What is a Green-Collar Job?
Author: Beverly Saltonstall

In the past few years we are hearing more and more about
"green-collar jobs. The environmental crisis is generating
a whole new job sector to fuel the need for energy
efficient products and services that use renewable
resources. It is estimated that 25% of all American jobs
in 2025 will be related to the energy that will be produced
from renewable sources. This amounts to a staggering 5
million new green-collar jobs.

Those numbers sound great, but what is a "green-collar?
Our dependence on fossil fuels, especially in the U.S. is
seriously damaging our environment and is having a negative
impact on our economy. The need for new products and
services that will help us develop a more energy efficient
society is creating a host of new jobs and the redesigning
of jobs that are already in existence. In order to bolster
our economy, good jobs that are in green industries need to
be created.

In 2007, the United States passed the Green Jobs Act, under
then President George Bush. This provided funding to help
train multiple skill levels in the areas of the renewable
energy and energy-efficiency industries. Jobs that are
included in this bill cover jobs such as:

1. Bio diesel related jobs ie, Car and truck mechanic
jobs, production jobs, and gas-station jobs

2. The building of energy efficient homes and businesses
will create all levels of construction jobs.

3. Construction jobs to retrofit existing homes to increase
their energy efficiency

4. Large scale waste composting

5. Environmentally friendly landscaping

6. Construction debris recycling.

7. Manufacture and sales of environmentally friendly
cleaning products

8. Industries that use recycled materials to produce new
products.

9. Ecotourism

10.The development,installation and maintenance of wind and
solar products

11.All phases of hybrid car manufacturing, distribution and
maintenance

12.Hazardous material clean up services

13.Bicycle manufacture, sales and support

14.Composting

Where to Find Green Collar Jobs

Online resources like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com
have sections devoted to green-collar jobs. A Google search
for green-collar jobs will give you a wealth of information
on the latest sites that focus on green-collar jobs. But
the best way to find jobs is the tried and true method of
networking. Most jobs are never posted online or in the
newspaper, so be sure to let your family, friends, and
business contacts of your interest in a green job.

Another great way to network is to work as a volunteer
doing something either related to your field of interest or
at least in the environmental sector.

A Green Education

Getting the proper education to secure a green-collar job
will be getting easier and easier since the "Green Job Act"
will be providing funding for education. On the job
training will be all that is needed for entry level
positions, and vocational schools are starting to offer
programs. More and more colleges and universities are
providing baccalaureate, master's and doctorate degrees in
a variety of high end "green careers".

OpenCourseWare is a program that offers free collegiate
level programs through MIT (Massachusetts Institute of
Technology). While you don't get college credits, you can
have a world class education for free if you are
disciplined enough to study outside a classroom.

Conclusion

It is projected that within the next 20 years, 25% of all
jobs in the United States will be green-collar jobs. Now is
the time to get in on the ground floor of a new job sector.
Re-evaluationg your current job to be sure that it can be
adapted into the "green market" may offer you job security
in the future. If your job isn't environmentally friendly
you will need to think about "going green" today.


About the Author:

Beverly Saltonstall deeply cares about the environment and
writes articles that help people understand the serious
pollution problems we all face. Visit
http://pollutionwebsite.com/ for articles, podcasts, news
and products on many topics related to pollution. For a
free report , "Simple Steps You Can Take to Reduce
Pollution", click here:
http://pollutionwebsite.com/freereport .