Definitely - if people dismiss you because your research isn't in the right place, or you don't have the right degree, they're probably not the right partner. There are certainly some decision-makers who are only going to trust peer-reviewed publications for some things (which probably makes sense), but many more that don't. And if you have research currently unpublished but in the pipeline for a journal, I've become a big fan of pre-prints as a way to share early.

Great interview! I've never paid to volunteer, but have done a lot of no-pay and very low pay labor, but also managed volunteers and junior staff. I can say that at least some environmental NGOS are ending unpaid internships given the equity concern (only people with parental support can afford to take them). It's hard to find the right approach with volunteers and very junior staff sometimes. Unless they are either doing unskilled labor or comfortable trying things and working fairly independently, it can sometimes take more time to train them than they save by doing the work. That's no excuse for expecting people to do what should be paid work for free though! I would just encourage people with no experience looking to build it to be open to both 1) experimenting and learning on the job as opposed to being given a lot of guidance up front (it is uncomfortable but helps you learn better) and 2) potentially staying in an entry level position or even volunteer role for a year or two (this will help your supervisor see that it's worth spending their time to invest in you). I've had some 'volunteers' openly say that they wanted me to provide (free) training to them for a few months after which they would move on, which is not very appealing! Best of luck to all.

I'm wondering how large animals can simultaneously increase sequestration (stimulating more vegetative growth through fertilization and grazing) but also reduce vegetative cover enough to increase albedo by exposing soil. It seems like those two responses to large animals would tend to pull in opposite directions. Is the idea that they are heavily grazing some areas to the ground, temporarily increasing albedo, followed by increasing sequestration (w/o lowering albedo relative to less grazed areas)?

I forgot to mention that I have a handful of resources on this topic at http://impactblog.sciencejon.com/ - they include a 2 page science brief, a couple of other interviews, video recordings of talks on the subject, etc.

Whatever you prefer is fine.

A few colleagues and I compiled our lessons learned and recommendations for improving the impact of research and put it in an easy to read journal article at http://impact.sciencejon.com/

We also have a few shorter pieces to accompany the article, including videos, a science brief, and some interviews at http://sciencejon.blogspot.com/2020/09/how-scientists-can-improve-their-impact.html