Does your organization have a Director of Sustainability or a Vice President of Environmental Practice, or maybe just a Green Guru? If not, your organization may be in the minority.
Even as the economy slows and unemployment grows, green collar jobs continue to rise. There’s no specific definition of what a green collar job is, other than a person who spends his or her day trying to protect the environment and combat climate change.
A recent New York Times article reported a study by the American Solar Society that says there are about 8.5 million jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency industry, and that number is expected to grow to 40 million by 2030. This isn’t that hard to believe – glance through the pages of any newsweekly magazine, and there always seems to be an article or two about a startup that is developing new and exciting ways to harness renewable energy. Time’s recent global warming issue explained a few, as does the previously mentioned Times piece. There is a lot of money to be made in new, green technologies!
It seems as if knowledge of all things green is becoming as an in-demand “skill” as someone able to set up a corporate computer network or manage a data center. You’ve probably heard rumblings about how IT jobs will grow exponentially in the next few decades, and companies are worried about finding enough skilled labor to fill them.
If I had to make a not-so-bold prediction, I’d be willing to bet that the “green” industry won’t have nearly the same problem. Green is clearly in right now, especially with younger workers who will be stepping into the majority of these green collar jobs. A company or university or city or even a K12 school advertising a director of green position will be overwhelmed by applications (though most mid-20s probably won’t yet have the skills to fill these high-level positions) and green-tinted start-ups will continue to proliferate, and profit.