October 17th, 2008 · 1 Comment

Also on their website is a helpful guide: How to Land a Green-Collar Job, which lists 15 ways to prepare for a job that is good for the environment, your wallet and makes a difference. The list:

1. Unmask the myth – green collar jobs are not just for scientists
2. Paint your picture – imagine the environment you’d like to work in
3. Bookmark the Greenstart webpage on the ASES website
4. Compile your list of targets
5. Get informed, stay informed
6. Transfer your skills into a green economy role
7. Volunteer in a green initiative
8. Take the tour – see green technology close up
9. Study and learn from nonprofits
10. Tap into the green network with free Google alerts, and other Internet sources.
11. Speak the language
12. Certify your skills by attending a workshop
13. Explore pre-apprenticeship programs
14. Consider incentives often offered by state governments
15. Show your passion in the interview

The New York City-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) which calls itself “the nation’s most effective environmental action group” is another advocate for green jobs. The NRDC’s Climate Campaign Director Pete Altman noted in his blog last week that 750,000 American receive paychecks from jobs that reduce pollution and increase the use of clean energy.

His stats come from a new report by the U.S.Conference of Mayors. The report is the first listing, says Altman, of existing jobs that focus on reducing the use of fossil fuels, increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He goes on to say, “the already significant presence of green jobs in the U.S. and the global potential for employing tens of millions of people underscores why it makes sense for Congress to tackle economic revitalization, clean energy and global warming with a comprehensive, forward-looking strategy…This is the challenge that the next Congress and President must choose to face.”

Altman also is a fan of Green For All, blogging that Van Jones’ Green Collar Economy “is an essential read and strategy guide for all advocates of a clean and just future.”

Green for All has proposed a national Clean Energy Corps which would fund the retrofitting of homes, small businesses and public buildings, making them more energy efficient. The Corps also would preserve and enlarge green public spaces and bolster community defenses against climate-related events, such as Hurricane Katrina.

Thanks to several of these groups, particularly Green for All, Congress is considering whether to finance the Green Jobs Act of 2007. The Green Jobs Act would pump $125 million into the creation and training of 30,000 green-collar jobs, especially for young people.

Van Jones (pictured right) suggests getting youth into, say, the ground floor of the solar industry with jobs as installers; rising to become managers , and later, owners and possibly inventors. A green economy, he believes, can deliver new sources of work as well as wealth and health to economically disadvantaged people and at the same time, make people good stewards of the Earth.

“We can’t drill and burn our way out of the current crisis,” says Van Jones in his book. “We can invest and invent our way out. We can create new pathways out of poverty and curb global warming at the same time. We will do this by retooling our factories, rebuilding our communities and repowering America with 100 percent clean and renewable electricity.”

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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