(Outdoor animals) Why Green Jobs Are important in the Present and Future
No commentsBy greenjobsready.com
Green Careers are one of the emerging niches in the job market that has the bright prospects of becoming the fastest growing in the country. Thus, many green schools have popped up to cater to the need for specialized training in both the solar and wind renewable energy fields. Said schools have indeed paved the way for many skilled workers and professionals to transfer their skills set, work ethics and considerable knowledge from their respective fields into the green industry.
So, what are the reasons for the shift to being green? Well, there are many reasons, all of which point to the importance of loving Mother Earth in the present for the sake of the future in terms of the environment first and the economy second.
Promotion of the Use of Renewable Energy Sources
This is probably the primary reason for the push for green jobs, which comes as no surprise especially in light of the troubling statistics where the use of fossil fuels for energy is concerned. In a single year, an estimated 21.3 billon tons of carbon dioxide is produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Only half of it is absorbed through natural processes, leaving the other half to contribute to global warming.
With the use of renewable energy sources primarily solar and wind, the dependence on fossil fuel and the greenhouse gases are considerably lessened. Of course, training in green schools is often necessary for the proper installation of solar and wind energy systems although one can always start by adopting a green lifestyle in the home and in the office.
Mitigation of Climate Change
As previously mentioned, the use of fossil fuels together with human activities has contributed to the faster rate of global warming within the larger context of climate change. You need not become an expert to understand climate change especially in light of the extreme changes in weather experienced in the last few years.
Global warning and climate change are big issues among many nations nowadays and for good reasons, too. Many archipelagic countries will be swallowed up by the seas. Many economies will be ruined with climate change. Many lives will be adversely affected by the environmental changes.
Green jobs with their emphasis on the generation of renewable energy, lesser greenhouse emissions, improved conservation of natural resources, and increased awareness of biodiversity, among other goals, are seen as catalysts, if not active contributors, to the mitigation of climate change. If their contributions will not be felt in the present, then the future will benefit.
Creation of Jobs in the Economy
With the Obama administration pushing for the green industry towards growth, we can expect to see more jobs being created within the industry as well as in allied sectors. Keep in mind that green collar jobs does not necessarily mean those jobs involved in the renewable energy sector alone but also those in the academe, government and business sectors.
This is very good news indeed especially with the Great Recession still hounding us now. Green jobs are expected to provide for greater financial stability as well as upward mobility for many workers and their families now and in the future.
So, as early as today, you must secure your training and education in the green industry and from that point on, you can gain competitive entry into green jobs.
For additional information on
green jobs visit the online portal to Environmental jobs, internships, education, courses, and articles.
A Tale of Two Commemorations
By Eric Eckl
You probably don’t know that February 3 is World Wetlands Day — a day of proclamations, press releases, ceremonies, festivals, newsletter articles, and t-shirts all clamoring to raise awareness about the vital role of these vital habitats.
World Wetlands Day is just one of many well-meaning efforts to create a commemorative occasion to call attention to some particular environmental topic. Here in the United States, World Wetlands Day shares the calendar with annual events such Earth Hour, Earth Day, World Water Day, National Environmental Education Week, Endangered Species Week, International Migratory Bird Day, National Rivers Month, National Wildlife Refuge Week, National Fishing Week, National Parks Month, and National Birdfeeding Month.
Just to name a few.
So heres a key question: Do these commemorative occasions attract enough attention to meaningfully raise awareness about all these various worthy causes? At least in the case of World Wetlands Day, the answer seems to be no.
These days, Google searches, Twitter trending topics, and other online activities provide some insight into public interest in various issues. And World Wetlands Day seems to leave rather few electronic breadcrumbs. The number of U.S. citizens who search for World Wetlands Day is too low to register at all. The number who conduct Google searches containing the term wetlands peaked in 2004 and has slowly but steadily eroded ever since. This even though the volume of news coverage of wetland topics has actually risen slightly over that same time frame.
So at least by this one measure, World Wetlands Day comes and goes each February without moving the needle on the ambient level of public interest. And this is the pattern for almost all of the commemorative occasions I mentioned in the first paragraph.
With one sharp exception: Earth Hour, the Johnny-come-lately of the eco-commemorative events. Earth Hour is about global warming, and in its brief history, the event has produced two sharp spikes in Google search activity — two sharp spikes in public attention to global warming.
