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Getting Ahead by Going Green
Environmental Education is an Advantage in Many Fields
Maybe Kermit was wrong. These days it is easy being green; at least for those in the market for a new job. With the cost of energy soaring and awareness of the impact of global warming increasing, job opportunities abound for those interested in working toward going "green."
"Alternative energy used to be a fringe movement, all about wearing Birkenstocks and eating granola," says Jennifer Howard-Grenville, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Boston University's School of Management.
"Now if you look at investments, something on the order of $10 billion dollars has gone into clean technology and renewable energy in past five years. In my class on Competitive Environmental Strategy, we used to talk about what motivated companies to think about alternative ways to deliver their products. But now, it doesn't matter what your politics are, the conversation is about the money that can be made."
Finding a way into this job market can seem a bit daunting, though. According to a recent article in Business Week, the "green" movement could have the same far-reaching impact as the civil rights or anti-war movements of the 1960s. So how do you prepare for a career in this industry and how do you decide what aspect of the industry to enter?
"The type of training that's needed now is becoming very broad," says Joel Tickner, project director for the University of Massachusetts at Lowell's Center for Sustainable Production and a professor in the university's Department of Community Health and Sustainability. "Of course, backgrounds in science and engineering are very important, but it's also about creating economic and policy incentives, so there's also a need for health professionals and ecologists who understand the impact of decisions on the population and the environment.
"Tickner says part of the effort to help shift attitudes toward the economic advantages of sustainability involves finding ways to design the Massachusetts economy in particular around clean technology. UMass-Lowell's Green Chemistry and Commerce Council, which started in 2005, has created a business-to-business dialogue among corporations interested in creating a powerful lobbying block for sustainable governance.
"If we can make the competitive issue revolve around clean technology, there's no telling what we can accomplish in job creation," Tickner says. "We will need people in these industries to make the products and equipment, and then run them. There's already a vocational-technical school on Cape Cod that's offering training in wind technology. In a way, we'll be returning to manufacturing at a different place.
"Although there are corporations who make sustainability a priority, including Stonyfield Farms, Ben and Jerry's, and Seventh Generation, huge companies like Wal-Mart and General Electric are also making strategic changes to reflect the new movement. To find your place in the field, look to your passion, says Howard-Grenville.
"I think it will be important for students to establish credibility in two domains: if you're passionate about the restaurant business, then you also need environmental science," she says. "Although it's important that you care about the planet, that's not going to give you a leg up as the market gets competitive," she says. What they are looking for are "students with backgrounds in environmental policy, regulation and analysis, those who know what's going on in other parts of the world that will restrict or open up business opportunities that weren't there before. Wal-Mart, for one, is recruiting dual MBA and environmental resource management majors."
Responding to market demand, more universities are designing programs to help working professionals adapt and adjust. This fall, Boston's Wentworth Institute of Technology is launching a new environmental science program with three specializations: science and technology, health and safety, and policy and prelaw.
"Global companies are begging universities to incorporate these [green] concepts into their teaching," says Jack Duggan, associate professor and environmental science program coordinator at Wentworth, who notes that the new undergraduate degree will open up a broader range of job opportunities for students interested in civil engineering, architecture, and construction.
At Northeastern University, the three-year-old environmental studies program in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies is training students in both science and technology," says Professor Todd Fritch, who helped get the program started. "We've found the classes meet the needs of many professionals who want to continue to be marketable in this new environmentally friendly business environment."
Construction and project management courses are very popular, says Fritch. "There's lots of work going on planning green technology in building and construction. "What we're trying to do is offer students a balance of textbook knowledge, with a course like Energy for Today and Tomorrow, and then offer them hands-on learning that enables them to adapt the theory in the field. There are lots of opportunities, especially for students already working in a related field."
So, if you've been waiting for the right time to paint your career green, hesitate no more, says Duggan. The time to get educated is now. "It's not in the future," he says, "it's here."
