Green jobs - they've crept into the economy on cats' feet. That is, quietly and without fanfare. More than just a few paychecks to brave souls straddling a Texas wind turbine 300 feet in the air, green jobs are now accounting for an ever increasing percentage of the job market. And just you wait. On second thought, why wait?
Green Jobs - Beyond Hot Air
If you thought green jobs were limited to those brave souls dangling by a harness 300 feet in the air atop a wind turbine in gale-force Texas wind, you're not alone. For most of us, green jobs have crept in on cats' feet - unnoticed. Underneath the thrashing of an economy in turmoil, a quiet current has been flowing. Green jobs have been steadily growing. You just have to know where to look.
Green Employment Now - And Emerging Opportunities
Right now, the U.S. economy generates more than 750,000 green jobs. That figure is predicted to increase five fold, to over 4 million jobs, in the next three decades. That, accordingly to a 2008 report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
And these green jobs belong to more than just the installers building wind turbines on a Texas plain - though there are certainly those. Indeed, while there are renewable energy projects and alternative transportation fuels at every stage of commercialization -- from development to deployment - there are also emerging opportunities in a wide diversity of industries. Examples include:
- architecture and green building design
- retrofitting of existing buildings for improved energy efficiency
- mass transit
- smart electrical grid systems
- organic farming
In short, there are opportunities for green jobs - right now, today - with companies dedicated to the design, production and marketing of technologies and products for everyday living that satisfy the demands of an environmentally conscious public.
What kinds of opportunities? As I write, there are green jobs being advertised in every state of the union. Jobs like these...
TEXAS - Wind farm developer Gamesa Energy USA is advertising for senior development professionals in Austin.
ARKANSAS - Jacobs Engineering is looking for an environmental scientist for their Little Rock location.
GEORGIA - General Electric in Atlanta is looking for software test experts for renewable resources.
IOWA - Clipper Wind Power in Harris is advertising for technicians to be responsible for the operations and maintenance of wind turbine generators.
CALIFORNIA - Rising Sun Energy in Berkeley is looking for summer site program managers (environmental education).
NEW JERSEY - First Solar in Bridgewater is looking for technical sales engineers for PV systems.
You've Still Got Competition
I'm not suggesting it will be a cake walk for just anyone to land a good-paying green collar job. There's certainly competition. What I am suggesting is that the writing is on the wall: the U.S. - indeed the world - is investing heavily in environmental sciences and green technology. Jobs are here now, and they're on the increase. That steady, quiet undercurrent beneath the old economy is set to become the wave of the future.
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