It's easy being green: you can make any job green by making earth-friendly choices
It's easy being green: you can make any job green by making earth-friendly choices
Career World, April-May, 2005 by Karen De Seve
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Millions of people gather each year on Earth Day (April 22) to honor this amazing planet and to remind themselves how to protect it. But we can all think and act Earth-wise throughout the year.
Take environmentalist Wangari Maathai of Kenya, Africa. She won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her leadership in planting trees throughout her country to improve the quality of life there. In fact, anyone can earn a living being "green." It's not just a hot job--it's a hot way of life!
The term green job covers any type of work that supports the environment, according to Marie Kerpan, founder of a consulting firm called Green Careers. "You don't need an environmental science degree to have a green career," she says. "Think about what kind of work you like and how it can help solve environmental problems, not create them." Anything from owning an organic-food restaurant to producing everyday products out of recyclable materials counts as green in business. "The fastest-growing job sectors right now are renewable energy and organic food and clothing," Kerpan adds.
Read on to discover jobs that protect the planet in unexpected ways.
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CORPORATE CONSERVATION
If you think that trucks can run on recycled cooking oil and that sunlight can power huge production plants, then you could have a future in "greening" corporations.
As an "environmental guru" at Timberland, an international boot and clothing maker, Betsy Blaisdell loves thinking up what she calls "harebrained" ideas for saving energy--and money. One example is replacing old lighting fixtures and using energy-efficient lightbulbs in the Timberland offices. "It improved the lighting and saved thousands of dollars on electricity while making the workplace better," says Blaisdell.
That success opened the door to some more unique ways to reduce energy use. "People thought I was crazy when I bought biodiesel to use in one of our supply trucks," she admits, explaining that the fuel--made from used vegetable oil--doesn't emit greenhouse gases the way regular diesel and gasoline do. "Biodiesel is a little more expensive, but it improves engine performance. The truck runs great."
Blaisdell's next project is powering a Timberland distribution plant entirely by solar energy. She treads lightly on Earth while balancing her job with graduate school, where she is working toward a master's degree in earth science.
PLANNING A GREEN CITY
Growing up in the suburbs near Chicago, Jennifer Henry watched suburban sprawl surround the city. The way officials were developing the area seemed wasteful, she says. "I was concerned with preserving the farmland." During a year living in Ireland when she was in her early 20s, Henry saw how neighborhoods there relied on mass transit instead of cars and highways. That spurred her interest in improving urban and suburban planning and transportation at home.
Today, 28-year-old Henry runs a neighborhood certification program for the U.S. Green Building Council. "Everything about the way a city or suburb is planned is that way because someone influenced the design," says Henry. "A huge part of environmental impact comes from where you put a building. Smart growth focuses on land use, population density, and walkability to mass transit and other services."
Planners who design compact communities--with sidewalks and easy access to buses, trains, and shops, for example--could qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification--meaning they meet national standards for green building, environmentally friendly design, and smart growth. Builders who use eco-friendly materials, such as nontoxic paint, as well as efficient appliances and fixtures would also qualify.
Henry has roamed a range of communities, from suburbs to cities. As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, she interned with a local bus company, logging complaints and counting riders. "Before that, I had assumed that everyone drives," but not everyone does, she says. She went on to earn her master's degree in urban planning from New York University.
"Part of the reason I moved to New York City for school was to make sure I could live in a dense area and use mass transit," explains Henry, who now lives a 20-minute walk from her office in Washington, D.C. "I rent out my parking space because I don't own a car, and I don't need one." She admits moving to the city took some getting used to, but now she believes that urban living is the most efficient use of energy, water, and space.
LEARNING TO SHARE
To Jodi Hilty, coyotes and deer are more than just animals trespassing on human property. She sees them as inhabitants of Earth, sharing the planet's natural resources. Hilty says her job as a landscape ecologist with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) involves studying how human development affects animals that roam the land. "I look at how animals interact with different parts of the landscape, like humans and farms and cities," explains Hilty, who is based in Montana.
