by Kathleen Green
Occupational Outlook Quarterly
Winter 1994-1995
Volume 38, Number 4: pp 1-15

As Kermit the Frog sings, "It's not that easy bein' green."
Just ask environmentalists: Green occupations - those concerned with environmental issues - can be difficult to identify and even harder to track. Job hunting in the environmental field is enough to make would-be greens a little blue.

For starters, defining who is green is not easy. Simply stated, environmentalists work to protect the earth from pollution. Some environmental occupations, such as air quality scientist and conservation officer, are easily recognizable. But others, such as community relations specialist and surveyor, are in murky waters. The view from an industry perspective isn't much clearer. For example, manufacturing and marketing green products, such as carpeting made from recycled plastic and paper towels made from recycled paper, is one of the most rapidly growing industries in the United States. While the products themselves are environmentally friendly, are the workers producing and selling them environmentalists?

San Diego-based Environmental Business International (EBI) Inc. counted over 1 million jobs in more than a dozen environmental industry segments in 1993, or roughly 1 worker out of every 12 for the economy as a whole. But even that number does not account for everyone working in a green job. EBI estimates that another one-half million environmental workers are employed in the public sector.

Lack of a clear definition of the environmental work force affects estimates of not only the number of green jobs but also the amount of money spent on the environment. In the September 1993 issue of Environment magazine, Roger H. Bezdek asserts that protecting the environment has been among the most rapidly growing recession?proof industries in the United States for two decades. However, 1992 estimates of the industry's expenditures vary widely, in part because of differing definitions. Estimates range from $60 billion per year, according to Farkas Berkowitz, Inc., to $170 billion per year, according to Management Information Services, Inc. One subject does show a broad consensus: Expected growth. Almost all experts in the industry expect it to keep increasing at a rapid pace.