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Green Jobs: The “Greener” Dollar

by: sahil | last updated: May 28, 2010
Category: Green Savings | Tags: Green jobs, eco friendly work, eco friendly jobs, green jobs act 2007, sustainable jobs, environmental jobs

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Green Jobs: The “Greener” Dollar

A green job according to the United Nations Environment Program is - “work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute(s) substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high efficiency strategies; de-carbonize the economy; and minimize or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution.”

As price of oil and other non renewable energy resources soar along with the world population, utilizing alternative “green” resources seems to be the only viable solution to environmental problems. The need for creating a marketplace where waste and environmental depredation are mitigated if not completely stopped is now being felt by environmentalists and politicians alike. This need for renewable energy as our power source has been accentuated by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which is said to be the worst in the history of United States.

The Green Jobs Act 2007 has authorized up to $125 million for establishing national and state job training programs with the assistance of the Department of Labor. The aim of this funding and initiative is to address the problems of job shortages that are hampering the growth of green industries. A green industry may include businesses such as producers of bio-fuels, solar panels, builders of energy efficient buildings, energy efficient vehicles, and renewable electric power.

The most important factor in such jobs is gainful employment along with decent benefits and the opportunity for growth. This essentially means that voluntary work done on behalf of a company without any gainful remuneration does not qualify as a green job. The approach towards creating such jobs is essentially two pronged, in that it should not only help the environment but also create a marketplace where employees who carry out such jobs are well paid and have a better future in this field.

Some environmentalists and politicians have widened the definition of a green job and state that any work that leads to a greener future and helps the environment can be called a green job. For instance a car company making a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle can said to be employing “green-collar” workers even though they may be traditionally blue-collared ones. On the other hand, blue-collared workers who make conventional fossil fuel operated vehicles do not qualify as green-collared workers.

In order to ensure that blue-collared workers do not suffer unemployment due to the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, the important point is the transition of blue or white collared workers into green collared ones. Obviously if green architecture and eco-friendly vehicles seem to be the inevitable future, someone needs to produce them and according to environmentalists and politicians who support the green alternative, these would be today’s blue collared or white collared workers. This inevitable transformation to greener industries and jobs seems to be one of the most pragmatic solutions for a sustainable and greener tomorrow.