According to the United Nations Environment Program, a green job, or a green-collar job is one that helps protect and preserve biodiversity and ecosystems. Green workers reduce materials, water consumption, and energy by increasing resource efficiency. These jobs are minimize pollution and all forms of waste.

Below are the top five Green jobs available in America today.

1. Farmer – Do you know the shocking truth about farmers in America? There are only 2 million, and their average age is 55. This market is screaming for more workers on the local and small scale, particularly for young farmers who know organic production methods and avoid the use of pesticides and petroleum-based fertilizer. The U.S. Job market has capacity for ten million farmers. However, the job is not as easy at it might seem to some. Modern farmers must be skilled businesspersons knowledgeable in heirloom genetics and marketing.

2. Energy Efficiency Builder – In the US, buildings actually account for 48% of greenhouse emissions and energy use. We are way behind the rest of the world in this. Switzerland and Germany, for instance, use 75% to 95% less heat energy than a building built to environmental code in the U.S.

There is a huge opportunity here for one of the major green building certifications today. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) has given accreditation to more then 43,000 professionals. When the U.S. standards get stricter, the country will need a workforce of retrofitters to go with its millions of engineers and architects.

3. Urban Planners – The linchpin of America’s campaign to lower its carbon footprint. Urban planners will help us reduce our use of cars and encourage the utilization of bicycles. They will also strengthen mass transit, limit sprawl, and help us plan for heat wave, garbage creep, and flooding contingencies.

4. Recycling Professional – More than 1 million recycling jobs are available in America. A shocking number of people engaged in this area have been continuing to grow. This is primarily because recycling still continues to be the most economical alternative to high disposal fees. Hiring in this sector will always be active.

5. Solar Power Installer – There are 770, 000 jobs worldwide for installing and making solar power systems. Opportunities for this work are still relatively high and high paying too. In fact at the present, 3,400 companies are still employing power installers–some as many as 35,000 workers in one company! This job will definitely promote the welfare of the environment and the economic sectors, and the job prospects of its skilled workers.

While we continue to face a recession and our young adults decide which jobs will be available when they graduate from college, green jobs are looking more attractive all the time.

Jeff Deutsch is an environmentalist and resident of one of America’s fastest-greening states, New Jersey. He works for the environmentally friendly NJ electrician Vetter Electric. He also provides free info on the environment from an electrician’s perspective on his blog, http://www.electricianinnj.com.

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Today, we are living greener – even if we don’t know it yet.

That bag of groceries you brought home last night? The bag is made of recycled materials. The supermarket you bought the food from? It has a set of environmental objectives and targets set by its board, its very own ‘green policy’. It also sells a range of organic food, Fairtrade food, and countless other products that have sustainability factored in to their very existence.

Your car? It may not be an electric zero-emission model, or even a hybrid vehicle. But compared to the cars of just two decades ago, it is an energy efficient and much cleaner machine. And the company who made your car is doubtless now using its profits to research and develop the cars of the future – cars that will not rely on fossil fuels.

Your home? All that double glazing and insulation doesn’t just help with the fuel bills, it also means that your carbon footprint is lower. And your energy provider will doubtless have some stake in the renewables industry. The amount of renewables used by energy providers differs, so it pays to shop around for the greenest supplier.

Renewable energy takes different forms – the more well-known ones are wind and water generated power along with solar power. The less well-known types of renewables are micro-renewables (domestic, small business or community on-site and off-Grid renewable energy, such as roof-mounted solar cells) and biomass (energy derived from plant matter).

So, we are greener than we think. And it looks like we’ll be getting greener as time passes, what with high-level politicians on both sides of the Atlantic becoming vocal about the need for green energy projects and the jobs that will be created as a result of their being implemented. President Obama has recently pledged two billion USD for green energy infrastructure and employment. That level of financial commitment definitely doesn’t look like a wafty PR exercise: it looks like a man putting his money where his mouth is.

Things in the UK also look set to further improve, with Energy secretary Chris Huhne recently stating that “as prosperity is locked in for the long term, carbon must be permanently locked out”, and the possibility of multi-million GBP grants for offshore wind farms.

With its wind, rain and yes, occasional bursts of sunshine, Scotland is well placed to capitalise on the emerging green energy industry. Its long coastlines and position between the Atlantic and the North Sea mean that it has great potential for further developing its emerging green energy industry.

