In fact, the two major-party presidential hopefuls have both jumped on the green bandwagon and are touting ''green-collar jobs'' as the answer to our economic woes. There is no consensus on a definition for green-collar jobs, but they can be broadly described as blue-collar jobs within the environmental sector. A Forbes article earlier this year reported that Sen. Obama has promised to generate five million jobs in the environmental sector within the next 10 years, while Sen. McCain wants to focus on research in ''green technologies.''
A press release from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) late last year emphasized the benefits of a growing environmental sector, noting that green industry jobs are not just for the middle classes, but are also generating employment in construction, agriculture, and transportation.
The eco-conscious movement may have started decades ago, but it has never been as popular in mainstream culture as it is now. While warnings of climate change and pollution fell almost entirely on deaf ears in past years, now the issue is practically dominating the media.
These days it seems you can add the word ''environmental'' to just about any job title. The recent attention to the issue of climate change, while so far yielding no significant benefits to the environment itself, has already done a lot for the domestic work force. According to UNEP, the green industry had already created well over five million jobs in the US by 2005 and could create 40 million by 2030.
A job-market trend article from NWjobs listed environmental engineer, environmental scientist, environmental geologist, hazardous-waste-management specialist, and industrial hygienist as ''eco-friendly jobs'' in the environmental sector. Green architects and builders, green chemists, and sustainable forestry workers are a few more. Various media sources have noted that green-collar jobs cannot be outsourced and therefore provide further strength to the economy.
But what is needed for the green industry to save our economy is money. Sen. Obama has promised to invest $150 million in the creation of environmental jobs. Before we or our economy can reap the benefits of energy efficiency and environmental safety, there first has to be a significant amount of money put into training workers and switching over to environmentally sound practices.
In addition, there is no concrete evidence that the green industry is going to do wonders for our ailing economy. While there has been significant growth in the environmental sector, the projections being made are optimistic, bordering on extreme. Because even if the amount of jobs generated in 10 years reaches five million, it’s hard to say if that will make up for the amount of blue-collar jobs being lost. That said, there are still plenty of reasons to push for growth in the green-collar job market, and perhaps if government leaders provide the right amount of support and investment in the green industry, as was suggested in UNEP’s December 2007 press release, the environmental sector could provide at least a fraction of the economic relief being promised to Americans.
