Does anyone work in a green job?
Sustainability, renewable fuels, or ecological science based? Who do you work for? What does an employer want for a position?
What qualifications are employers looking for? Is it a field that one could work up through whilst studying?
So many questions, does anyone here have any answers please?
green jobs are just like every other job…they’re all different and require different skills.
for example: installing solar panels on roofs requires construction skills and physical stamina
working for a renewable energy NGO requires very different skills (policy knowledge, writing skills, etc).
working HR for the same solar panel roof installation company requires HR skills.
all are ‘green’
As stal said, a “green” job doesn’t require any special skills different from a non-green job (unless you specifically want to be a park ranger or a oceanographer or something). You just have to have the skills for some job, and an interest in doing that job for a “green” company.
Ok, it seems I phrased the questions badly, let’s try again.
Does anyone work in a sustainability, sustainable development, environmental affairs or ecotourism job or work for a company that employs in those roles?
What sort of qualifications are being seen as the most pertainent, environmental sciences, geography and environment, social sciences, life sciences or another field?
PM Tim-Mech.
Sorry for the delay in responding; I haven’t spent a lot of time here of late (lots going on at work ;-).
If I had to generalize, science/pure math degrees are more accepted than liberal arts degrees for most of the technical aspects of sustainability, i.e. performing life cycle cost analysis or comparing systems for efficiency and things like Return On Investment, because you often need to perform calculations and unit conversions and the like and evaluate the technical claims of sometimes competing solutions.
But for advocacy (under which I include everything from lobbying to eco-tourism) I would say any college degree is fine, because what is really needed here is a superb ability to communicate, either verbal or written or even better, both skill sets AND a passion for protecting the long term viability of the planet as a healthy ecosystem for all organisms. It only helps if you have a science credential AND can communicate well because then you have an area of expertise that you can use to help illustrate the impacts of un-sustainable practices to those you want to educate and affect their behaviour.
At the end of the day, the higher profile the position, in terms of speaking to audiences with lots of influence, the more credentials matter and doctoral degrees are the standard for heading up NGOs or Federal and State Departments engaged in policy work.
I would think you could refine your search by combing your specific interests (are you a habitat person, an energy nut, a transportation kook, etc.) and then learn everything you can about the impacts of that area and what are some emerging ideas to address some of those impacts.
Or, like some I know, become the sustainability looney in your existing place of employment (if you are still employed) and make it your ulterior plan to become that company’s sustainability director or guru or whatever. You do this by reading everything you can on the myriad of sustainability issues across nearly every aspect of your company’s operations (on your company’s dime if you can swing it, on your own time if not). You become a generalist but one that also brings a passion for the discipline of Sustainability.
You can often justify your new position by demostrating that often sustainable means cost savings as well as fewer negative impacts on the planets ecosystems and the organisms that live in them.
And, lastly, if it’s not already obvious, “walk the walk and talk the talk” in your everyday existence as much as you reasonably can with out going overboard. What I mean by that is gauge your own behaviour vs. your peers and see how you stack up lifestyle-wise. I think way back we had a thread where we described some of the stuff we did to lessen our un-sustainable impacts and talked about where we wanted to be personally in the future.
Hope this helps.
BTW- search Google for bios of “sustainability director” positions and see what their CV’s look like. You can start with ours-
http://berkeley.edu/...01/30_mcneilly.shtml
Cheers!
Hey Tim, thanks for the time and thought taken to compose your response. Much appreciated.
Currently, I am trying to green up my workplace and the planned new site too.
I am taking some courses with the OU which help toward this aim and give me stats and ideas to reinforce my existing knowledge base on the subject. I will certainly be actioning your suggestions and look forward to what is an exciting future if we can bring wnough people on board.
I love the examples of companies such as Patagonia and Clif bar and hope to be able to hold up their experiences for future action.
Cheers.
Hi Julian, my husband has a green job working with major corps to reduce and reuse their waste for profit. He has an MBA and a background in finance but what really helped him was to work at campus recycling while he was a student. He also served on the university’s sustainability board and on the city’s sustainability board and participated as a workshop facilitator for a city wide initiative to write sustainability goals. He took courses to become a master recycler and read several books on waste management. Bottom line, when he went for an interview for a green job, he knew what he was talking about. I would suggest volunteering with any local sustainability or recycling efforts to learn more about the practical side of being “green”.
If you want to know more, pm my husband “Ironwoof” (pls note he is NOT Ironwolf) and he’ll give you his perspective. He doesn’t post on ST much but does lurk occasionally. Good luck!
Hey Erika, thanks you for all that good information. Strangely enough I was looking at a sustainbility forum at work today and I came to the conclusion that I should find a voluntary art time position to gain that very knowledge whilst pursuing some qulifications in the field! As you so correctly say that experience should be there to back up the bookwork.
I will take up your kind offer and PT Ironwoof in the future for further detail.
Cheers, Julian.