Scotland’s government intends for a full half of the country’s energy to be renewable-supplied by 2020. I’ll make a prediction here – it will be greater than 50% by 2011, and the 50% will be achieved well ahead of schedule. As I said at the the beginning of this article: today we are living greener, and it’s getting greener by the day.

T Schevchenko writes about travel, culture and the environment across a number of media both online and in print. For information on UK energy provision, please visit http://www.hydro.co.uk/

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Are you looking for a green job? Here are some ideas as to how you can go about finding such employment opportunities online.

a. What are you good at and how can you apply your talents on a green job? Once you have identified your talents and skills do some research and find out how you can get employment using your skills and talents.

b. Talk to people – network. Let people know about your desire to ‘go green’ career wise. You will find that some of the people you talk to may have career leads, or may give you great tips on how to go about finding a job in this area.

c. Before you do find the ideal opportunity for you, you can take up volunteer places to build your resume in this area, and learn more this way.

d. Get training if you are lacking in any area. Competition is also there in the environmental job market.

e. Before you start applying for jobs, learn more about what is available, the requirements and access your readiness to apply for these jobs.

f. You also need to be prepared that your preferred environmental job may not be out there. In this case, start considering being a green entrepreneur, or having a venture with some likeminded individuals.

As you look for these positions online, you will have to know what you want, prepare for it, research for it, prepare a resume and then apply for the job. No one can say that it is easy to find a green job but at the same time, no one has said it is impossible.

I’ve created a plan just for you to help you get started in your career online while working at home, whether it’s for green jobs or something else that interests you. Find the right Online Courses recommended by an expert currently making $20,000.00 per month while working in her normal day job. You will also be given FREE access to one of the best online courses immediately at http://www.60minuteaffiliate.com/onlinecourses.html which will show you how you can make money online in your first 30 days.

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Green-collar jobs are good for the economy, the environment, and the people. There’s nothing not to like about the upcoming green-collar workforce. Good green jobs pay well, have a positive impact on the planet, and provide room for advancement. Green job opportunities are open to anyone willing to learn a new skill or amend an existing one.

Can Green Jobs Reduce Poverty?

It’s believed that green jobs will help millions of lower- and middle-class move into a new tax bracket. Most of the jobs require nothing more than a high school education. Many low-income workers have a high school education, and are only eligible for low-paying positions. The green-collar workforce turns this around.

For example, think of a single-mother working for minimum wage in a grocery store. She earned a high school diploma but never attended college. Upon graduation, she discovered the only jobs she could get were low-paying minimum wage jobs. But what would happen if this single-mother received training for a green-job?

The green-job would pay more than minimum wage. Plus, the necessary training would be provided. So the single-mother could create a good life for her family without the expense of attending college

Now apply this scenario to thousands of low-paid workers all over the country. Do you see now how green job opportunities help lower- and middle-class people? Instead of slaving away for minimum wage, more people will be able to provide a decent living for their families.

However, some green collar jobs do require a college degree. You’ll need a college education to pursue careers in areas such as engineering, science, or medicine.

Use Your Existing Skills

Some green job opportunities overlap with non-green jobs. Most jobs require a new set of skills. For example, the job of renewable energy technician didn’t exist a few years ago. So you’d need training to accept that position. But many other green jobs take existing skill sets and apply them in a new way.

For example, a mechanic can transfer his combustion engine knowledge to an electric engine. A doctor can talk to his patients about the benefits of organic fruits and vegetables. Or a schoolteacher can teach her class about the benefits of renewable energy.

Green Job Opportunities Build a Better America

At a time when American unemployment is at its highest, green job opportunities offer hope. Green jobs can’t be outsourced to other countries. You can’t ship your house overseas to have solar panels installed. You also can’t send your backyard away for a wind turbine installation. These jobs and others like them have to be done locally. That’s great news for the economy.

To learn more about green job opportunities in America, get a copy of The Complete Green Job Guide. Learn more now by visiting (www.TheCompleteGreenJobGuide.com).

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Green careers are on the rise in popularity now. How can I go about getting a green career is the big question for a lot of individuals that are out of work right now. Thanks to the new spending spree by the US government in the next few years to to essentially create a whole new job market.

The demand for green careers will be on the rise for the next few years as the worldwide economies make a conscience shift towards clean green technology and business practices. If you happen to be in a position or have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a company that is working in the new green technologies than stick with it!

Do you suppose that all this pushing towards a greener way of life and doing big business the greener more environmentally friendly way is going to help us out of this depression? I will not argue that there is a great deal of demand for green careers and the future of industry as we know may depend on it.

