Here is a nice list from www.greencollarhirhing.com on the top 10 emerging “Green Jobs”. I am not a big fan of using our corn for Ethanol (hello: no GMO/worldwide food shortage/hasn’t worked yet etc…) but anyway I digress..

Here is the list:

10. Land Use Planner: One of the biggest changes necessary to bring our communities up to a level of environmental sustainability, is in urban development. Our cities need to be designed with their ecological impacts taken into consideration, if we are to attain any level of energy efficiency. Visionary planners dedicated to reconfiguring our communities around resource efficiency and decreased waste, will be essential.

 
9. Ecotour Operators: Ecotourism is growing at a rate 3 times that of the overall tourism sector. Knowledgeable workers committed to sustainability and education, will find a wide variety of opportunities within this space. Employees will get to travel while simultaneously helping to spread awareness about the issues facing our environment and society.

 
8. LEED Accredited Builder: The “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” initiative has given rise to a whole new set of rules and implementation standards for construction companies. Knowledgeable green builders will be in high demand as communities push to bring their properties up to these new standards and seek out accredited builders. Additionally, these new green builders will be able to command higher pay rates per square foot of developmen, due to their specialization.

 
7. Environmental Lawyers: When a corporation refuses to comply with its green initiatives and falls behind on its standards compliance responsibilities, an environmental law group steps in. Law professionals representing these cases, serve state and federal government agencies, nonprofit groups, and individuals, as they uphold justice and further the cause of sustainable living.

 
6. Green Building Manager: As buildings make the shift to cleaner energy sources such as sola, wind, and greywater recycling, a new batch of building managers familiar with high-tech energy systems, recycling measures, and energy efficiency standards will be necessary.

 
5. Environmental Engineer: Now that sustainability and energy efficiency have become key words in construction and urban planning, a new breed of engineers have come into favor. These eco-savvy engineers conduct environmental site assessments, create environmental impact statements, and use their knowledge of emissions calculations and soil testing, to coordinate building projects that have sustainability and minimized carbon waste in mind.

 
4. Green Brand Manager: As traditional manufacturing companies are pushed to offer more and more green products, they will have to develop new departments within their corporate structure to handle these projects. One position expected to see a sizeable increase in hiring due to this shift, is brand managers. These jobs will be rooted in communications, and contribute to the marketing of these new green products and services.

 
3. Solar Panel Installer: Solar energy production is one of the most mature businesses with the clean energy market, and its product will be increasingly integrated into both residential and commercial properties in the coming years. Installers for thin film PV modules are projected to be one of the most demanded service professionals as this technology spreads.

 
2. Corn Farmer: As ethanol and other biodiesels continue their ascendancy toward the mainstream, corn farmers will see their harvests increasingly demanded and used in a wider variety of applications. Corn prices have more than tripled in the last 4 years due to this increased demand, and there is no sign of this trend changing in the near future.

 
1. Green Venture Capitalist: As the cleantech sector grows, investors will begin shifting over from more traditional markets in search of increased returns. Renewable energy and other markets aimed at sustainability will see massive capital inflows. The venture capitalists spearheading this shift stand to reap the greatest rewards.

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Source: CareerProNews

Simply put, environmental educators are people who teach others about the environment. And since the environment is front page news these days, their career is experiencing renewed interest and big changes.
Who exactly are environmental educators?

 
The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) has about 20,000 members. The breakdown of NAAEE’s membership is a good indication of what environmental educators are doing and where.

 
Brian Day, executive director of NAAEE, says: “Probably about 15 to 20 percent are in the formal education system, with most of them teachers, some of them curriculum developers, some of them science or social studies educators who are overseeing parts of school systems.

 
“Another 15 percent are in higher education.” Day says that they could be teaching in places like the education or forestry departments of colleges and universities.

 
“Then, about [another] half of our members are what I could call non-formal educators,” Day continues. “They work in nature centers, parks, aquariums, zoos, botanical gardens and a myriad of other places.
“And then the last segment works for government, and they can work at the national level — like for the Department of the Environment — or the [state], county or local level.”

 
Moving to a holistic approach
“What people often mistake about environmental education is they think it’s advocacy in the classroom, and that’s just dead wrong,” says Day. “Environmental education is helping students learn at any age — learn how things work so they can make their own individual lifestyle choices and participate in public policy debate.”

 
He explains that environmental education is a lot more than just science. “It’s how natural systems and living systems and human systems all interact, including the social dimension, the political perspective, the economic situation… to why is there global warming, and where should our next energy come from. But if you don’t bring the human dimension to it, then you’re a scientist, not an environmental educator.”
Kristin Poppo is the head of graduate and professional studies at IslandWood, an innovation environmental facility on Bainbridge Island, Washington. She agrees that a holistic approach is important.

