April 28, 2005 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The ECO Guide to Careers That Make a Difference
This book is designed to help people learn what sort of career paths are available in the environmental field. Produced in association with the Environmental Careers Organization, the guide provides an overview of “green” jobs and examines how employment opportunities are changing as environmentalism moves toward a new focus on sustainable development that integrates ecology with economic and social concerns for the long-term health of the planet.
So where are the jobs? The book says that many of them are found in the nonprofit world, consisting of up to 10,000 environmental charities. The biggest organization, the Nature Conservancy, employs more than 2,500 people, but many opportunities—a growing number, in fact—are found at the grass-roots level. The guide also provides an overview of green jobs in government and private companies, as well as job-seeking tips to land one of those positions.
To help job seekers narrow their focus, the book divides environmental work into 19 areas that include air quality, architecture, climate change, economics, ecotourism, fisheries, forestry, and smart growth. Interviews with experts such as Eileen Claussen of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and Theo Colborn of the World Wildlife Fund, offer insights into how current trends affect their work.
For each of the areas in which people can find environmental work, the book offers “at a glance” profiles of individual jobs. A person with a background in economics, for instance, might be well-suited as a nonprofit executive director, at a salary that could exceed $100,000. Those interested in environmental justice might consider becoming community organizers for nonprofit groups, positions that could become more numerous as more private companies begin to make grants to ensure that all people are protected equally by environmental laws.
The book also shows how the concept of sustainability is reshaping environmental work and carving out opportunities in areas like banking, tax law, business, elementary education, and insurance. People who care about the environment, the book says, can find employment and make a difference in a growing number of fields.
Publisher: Island Press, 1718 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20009; http://www.islandpress.org; 400 pages; $34.95 cloth; $18.95 paper; ISBN 1-55963-967-9.