Clearly, the organizers of Earth Hour are doing something different from the people who bring us World Wetlands Day. And the difference between these two events boils down to two words, awareness and action. World Wetlands Day is an effort to raise awareness. Earth Hour is a call to action.
Symbolic action, to be sure. World Wildlife Fund, which sponsors Earth Hour, wants you to pledge to turn off your lights for an hour to send signal to officials that you want action on global warming. Even massive participation in Earth Hour would produce only the most negligible dent in global warming directly. But thats actually beside the point.
The savvy organizers of Earth Hour know that everybody who turns their lights off for an hour will tell ten friends about their deed — and that is the real payoff for the effort. Marketing professionals and researchers who study human behavior note that word of mouth almost always begin with a personal experience or act. People talk about products they have tried, they talk about places they have been — and they talk about the conservation actions they have taken. They are far less likely to talk about things they simply read or see on TV.
The organizers of Earth Hour could have picked from any number of energy saving actions to promote, but they have wisely chosen to focus their efforts on one - a simple, symbolic act that everyone can do and everyone can explain. And for good measure, the deed is visible to those who pass by a darkened house. Doubtless, the organizers spent considerable time and effort wrestling the list of possible behaviors down to a single one, but they did — and the trend data shows the reward.
Can the wetland conservation community do the same thing? Can we scrap World Wetlands Day as we know it today — an incoherent spray of awareness-raising proclamations, edicts, press releases, events, fact sheets and other materials that share only the loosest thematic unity — and instead select one single behavior to promote heavily?
When the topic is wetlands, it is a challenge to come up with something that everyone can do, everyone can explain, and that others can see. But the organizers of Earth Hour faced the same dilemma, too, in the beginning.
So here, in no particular order, are some thoughts. We could urge supporters to tie a green ribbon around a tree in their front yard. Or to stick a sign in the yard proudly proclaiming it is fertilizer and pesticide free. We could ask them to wear a sticker saying they had eaten organic and local today, or that they had made the call to Congress about finally getting that Clean Water Restoration Act moving.
Inspired? Got a better idea? Great — visit my blog to share your thoughts. Stumped? I understand. But until we get collectively un-stumped, we can expect that downward dwindling trend wetlands interest to continue, and the uphill battle to protect this vital resource to get slowly get steeper.
Eric Eckl is an expert in environmental writing, and the author of the environmental communications blog Water Words That Work.
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How the Growth of Green Jobs Has Improved Green Job Training Services
By greenjobsready.com
Over the years more green jobs have become available around the country. In fact the number of solar and wind installations around the country has been increasing at a greater rate. Thanks to this more training services have become available for people interested in green careers.
An important thing to know here is that many different groups have training services available. These include online groups and a variety of different websites that offer training courses for different green jobs. In fact in recent years it has gotten to where instead of having to go to a college for four or more years to qualify for different green jobs people can work with different processes at smaller colleges or websites.
In fact the standards needed to get a wind or solar power job are ones that have become easy to meet. In many cases working with proper certification through an associates degree in some form of technology can work for someone to be able to get into a solar job. The experience that one gets from one of these green jobscan even end up resulting in eligibility for higher paying jobs with more things in do.
People can even work with the recent North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners exam for their job training needs. This works in that a person meets certain education or experience requirements and passes an exam and follows proper ethics. This part of job training has helped to make it easier for people to get into more green jobs.
A major reason as to why training for green jobs is more popular these days comes from the greater amount of jobs that are available in the green energy industry. It is estimated that the number of jobs in the field of manufacturing solar or wind power materials and devices has nearly doubled from 2000 to 2010. A major reason for this comes from the affordability of this power option and the desire of many different groups to be more environmentally conscious.
Studies have even found that with green job training services becoming more available the number of jobs in the field could increase substantially. For instance, in 2007 a little over half a million solar power jobs were in the United States but it is estimated that in 2030 that number could be a little over fifteen million.
The growth of green careers has helped to make it easier for people to be trained for different types of green jobs. Thanks to this it is easier for people to be able to enter into this quickly growing industry. In fact with the demand for this type of power increasing this can only get better over time.
For additional information on
green jobs visit the online portal to Environmental jobs, internships, education, courses, and articles.
Monday, February 22nd, 2010 at 8:50 am and is filed under environmental. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
