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Environmental Protection Perhaps the most broadly
defined category is environmental protection, the underlying goal
of every green occupation. The primary focus of environmental protection
workers is to control, reduce, and prevent pollution. Sometimes, one
pollution source can affect two or more resources, such as when toxic
runoff from a landfill gets into the drinking water. Known as multimedia
transfer, this was a common focus of the early environmental movement.
Due to the technical nature of the work, the bulk of environmental
protection jobs are in science and engineering.
Environmental Engineer
William Anderson, of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers,
tracks environmental engineering back to a post-Civil War concern
for safe drinking water. "Environmental engineers have come, historically,
from civil engineering," he says, "and environmental engineering was
a specialty learned on the job."
Environmental engineers apply mathematic and scientific principles
to solve environmental problems. Their work can include research,
assessment, design, planning, project management, cost estimating,
and report writing. Environmental engineer Mark Liner works in the
Engineering and Analysis Division of the EPA's Office of Water, where
he develops wastewater regulations for industrial laundries. Liner
writes wastewater sampling plans, manages contractors who develop
questionnaires that go out to the facilities, visits sites, assesses
treatment technologies, and writes reports. Much of his time in 1993
and 1994 was spent on the sampling phase: Determining where and why
sampling should be done and collecting samples at the sites.
Liner stresses the importance of keeping up with the green times.
"The focus used to be in wastewater treatment; but, with new regulations,
there's more emphasis now on reduction," he says. "You can't pigeonhole
yourself in your background or in what you do." Anderson agrees. "You
might get to be an expert in one field, but that's not the norm,"
he says. "Where the funding is, that's where you may have to go. You've
got to keep your eyes open to see where the market's going." Currently,
the biggest areas of concern include air quality, storm water management,
municipal and industrial wastewater management, hazardous waste management,
and municipal and industrial solid waste management. In Environmental
Careers: A Practical Guide to Opportunities in the 90s, David
Warner notes that increasing numbers of environmental engineers are
specializing in solid waste management and resource recovery.
Employment and working conditions. The American Academy
of Environmental Engineers estimates that environmental engineers
number between 35,000 and 70,000. The gap shows the difference between
those who identify themselves as environmental engineers and those
who practice an environmental specialty within the civil, chemical,
or mechanical engineering fields. Employment opportunities for environmental
engineers are expected to be favorable, says Anderson, because demand
still exceeds supply. "Since before the turn of this century, there
have always been many more jobs than environmental engineers," he
says. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects growth for civil, chemical,
mechanical, and other engineering disciplines to be about as fast
as average between 1992 and 2005. However, BLS has no way of separating
out environmental engineers from within those occupations.
Environmental engineers work in government, the private sector, or
academia. Most engineers who work for the Federal Government are hired
by the EPA; others are employed at the Departments of Energy and Defense.
State agencies and larger metropolitan governments hire environmental
engineers to help carry out Federally mandated programs and for local
health, water and sewer, and public works departments. Engineering
and environmental consulting firms need environmental engineers to
work with local governments and industries on issues such as air and
water pollution control and solid and hazardous waste management.
Some manufacturing industries employ environmental engineers at both
the corporate and plant levels to help keep them in compliance with
Federal regulations. And universities, testing laboratories, environmental
interest groups, trade associations, and research organizations sometimes
employ environmental engineers to perform research and give advice
on trends and pollution control problems.
No matter what kind of employer environmental engineers work for,
however, they should be prepared to spend the majority of time inside
rather than out. "I tell students that about 75 percent of the time,
they'll be in the office pushing paper and working on the computer,"
says Anderson. "The other 25 percent, they'll be outdoors. And as
you age, you spend less time outdoors." There are exceptions to the
rule, of course, and there may be some jobs that are done either inside
or outside almost exclusively.
According to the American Academy of Environmental Engineers (1994
data), starting salaries for environmental engineers range from about
$28,000 to $32,000 annually for baccalaureate degree holders, $30,000
to $35,000 for those with master's degrees, and $35,000 to $43,000
for Ph.D.'s. Licensed engineers with 5 years of experience earn $40,000
to $45,000 per year. (Licensing is discussed in the next section,
"Training requirements.") State government workers are at the low
end of the scale.
Like many environmental occupations, job satisfaction runs high for
environmental engineers. "You get to see what you're working on; you
see tangible results," says Liner. "There's a sense of satisfaction
in making sure things are being done the way they're supposed to be
done." But unlike some other green workers, he says, environmental
engineers are more focused on the engineering than the environmental
part of the job," he says. "It's the cradle-to-grave mentality of
engineers."
Liner notes that a drawback to the job is the work media: "We can
call ourselves environmental engineers, but we're really waste engineers.
It's not as glamorous as the 'environmental' makes it sound. A lot
of times, you're dealing with sewage or other waste, dealing with
something that can make you sick." Still, he adds, the biggest drawback
to being an environmental engineer is dealing with Government regulations.
Anderson agrees. He says, "There's not much disillusionment with engineers
except for those who aren't prepared for the burden of regulations.
You're constrained by laws and regulations that say, 'This is what
you will do,' and you spend much of your time filling out paperwork."
Training requirements. Environmental engineering is
the fastest growing undergraduate engineering degree, says Mary Finn
of the American Society of Civil Engineers, although the actual number
of degrees granted remains small. Despite an increasing number of
environmental engineering programs, however, a B.S. in any engineering
discipline from an accredited college or university is still the minimum
training requirement for environmental engineers. Some mathematics
and science majors also qualify for certain positions. However, as
the gap between environmental and other kinds of engineering begins
to widen, courses specifically related to environmental engineering
will become more important. "As training in environmental engineering
develops over the years, the difference between a civil engineer working
on environmental projects and someone trained as an environmental
engineer is starting to grow," says Kevin Doyle of the Environmental
Careers Organization. "Universities are struggling to catch up."
Environmental engineering is becoming more established as a separate
field of study, but that does not mean it is fixed. "Environmental
engineering is defined, but there are always new requirements, new
laws, and new regulations that go into effect and change the work
requirements," says John Esson, Executive Director of the Environmental
Career Center in Hampton, Virginia. Anderson recommends that students
earn a bachelor's degree in civil, mechanical, chemical, or environmental
engineering and continue studying environmental engineering through
at least the master's degree level. In fact, the number of accredited
master's and Ph.D. programs in the United States in 1993 outnumbered
undergraduate ones by more than 7 to 1. But Anderson also says formal
training for engineers is only the beginning of the learning process.
"There's just a tremendous amount of information you need to know,"
he says. "You have to learn more in less time. Your employer introduces
you to things you didn't know in school, or gives what you learned
in school a practical spin."
Engineers who serve the public directly or whose work affects life,
health, or property must be licensed in the State in which they practice.
Each State has its own requirements, which usually include: A bachelor's
degree in an engineering program accredited by the Accreditation Board
for Engineering and Technology; 3 or 4 years of relevant work experience
under the supervision of a registered engineer; and passing two professional
examinations. Only about 18 percent of all engineers are licensed,
says Anderson, but as many as 50 to 60 percent of environmental engineers
are because their jobs are more typically in the public arena. Because
these engineers often work with the public, Anderson stresses the
importance of a solid liberal arts foundation in addition to strong
technical skills. "Environmental engineers are thrust into public
interaction every day," he says. "People are taking a more active
role in protecting the environment and looking for someone to tell
them the straight story. The best technical solution has no chance
of success if it can't be sold to the public."
Section 1: Introduction
Section
2: Of Greening and
Greenbacks (previous section)
Section 3: Environmental
Protection
Section 4: Environmental
Health and Safety (next section)
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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