Where conservation careers begin

Most people who want to work in conservation picture the field: camera traps, coral reefs, migration corridors. That instinct is correct, but the work itself goes much further.

Today's conservation practitioner operates at the intersection of ecology, finance, law and the knowledge systems of Indigenous communities. Protecting a watershed requires understanding who funds it and how. Restoring a degraded landscape requires knowing what a viable reference state looks like and how to measure progress toward it. Managing a marine protected area means navigating transboundary governance, community rights and the political economy of the ocean all at once.

That breadth is a skill. And it’s learned through systems thinking.

A new on-ramp for the conservation workforce

SOS 100: Introduction to Sustainability is now available through ASU Universal Learner Courses, giving learners anywhere in the world an accessible, low-barrier entry point into the foundational thinking that conservation careers are built on.

The course is taught by ASU faculty and held to the same academic standards as courses on campus. No application is required. Start for $25 and decide later whether to add it to your official ASU transcript for $400. 

For high school students considering conservation as a future path, SOS 100 offers early exposure to college-level work without any academic risk. For adults returning to learning or exploring a career shift, it opens the door without requiring a full degree commitment upfront. Nothing appears on your transcript unless you choose to add it.

Read the full Universal Learner Courses story on what conservation careers look like and how SOS 100 builds the foundation.

Why systems thinking is the foundation

Conservation requires fluency across four areas: science, finance, policy and Indigenous knowledge. 

Conservation requires fluency across several interconnected fields. A practitioner working in a protected area needs to understand how that space is financed and governed, not just how its ecosystems function. A policy professional needs working knowledge of conservation markets to move ideas into action. A scientist needs to understand that Indigenous communities have been observing and managing specific landscapes for generations, generating knowledge about ecological relationships and system resilience that no laboratory study can replicate. Each of these domains is a co-equal framework, not background context. The practitioners who move fastest in this field are the ones who can read across all of them and translate between them.

SOS 100 introduces that way of thinking from the ground up. It examines how natural systems function, how human decisions accelerate or reverse ecological change and how environmental outcomes ripple through agriculture, public health, infrastructure and finance. Understanding those relationships is what separates a practitioner who can operate across sectors from one who can only work inside a single discipline.

Where this path leads

SOS 100 is designed as a foundational course that can build toward future degree pathways connected to ASU’s Rob Walton School of Conservation Futures, helping learners begin developing the interdisciplinary knowledge conservation careers increasingly require.

Conservation Futures Academy is the professional learning arm of the Rob Walton School of Conservation Futures, the first dedicated school of conservation practice of its kind globally. The Conservation Futures Academy offers credentials and cohort programs in nature finance, conservation technology, Indigenous conservation practice and executive conservation leadership, for working practitioners and career entrants ready to go deep.

Learners from organizations worldwide participate in Conservation Futures Academy programs taught by practitioners in the field, Indigenous leaders, policy experts and scientists from the Rob Walton College of Global Futures and the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory.

The global conservation workforce starts here.

Explore SOS 100 through ASU Universal Learner Courses at courses.ulc.asu.edu/introduction-to-sustainability-sos-100.