Answering Your LFA Questions

Terra.do's Learning for Action fellowship (LFA) is our flagship 12-week course. Here, we'll answer some common questions about the program.

Terra.do’s Learning for Action fellowship is our flagship 12-week course. Each week it mixes live discussions with instructors and others in your cohort alongside asynchronous learning and assignments.

By expanding your knowledge of global heating and key solution areas like clean energy and climate policy, the goal is to build context for thinking critically about what types of climate action are most worthwhile—and better understand how to accelerate those actions in your career or your community. Along the way, you’ll grow your network and explore how your unique skillset equips you to take on climate change.

Below, we’ll answer some common questions about the Learning for Action program—LFA for short. For the nitty-gritty course structure and materials, check out the syllabus.

🌿 How rigorous is LFA, and what should I expect in the course?

Over 60 percent of people who come in wanting to work on climate succeed in making that transition. Here’s what to expect:

  • Structured, rigorous material: We’ve taken the best of climate master’s programs from places like Oxford and Berkeley (trust us—course creator Dr. Kamal Kapadia has taught at both) and made it more accessible, structured, and outcome-oriented.
  • Up-to-date curriculum: LFA is the most timely climate education you will find. We’re working constantly to incorporate the latest in politics, energy technologies, sustainable finance, and so on—and you get lifetime access.
  • Dive deep into solutions: The course has 12 live dive-deep labs designed to give you a practical understanding of real-world climate solutions.
  • Career development: LFA helps you grow professionally and personally through wayfinding workshops, networking, and mentoring beyond the end of the course.

Here’s one alum’s take on the course:

“I have taken climate courses at Harvard and Yale and through ESG Certifications. Out of all those experiences, this course was the best combination of science-backed learning, group work, and tools for action. It was a truly amazing experience.”
–LC Ede, Senior Manager of Sustainable Sourcing at Sysco.

You can find hundreds like this on Trustpilot, where our rating is excellent.

🌿 What’s a typical week like in the program?

The Learning for Action fellowship is all remote, but it’s hardly lonely. Fellows (we call our students fellows) are placed in cohorts that launch roughly every six weeks, and within each cohort there are lab groups led by an instructor. Lab groups meet weekly, and you can choose among several meeting times to suit your schedule and where you are in the world. You can also catch a replay if you need to miss a live session.

Each week also features asynchronous learning (reading, videos, assignments) and optional live sessions with experts or deep dives into relevant subject matter. The total time commitment is around an hour a day, or 6 to 10 hours weekly. Find out more about a typical week in our program here.

🌿 What’s the story behind Terra.do’s name and the cohort names?

For those who aren’t sure, our company’s name is pronounced terra—like the planet we all share—dot do, as in “ready to do something about climate change.” (We’ve heard some interesting guesses over the years, but no, our name does not rhyme with “bravado.”)

Incidentally, Terra is also the name of a cafe that features in the story of how our CEO, Anshuman Bapna, met his future Chief Learning Officer, Dr. Kamal Kapadia. You can find more on that backstory here.

In addition to the shorthand of “LFA” for the Learning for Action fellowship and calling our students “fellows,” it’s worth noting that as we launch new LFA cohorts every six weeks or so, each one gets a unique name. The first, in 2020, was called the Monarchs; the person updating this post just now was in the Rhinos cohort. There have been more than two dozen, all named after endangered species, including the Pandas, Tigers, Zebras, Condors, Elephants, Hippos, Jaguars, and Lemurs.

The Manatees cohort marked our first full trip through the alphabet; you can read more on that milestone here.

🌿 Will this help with climate anxiety?

Feeling overwhelmed by the climate crisis? You’re not alone. Many our fellows have felt the same way and agree: the best antidote to climate anxiety is action.

