Transcript Slide 1

Green Collar Jobs: Saving the
Planet While You Work
August 21, 2008
SU Career Services
Author: Vicki Decker, Director
Career Services
Along with Cal Winbush, WSU Sustainability Consultant and
Panel of Experts
What are ‘Green’ Jobs?
•Ideas?
•Where are they found?
•What would you do?
Green Jobs Defined
•Green Jobs are defined as:
–A job that is contributing to fighting global
warming and building a green economy, resulting
in healthier communities
–Some define them as manual labor jobs within new
clean technology industries
–Clean energy has become a $55 billion a year industry
worldwide
Market Conditions
•The Green job market is one of the fastest growing
•180,000 new jobs were created in 2007 in
environmentally related fields
•In addition, companies are turning existing jobs into
green jobs
•This market is expected to grow 5.5% annually through
the end of the decade
Source: Career Insider, Nov. 2007 Green Careers Journal, Part Two
Green is Everywhere
•CNN had a documentary in 2007
•Al Gore won a Nobel Peace Prize
•NBC had a ‘green week’
•Rick Steves–Travel
•HyVee
•Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal
The Future of Green
•Michael Holloway, National Director, Green
Leaders, says students pursuing green
careers should:
–Learn all they can about business
And says:
–Exciting things are happening in product design,
research and development, manufacturing, and
building & grounds
Future continued
•5.3 million jobs have been created by
environmental management and protection
•By 2010, green jobs are expected to grow to
5.8 million
•By 2020, the industry is expected to reach 6.9
million jobs
Management Information Services Inc 2006 study
Where the Jobs Are
•Clean energy
•Renewable energy
•Environmental fields
•Sales
•Training and Development
•Research
•Manufacturing
•Public Service –All levels of Government
Where the jobs are continued
•Marketing
•Wildlife management
•Construction –new and retrofitting
•Travel and Mass Transit
•Entrepreneurs
•Social accountability positions within all types
of industry
•Law
•Publishing
Where the jobs are continued
•Health Care
•The Arts
•Accounting
•Communications
•Consulting
•Government
•Non-Profit Sector
•Education
Sample Job Titles
•Engineers
•Marketing Writer/Strategist
•Compensation Analyst
•Marketing Support Specialist
•Project Designer
•Legal Assistant
•Geologist
•Park Naturalist
Source: www.greenjobs.com
Green Economy Jobs Sample $
•Computer Software Engineer: $43.54
average/hour
•Electrical Engineer: $37.99 avg/hour
•Environmental Engineers: $35.41 avg/hour
•Chemists: $30.57 avg/hour
Source: Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of
Occupations that Gain from TgreenInvestments, Robert Polllin& Jeanette
Wicks-Lim, Political Economy Research Institute, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, June 2008
Skills Needed for ‘Green’
Professionals
•Communication Skills including respect for
diversity and intercultural communication
•Ability to lead and motivate others
•Ability to resolve conflicts
•Ability to cope with and manage employee
responses to change
•Awareness of city, county, state, and federal
regulations
Skills needed continued
•Decision Making
•Financial Management
•Presentation Skills
•Website Design
•Fundraising, Grant writing
•Organizational Politics
•Strategic Thinking
•Leadership
Resources
•Links:
*http://www.salisbury.edu/careerservices/Students/MajorsEmployers/GreenEmployers/D
efault.html-SU Website
–www.epa.gov
–www.clu-in.org
–www.treehugger.com
–www.sustainablebusiness.com
–http://learningforsustainability.net/susdev/earth_clock.php
•Job Listing Websites:
www.ecojobs.com
–www.ecoISP.com
–www.ecoemploy.com/jobs
–www.greenbiz.com
–www.greenjobs.com
–
Kurt Hohenstein is an associate professor of history
at WSU. He is the Director of the Paralegal Program,
Co-Director of the Law and Society Program and the
pre-law advisor for WSU. He earned his bachelor’s
degree, master’s degree and jurisdoctor from the
University of Nebraska, and his doctorate in history
from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the
WSU Faculty Senate. His interest in green careers
involves advising students about options for legal and
paralegal careers in environmental and regulatory law
and business development careers involving emerging
sustainability issues.
Contact: [email protected]
Anne Morse has worked for Winona County since 1988, first as a
recycling coordinator and today as its coordinator of sustainability
initiatives. In addition to her local work for the county, she has also
been a strong voice at the state and national level for the
development of a systems approach to the management of our
natural resources. As the Board Chair of the GrassRootsRecycling
Network, a national recycling advocacy organization, she played a
significant role in the development of producer responsibility
legislation, including the recent e-waste legislation in Minnesota the first of its kind in the nation. In 1998, during her term as Chair
of the Southeast Minnesota Recycler’s Exchange, the organization
of counties received a national award as the country’s Outstanding
Rural Community Program. Morse has served on a number of state
and national foundation boards, including the Recycling Association
of Minnesota and Conservation Minnesota. Morse has a bachelor’s
degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-La
Crosse, and lives in Dakota.
Contact: [email protected]
Information
Pete Sandberg has a Bachelor of Science in health education and physical
education from Winona State University (’73). He worked in construction
and manufacturing before beginning a career in higher education facilities
management, which led to interests in managing commodity demand and
consumption and the carbon impacts of consuming commodities. Sandberg
is currently the assistant vice president of facilities at St. Olaf College in
Northfield, Minn. He chairs the college’s Sustainability Task Force, which
sets goals and develops policy; is the principle author of the college’s
Sustainable Design Guidelines; is a U.S. Green Building Council LEED
Accredited Professional; designed and implemented a composting program
at St. Olaf that handles 100 percent of campus food waste; and wrote a
successful grant application that led to the installation of the first utility
scale on campus, a self-generating 1.65 mega-watt wind turbine, in 2006.
He also led the planning, design, and construction of Regents Hall, a
comprehensive, 200,000-square-foot natural science and mathematics
facility that anticipates achieving LEED Platinum status in fall 2008. It will be
the largest college or university science facility in the world to achieve
Platinum status.
Contact: [email protected]
Resource
Caroline van Schaik, has worked in the field of sustainable
agriculture for the Land Stewardship Project for the past 10
years. She has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and agronomy,
a minor in Art, and a Master of Science in soil science from
the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work experience
involves the advocacy of and organizing around sustainable
farming, food systems infrastructure, business training for
farmers, and collaborative field research into the
environmental benefits of good farming. After extensive
travel and jobs in journalism, food and farming, she and her
family raise 100 percent pastured sheep on a farm 20 miles
from Winona. In addition, van Schaik served in the Peace
Corps in West Africa, which inspired her to return to
agriculture school.
Contact:[email protected]
Contacts
Kate Worley works for Minnesota Waste Wise, where she helps
businesses and organizations address solid waste reduction,
recycling, energy usage, sustainability goals, and any other aspects
related to their overall environmental program. She holds a
bachelor’s degree in biology from University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire and a master’s degree in environmental science from
Minnesota State University, Mankato. Her work experience includes
county solid waste/recycling and humane/environmental education,
including for the Animal Humane Society in the Twin Cities and
Metropolitan Mosquito Control District. Her areas of interest and
research include community education, recycling/solid waste and
inter-disciplinary learning. She is currently a member of the Forum
of Women in the Environmental Field (FWEF) and has previously
been involved with the National Association of Humane and
Environmental Educators (NAHEE) and Minnesota Association for
Environmental Education (MAEE).
Contact: [email protected]
100 Ways to Save the Environment
•Sustainable Environment for Quality of Life
•www.seql.org/100ways.cfm