalists and authors after researching them and I am intrigued to read some of their pieces.

To conclude, I have had an amazing time with Feedback whilst working with the helpful team and have gained an idea of how it would be to work in an office. They all helped me fit in very easily by attending their staff meetings and taking part in their media workshop, which was so much fun. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for the organisation and I am certain that I will be hearing about Feedback on TV and radio very soon!