Clearly there will be millions of new careers in the booming green technology industry. What about all the careers of the individuals that work with “old energy” that all this changing to green technology is going to replace? What about all the job positions that are going to be lost in the next few years that are dependent on the use of fossil fuels?

Nobody really talks about all the jobs in those industries that are going to be phased out of a career thanks to the move to do things the greener way. There lies the real rub of all this talk about moving to a cleaner greener way of fueling our lives and the way we do business. Making that swing to a new way of doing things is going to cost a lot of people their jobs that they have spent a life time working. All the money and years of schooling for an industry that is coming to an end of an era.

The new path is clear and the best thing to do if your an upcoming professional is to look into a career in the new green technologies. The sooner you get in on a green career the sooner you can feel more secure about the your future. We are at the beginning of a new era of jobs in the marketplace. Green careers for new energy sources like solar, wind, batteries and bio fuels are just a few of the choices you have as a career to secure your future with a lot of growth potential for years to come.

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In addition to the recent attention that elevated it to the American mainstream, the Green Jobs Industry has been a developing field for the past few decades. Patrick Heffernan’s 1976 study Jobs for the Environment – The Coming Green Collar Revolution informed congress on the importance of environmental awareness in business and government. Alan Durning’s book Green Collar Jobs first introduced the term to America. Focusing on the post-logging towns of the Pacific Northwest, his work examines the shift from an economic dependence on the natural resources of the land to an awareness of environmental and ecological preservation. This opened the doors for the green collar industry and such fields as sustainable forestry, natural resource conservation, and ecological restoration. And, in 2006 Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes of San Francisco State University defines green collar jobs as “blue collar jobs in green businesses – that is, manual labor jobs in businesses whose products and services directly improve environmental quality,” finally offering a concrete definition of the term.

Today, with environmental awareness at an all-time high, we are seeing an increase in employment opportunities across the board. Scientists are needed to analyze, protect, and monitor the environment and society’s interaction with it. Builders and urban planners are needed to design and construct environmentally friendly neighborhoods, parks, recreation areas, and housing and commercial developments. The field of alternative and renewable energies have opened the doors to students of engineering, technicians, analysts, and environmental management looking to “green” their career paths.

The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) has stated that there are 8.5 million jobs in the solar energy field. Educators ranging from middle school earth science teachers to environmental biology professors are providing much needed instruction and preparation to an enthusiastic generation eager to repair the planet in the fields of environmental management, natural resource conservation, and forest preservation. Organic and sustainable farming, one of the oldest green professions, is still an ever growing field as people are becoming more aware of environmentally responsible farming practices.

So, even if your interests and education don’t involve years of study in agronomy or geology, water conservation or landscape architecture, you can still find a career that lets you “go green.”

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER

Professional Field

Environmental engineers are finding work in the fields of urban planning, green building, solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy farms and plants. These environmentally educated engineers conduct building site appraisals, work with architects and planners on construction projects, work with environmental policy makers, work as technicians and electrical engineers, and use their knowledge of the effects and control of pollutions working for large plants and manufacturers.

Environmental engineers, along with their technical and analytical expertise, focus on environmental compliance issues and work with managers and executives on the adherence to federal regulatory practices.

So whether a student has a background in science or technology there are an abundance of jobs in the green-collar industry that can help the environment.

University Education

For most high level engineering positions, an advance degree is required. However, individuals with environmental engineering degrees can find work with a bachelor’s degree. Core courses at most university programs emphasize math, physics, and the natural sciences.

Job Outlook

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) environmental engineers will see a 10-25% increase in the job market over the next decade.

Engineering salaries have always been above the average for the U.S. work force, and as the demand for environmental engineers in new “green” fields grows, these salaries will as well.

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECT

Professional Field

Sustainable Architects are finding themselves in high demand as the push for “greener” building practices reaches from the commercial industry to the residential one. Sustainable Architects work closely with Urban Planners and Parks and Recreation professionals to develop sustainable environments for living, business, and recreation.

University Education

Most architectural schools are integrating “green” building practices into their curriculum and degree programs. Sustainable architecture courses are found in sustainable design programs, urban planning programs, and, as they become more prevalent in the world of academia, sustainable architecture programs.

Job Outlook

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) initiative set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council has given rise to new guidelines for the implementation of “green” standards for construction companies. Sustainable Architects will be in high demand as communities, new and old, want to follow the green trend and bring their properties up to these new standards.

