College and University Blog
Green Jobs and Renewable Energy: The Answer to Unemployment?
If CSPAN and the market place page of your local newspaper have you worried that your future career stability might be in shambles before you even graduate college, fear not. Some people feel they have found money-making promise and their answer to their economic woes—jobs in renewable energy.
The concern over environmental issues has evolved from planting a tree on Earth Day and recycling cardboard into a tangled mass of politics and legislation. Out of that mass, a rivulet of industry called Green has been born.
With the buzz over global warming spreading into the hearts of many people searching for a common cause, green industry is on the rise. From bumper stickers and t-shirts, green-friendly product containers, and reusable shopping bags now to solar panels and wind turbine mechanics, opportunity to find employment in a new industry may be mounting to the surface.
U.S. Government For Green
The U.S. government is also jumping on the bandwagon of hope, showing its corroboration with green industry and technologies by allocating $20 billion from the stimulus package into renewable energy and $500 million in green jobs training and education. (CNN) President Obama said in a speech this year mid February, addressing Congress, that “to truly transform our economy, to protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy, the profitable kind of energy.” (CNN)
Is A Green Career Worth Considering?
In an article by John D. Sutter of CNN, “Growing Excitement, Expectations for Green Jobs Corp,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics “does not separate data on green jobs or jobs in renewable energy, and economists disagree on how many new green jobs the stimulus package will create.”
This means there are no absolute guarantees of job placement after training. Sutter reported that “community colleges often network with the local business community to gauge their interest in students from green-job programs.” Their answers seem to be ambivalent, yet optimistic.
Whether you agree with global warming and its effects or not, the government does. This means more legislation will come, mandating a more energy efficient lifestyle for U.S. citizens.
In his February statement, President Obama called upon Congress to send him legislation “that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America.” The administration plans to “invest $15 billion dollars each year to develop technologies in wind power, solar power, advanced bio fuels, clean coal, and more efficient cars and trucks built right here in America,” the president said.
Because of these federal provisions, businesses that offer green technology and services will gradually increase, thus placing the market for green products at high demand and opening up job opportunities for the future.