Here’s what alum Zachary Biggs had to say:

“I started this course with much climate anxiety caused by our current environmental crises and not knowing where to turn to help. I can confidently say understanding the science, problems, and solutions of climate change really helped with my outlook and direction. Terra.do provides the necessary knowledge, resources, and connections to start making a difference in the climate space.”

Others, like alum Adam Nashban, have transitioned into climate roles since finishing the program, and have found it helps to channel their climate anxiety into meaningful work.

🌿 Why did Terra.do create this course?

First, the short answer: It’s hard to solve a problem you don’t understand, so we believe climate education is critical to stopping the planet from getting hotter. This program exists to help you find your role working on climate change.

Okay, now the longer version: Terra.do co-founder Dr. Kamal Kapadia, the creator of Climate Change: Learning for Action, sometimes says her climate journey has been a love story. That’s true in the sense that it’s her life purpose—and literally, since she met her husband while getting her Ph.D. in climate!

That story started in the late 1990s when she started working for SELCO, a company that brought solar power to villages in India and Sri Lanka. Her position at the time was as a Business Development Manager. Even though she didn’t need to, the first thing that she did was learn how to install solar panels.

Why? Because she’s always valued learning by doing. She designed Climate Change: Learning for Action from the ground up with this principle in mind.

This is why our alums work in so many different parts of the climate ecosystem, leading, operating, and founding climate organizations. The majority of our more than 3,000 LFA fellows started working in climate within a year of graduating. Are you ready to join them?

🌿 What instructors teach the course?

We take pride in bringing together some of the most passionate and knowledgeable instructors in the climate space. Their specialties range from clean energy implementation to heterodox economics, and they’re not just experts but mentors, guides, and fellow climate enthusiasts ready to support you on your journey.

Between live labs and individual attention (during office hours, assignment feedback, and communicating over Slack), you’ll spend about 15 hours with your instructor.

Here are a few of our instructors:

  • ​Katy Shields
    Katy is an educator, storyteller, and activist for climate solutions. She served on her city council and is currently her town’s climate policy officer. She’s a Climate Fresk facilitator and trainer, co-founder of a local Doughnut Economics coalition, and creator of the podcast “Tipping Point: The True Story of The Limits of Growth.”
  • Mike DiRico
    Mike studied Plant and Soil science at the University of Massachusetts and worked in sales and management at building products manufacturing companies. In 2020, he realized the outsized CO2 contribution from steel and cement, the two products he’d sold. He transitioned to working on climate, specifically in electrification, as the VP of Sales for Altus Thermal.
  • Amelia Kuch
    Amelia’s background is in anthropology, with a joint Ph.D. in International Development from the University of Edinburgh and Aarhus University. She has 10+ years of experience leading social impact research and policy advocacy for land and agricultural reform, rural and urban development, international migration, and circular economy.

…and many more!

By joining LFA, you’re not just getting an education; you’re gaining a community of mentors ready to support you every step of the way.

🌿 What learning approach does LFA take?

Climate Change: Learning for Action (LFA) stands out thanks to our commitment to delivering a curriculum that’s not just informative but transformative.

Curriculum philosophy:
LFA offers rigorous content that’s in-depth and comprehensive. We’re constantly capturing new climate information (including cutting-edge insights from researchers at the IPCC, Carbon Brief, University of Oxford, and others) that we integrate into our course content with regular detailed updates.

The course provides a 360-degree view of the climate landscape and a basic understanding of all major aspects of climate action.

Our approach to teaching:
Learning is most transformative when it’s interactive and action-enabling. The landscape of climate work is complicated—so we promise to give you the 1-on-1 support you’ll need to set and achieve your goals. This is over and above the incredible support you will get from the larger community. Our course includes:

  • 12 live weekly lab sessions
  • 12 optional live deep-dive lab sessions
  • 8 to 12 live workshops and guest talks
  • More than 20 classes full of asynchronous learning content
  • 8+ hours of optional deep-dive content
  • 3000+ alumni in our community
  • Access to mentorship from working climate professionals

🌿 Can I participate fully in LFA while working full-time?