 
“There definitely is a growing recognition that we really need to teach our children to care more about the world around them,” she says. “Our programs look at both community and environmental stewardship, and we try to connect those. So we want people who have that broad sense of caring about the world around them.”

 
Poppo herself doesn’t have a science background. Among her many degrees, she has a BA in philosophy and religion, a Master of Divinity, and a PhD in educational foundations.

 
A career path with a few challenges?

 
The largest number of environment educators work in informal settings, as Day indicates. Jobs in these places are often part time, often seasonal, and tend to pay less than jobs in formal education and with the government.

 
Environmental educators often start out in nonprofit organizations to build up experience for their resumes. It can take a little legwork to find these jobs. You have to look for organizations that employ environmental educators and find out if they’ll be hiring in the near future. A diploma or degree from a college or university is usually the minimum requirement for an entry-level job, but this is where things get a little hazy because there really are no hard and fast rules about qualifications.

 
Although nonprofit organizations generally look for people with environment or science backgrounds, Kerri Lanaway says that they’ll also consider individuals with arts, education or even communication backgrounds. Lanaway is the school programs coordinator for a Sierra Club chapter.

 
Chad Stevens is a city park ranger. His job has both environmental and enforcement components. Therefore, “the minimum requirement is generally a two-year diploma in environmental science or a two-year diploma in policing and security,” he says, adding that, “a forestry or other related diploma or degree would also be considered.”

 
In Stevens’ job, educating the public about the environment is just one of many responsibilities, and it’s a very informal one.

 
“We do present programs to the public…” he explains, “but more so, the education component involves brochure development and information dissemination.”

 
The city where Stevens lives and works employs 10 park rangers and offers them a pretty good salary. So competition is fierce when a job is advertised. Stevens says that about 250 people may apply. And while some of the rangers use the job as a stepping stone to something else, Stevens says that some people do stay.

 
For most formal education and government jobs, a bachelor’s degree is typically the minimum requirement. But a master’s degree or a PhD will move you up the ladder faster and earn you more money. Day says that about seven percent of NAAEE’s members earn $90,000 per year or more, so it’s possible to earn a great salary if you get on that track.

 
But even in education and government, the nature of your degree is pretty much open. And this actually reflects an important trend in the whole environmental educator career scene.

 
A changing climate

 
Climate change is a reality, and the climate for environmental educators is changing along with it.
IslandWood, the innovation environmental facility where Kristin Poppo works, is very much at the forefront of new trends. While offering innovative programs for children, adults, families, teachers and graduate students, IslandWood also takes pride in the fact that it pays its educators quite well.

 
“We’ve pretty much set a model for educating that is pretty exemplary, and so people are excited about being a part of our organization,” says Poppo. “But there are a lot of jobs out there in a lot of different areas. And we find that those of our students who are going into teaching, either in public or private schools, are in very high demand.”

 
“There are a few things that are happening right now that are very much changing the nature of environmental education and will cause quite a surge in the number of employers looking for environmental educators,” adds Day. He explains that the NAAEE has just recently become the newest member of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the organization i

n charge of the professional accreditation process for schools, colleges and departments of education.
“We firmly believe that NCATE will formally adopt, based on guidelines we’ve already developed, standards for environmental education and how it’s to be taught at the university level,” says Day. This means that individuals graduating from these institutions will be better qualified to work as environmental educators.
“At the same time,” he continues, “we have legislation introduced in Congress that will provide more money for training teachers in environmental education. And then we have real environmental problems that are getting global attention.”

 
Day also mentions the fact that parents and teachers are becoming more aware that today’s children, for many reasons, are disconnected from the natural world.

 
“It’s a wonderful time to be in this organization,” he adds. “We’re at a place in human history where in the next generation we have to change everything that humans have done on the planet: economics, transportation, energy, the way we build buildings. We need to reconceive everything.”

 
So, do you have a passion to get in on the action? Whatever type of environmental educator you want to be, there’s a job somewhere for you. And since the requirements for this career are still developing, you can probably make your own unique career path to this line of work

North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)
Lots of information about standards, guidelines, initiatives, research and more
http://www.naaee.org

 
Career: Environmental Educators
Career profile of an environmental educator provided by CollegeBoard.com

http://www.collegeboard.com/csearch/majors_careers

/profiles/careers/106513.html

 
IslandWood
An innovative facility offering environmental programs

http://www.islandwood.org

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