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Public support of environmental issues is at
its highest level ever, and that has an impact on which areas
receive the most money. It also determines which areas are subject
to the most significant regulation. Government pollution control
and cleanup laws include the Federal Clean Air Act, Toxic Substances
Control Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. States,
municipalities, and businesses must find the money to comply
with the laws, and fines are assessed to violators. Whether
money must be spent or fines avoided, this regulation-related
money drives the field, which in turn defines the green-hot
jobs.
But which jobs are hot changes regularly. William Anderson,
Executive Director of the American Academy of Environmental
Engineers in Annapolis, Maryland, says that focus on environmental
policy generally has moved in 10-year cycles: Water supply in
the 1960s, solid waste management in the 1970s, hazardous waste
management in the 1980s, and air quality in this decade. In
each case, new policies lead to job growth for certain occupations.
Emerging areas, such as green marketing, are likely to keep the field
in flux. Kevin Doyle, Director of Research and Publications for the
Environmental Careers Organization in Boston, predicts the transition
period will continue for the next 20 years. During that time, he says,
both the kinds of workers needed and the education required of them
will change. "Work force training needs are changing all the time,"
says Doyle. "The trend is going in both directions, toward the person
with a master's and the person with a 2-year degree. The one who's
going to get left out is the person with a general bachelor's degree."
In some fields, such as wildlife biology, a master's degree is already
a minimum requirement; other jobs, such as hazardous material transporter,
have no degree requirement but involve posthigh school or employer
training.
Not every environmentalist has a technical background, but most of
the new workers do. "The environment as a career field is becoming
increasingly technical and highly specialized," says environmental
engineer Mark Liner, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
in Washington, DC. "These days, simply having an interest in the environment
is not enough." Science and engineering continue to be at the core
of green occupations, and specialized training becomes important as
competition for jobs increases. Kelly Heimbach, Coordinator of Development
and Membership Services for the National Association for Environmental
Professionals in Washington, DC, suggests that finding a niche can
help make jobseekers more marketable. "Universities are starting to
put together more multifocused programs, " she says. "If you're an
environmental engineer interested in a specific area, you've got to
define yourself as such."
Because the environmental field is so diverse, green jobs are classified
in a number of ways. Some publications group occupations by environmental
issue, such as air quality, water quality, solid waste management,
hazardous waste management, land and water conservation, planning,
advocacy, policy, and recreation. Others put those issues in broader
categories, gathering pollution problems such as air, water, solid
waste, and hazardous waste under the umbrella of environmental protection.
Using the second classification scheme, this article discusses an
occupation in each of five broad categories, four of which -- environmental
protection, environmental health and safety, natural resources management,
and environmental education and other professions--require 4 or more
years of college. The fifth category profiles an environmental occupation
requiring some posthigh school training but less than a 4-year degree.
The accompanying box lists some other green occupations.
Section 1: Introduction
(previous section)
Section
2: Of Greening and
Greenbacks
Section 3: Environmental
Protection (next section)
Section 4: Environmental
Health and Safety
Section 5: Natural
Resources Management
Section 6: Environmental
Education and Other Professions
Section 7: Technicians
Without 4-year Degrees
Section 8: Exploring
the Field
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