The U.S. Green Building Council reports that the U.S. green building industry has a sales volume of more than $5 billion dollars in the last two years and currently sits at $12 billion. More money being spent translates into more opportunities.

URBAN / LAND USE PLANNERS

Professional Field

One of the biggest facing the green revolution is the conversion of the urban landscape to an acceptable environmental sustainability. As epicentres of resource use (and misuse) and wastefulness, the urban landscape in the U.S. needs to be designed (and repaired) from an environmental and ecological point of view. Environmentally educated planners dedicated to reconfiguring our communities around resource efficiency and decreased waste will be essential.

University Education

Many Urban Planning and Public Policy programs are adding sustainable design and planning to their curriculum. Along with the natural and social sciences, students are receiving educations in engineering and architecture to aid them in the new green Urban Planning field.

Job Outlook

According to the BLS, employment for Urban Planners is expected to grow at a rate of 15% over the next decade. This is driven by the need to preserve existing urban communities and to provide them with ways to become more “green” conscious and energy and resource efficient. Also, the largest sector of this industry will deal with the development of new, environmentally sound, urban communities.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYER

Porfessional Field

Finally, a law practice which receives applause rather than disdain from the general public. Law students are finding this “green” legal field readily available in their university’s curriculum and the professional field very welcoming. The “greening” of the nation has seen the enactment of dozens of federal policies, several congressional acts, and countless corporate and business regulations. When a corporation or large business fails to comply with federal green regulations, an environmental law group steps in to ensure the future compliance of the group. It is the job of environmental law students to work as policy pushers and consultants to make sure corporations, states and cities, and the general public adhere to these new green initiatives.

University Education

Many law schools across the country are now offering J.D. degrees with concentrations in environmental law. Programs are now becoming interdisciplinary, with courses offered in the natural and social sciences in such areas as conservation, ethics, policy, and national and global issues.

Job Outlook

With corporations across the U.S. seeking guidance about the ecological impact of their actions – from land use to pollution control – the need for environmental lawyers and corporate consultants is expected to increase at a rate of 25 percent over the next decade (EPA).

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST

Many fields of environmental science are now in high demand. Environmental Scientists can be found in “green” fields of business ranging from agriculture to education, and from energy to building. They often work as consultants in the development of wildlife parks, and as researchers in new forms of biofuel production and pollution control.

University Education

They take the training they acquired at the university level in the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, ecology, geology, forestry) and apply to the working world, all the while focusing on environmental conservation and protection. For research and higher level manager positions, an advanced degree is usually required. However, environmental scientists with bachelor’s degrees are finding an abundant amount of opportunities available.

Job Outlook

According to the BLS, the employment of Environmental Scientists is expected to increase at a rate of 25 percent over the next decade, a rate much higher than the national average. Currently, 43% of all Environmental Scientists work for local, state, or federal governments (BLS). Many work for consulting firms, or as private consultants.

TOP PROFESSIONS IN THE FIELD

Conservation Biologist

Conservation biologists focus on the protection and restoration of biodiversity in various ecosystems on the planet. They develop environmental planning and management practices to maintain the wildlife and resources of the earth’s natural ecology.

Hydrologist

Hydrologists use science and math backgrounds to improve and solve water quality issues. They work with natural bodies of water to improve aquatic ecosystems, and also with man made reservoirs to improve the quality of drinking water and irrigation for farming.

Toxicologist

Toxicologists study the causes and effects of harmful toxins, and how we can better protect ourselves from the exposure to poisons. Toxicologists study how we are exposed to toxicants, the levels it takes to harm us, and how to reduce or eliminate the effects of toxins. They study the effect of toxins in drinking water, agricultural products, household cleaners, and many other everyday products.

Ecologist

Ecologists study the relationship between the environment and actions that affect it, including weather, pollution, climate change, human interference, and industrialization. Ecologists work in a range of environmental fields including forest preservation, wildlife science and protections (especially working with endangered species restoration), park and woodlands development, and water and natural resource conservation. The main goal and responsibility of all ecologists is environmental preservation and sustainability.

You’re hearing about it a lot during this election campaign: green collar jobs. Both presidential candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, are talking a lot about alternatives to fossil fuel and the need for Detroit to more aggressively develop more fuel efficient autos. The world can slowly march forward as more college students choose environmental science careers – something enabled by universities adapting to current needs. Learn more on JobMonkey, a free career website.

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