Absolutely—and you’re far from alone! The 12 weeks of our Climate Change: Learning for Action (LFA) course can be life-changing, and we want to make sure that fellows who work full-time and have other commitments can fully engage with and benefit from the program. 

Our fellows who work full-time while in LFA find the experience to be quite rewarding. LFA provides them with the built-in community and support they need while juggling various priorities.

We support you in balancing the LFA program with other commitments by offering a wealth of asynchronous learning materials, event recordings, one-on-one instructor support, and a global community that can be accessed whenever it’s most convenient for you.

Most fellows dedicate 6 to 10 hours per week to LFA. If you can’t commit to at least this amount of time, this fellowship might not be the best fit for you. We often suggest aiming for an hour a day to help fellows stay on track!

🌿 What if I need one or two weeks of absence?

That’s ok! Many fellows have successfully completed LFA despite planned and unplanned offline periods of up to two weeks. Our asynchronous learning materials, event recordings, and always-accessible community make it easy for fellows to catch up quickly after being offline.

🌿 How does LFA help me work in climate?

Looking back at data from many hundreds of graduates since we started in 2020, most have since landed climate jobs. We chalk that success up to a few factors:

  • Exclusive Terra.do Careers Resources: As an LFA fellow, you get access to a network of thousands of alums, 150+ mentors, and additional content and live sessions to prepare you with the tools to successfully launch or level up a climate career.
  • Industry Partnerships: We’ve teamed up with over 700 industry partners—some of the most influential names in climate companies like Form Energy or Climeworks to organizations and nonprofits like the Sierra Club.
  • Connections and Leadership: Many people who take our course go on to found organizations or land senior-level roles. Further reflecting our strong network effects and reputation, dozens of organizations have hired multiple Terra.do fellows.

People join our fellowship because they want to have more impact on the climate crisis, often (but not exclusively) in their work. Those fellows keep telling us the program was worth their time and money.

🌿 What are the guest talks like?

For every cohort, we have a full roster of guest speakers throughout the course, including:

  • Climate Science 101 – Dr. Chip Fletcher
  • Emotional Resilience Workshop – Nikyta Palmisani
  • Activism Panel – Muskan Lodhi
  • State of Climate Tech – Jackie Amable
  • Visualizing Climate Impacts with Probable Futures – Alison Smart
  • Finding your North Star in Climate – Pulin Sanghvi
  • And many more.
We also regularly host keynote events; past speakers have included Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Bill McKibben, David Roberts, and Mary Annaïse Heglar, among many others.

🌿 Why choose LFA over other courses?

What makes our program unique is how comprehensive it is. Our Learning for Action fellowship goes beyond techno-fixes or niche specialties to give you a conversational understanding of not just the science global heating but everything we have to do to stop the problem from getting worse.

Clean energy is a key part of that, but what about food and farming, policy areas, or climate communications? We go deep on all of these subjects and more—all while taking a global perspective with an eye for justice and opportunities to multisolve. A few other things set us apart as well:

  • Top-Notch Content: Dive deep into highly most up-to-date and comprehensive climate content with lifetime access to updates.
  • Structured Journey: Navigate the climate landscape with guidance, setting you up for meaningful impact.
  • Transform Anxiety to Action: Many of our fellows have expressed how the course transformed their climate anxiety into actionable steps. “This course was a turning point for me,” says one alum.
  • Real Transitions: From tech and business professionals to climate activists, our fellows have made significant shifts. Most fellows who want to successfully transition to working on climate.


While we can’t speak to the particulars at other organizations, one last detail worth noting about our fellowship is that financial aid is available. Apply now to find out more.

Table of Contents
SUBSCRIBE
The Climate Switch
Maximizing your climate impact and focusing on effective solutions requires knowledge. Get weekly trends, expert insights, inspiring stories, and actionable tips directly in your inbox.
Learn the skills to work on climate