Green Job Growth Set to Explode in U.S.

by: Elizabeth Nichols
The huge potential for growth in green jobs is being mandated and funded. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 require large utilities to obtain 15 percent of their electricity from new renewable resources such as solar and wind by 2020. On May 18th, 2009, Secretary of the Department of Energy Chu announced the first 16 of the 100 standards that much be addressed by September in order to clear the way for the expenditure of Stimulus Package funds towards expanding the Smart Grid.

Small and medium-sized businesses particularly are predicted to expand the green jobs market rapidly over the next ten years with considerable financial support for the investment markets and government. The Cleantech Network reports that venture capitalists have put $1.74 billion into North American and European green technology start ups in just the third quarter of 2007.

Additionally, the energy crisis and the large number of retirements expected over the next 10 years in public utilities are contributing to the transition to a greener economy. According to the President of the Association of Energy Engineers, Rusty Hodopp, 41 percent of its members plan to retire within the next ten years.

The skill set that workers need to have in place is varied and multiple within the five green energy industries of wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and smart grid.

Currently, Germany and Spain each generate 5 percent of their energy from the wind while U.S. total is only .5 percent. Wind power ranked second to biomass as a renewable energy job source as of 2006 in the U. S. The capacity to create all the energy needed for the entire country from just wind power is estimated to be within boundaries of four states—Texas, North Dakota, Kansas, and South Dakota, according to a U.S. Conference of Mayors Report.

Since 2000 installation of solar panels has increased by 45 percent each year and the industry growing by 35 percent each year. It is working on reducing cost associated with manufacturing and installation.

In the U. S. biomass is very research-oriented with a focus on corn ethanol. Biomass is used in Brazil with 40 percent of its transportation fuel made by using sugar cane. It reduces the carbon footprint of the consumer, but only by about 15 percent as energy must be used to convert plant and animal material into clean energy.

Smart Grid refers to increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the mix of energy sources to decrease vulnerability to terrorist attacks as well as brown-outs and black-outs. President Obama sited Xcel’s efforts to make Boulder, Colorado the country’s first smart grid city in his introduction of the Stimulus Package.

These emerging industries have companies throughout the world many of which have job listings across the disciplines on line. The common bond in this green jobs field market is the need for engineering professional or technical training experience. Many of the companies are also looking for team players with open communication styles. It seems prudent to develop our green jobs with the necessary skills and flexibility to adapt to our greener economy.

Children's Environmental Contests

Environmental Contests For Students of All Ages

by Steve Auger

If you are a teacher then there is no better way to start off the school year than to get your pupils involved with an environmental contest.  It doesn't matter whether your class is grade 12 or kindergarten, there are lots of contests to choose from.  Here is a sampling of the many contests out there:

Name / Website	Area	Age/ Year	Entry	Due Date	Prizes
International Children's Painting Competition on the Environment	Int'l	6 - 14 yrs	Paintings - concrete actions to preserve biodiversity such as tree planting, marine and animal conservation, restoration of coral reefs, etc	Apr 15 2010	(1) $2,000 (2) $1000
President’s Environmental Youth Awards	USA	KG - GR 12	Creative sustainable efforts - building nature trails, reversing the decline of endangered species, starting recycling programs, restoring native habitats, creating schoolyard habitats, etc.	Dec 31 2009	Presidential Plaque
Junior Duck Stamp Contest	USA	KG - GR 12	Drawing, painting or sketching a picture of an eligible North American waterfowl species.	March 15 2009	(1) $5,000 (2) $3,000 (3) $2,000
New York Recycles! Poster Contest	NY	KG - GR 12	Poster contest on recycling.  Students can use watercolor, pen and ink, crayon, chalk, markers, etc.	May 21 2010	Certificate of Accomp't
Kids Art Club Contest	CAN	6 - 13 yrs	Teacher supervised.  Drawing - energy efficiency actions; transportation alternatives, links between wise energy use and climate change, alternative energy sources	Apr 15 2010	prize package
Children's art competition	UK	up to 11 yrs, 12 – 16 yrs	Drawing, painting, collage, cartoon or photograph (no computer generated images, please) that reflects the theme ‘The Environment and the Home’.	Nov 30 2009	£1,000 leisure vouchers
WetlandCare Australia National Art Competition 2010	AUS	4 - 11 yrs, 12-17 yrs	Artwork and photography - ink, pen, pencil, crayon, pastel, paint, charcoal	Dec 4 2009	$1,000 each category
Student Climate Change Solutions Contest	Not Spec.	KG - GR 4	Posters depicting climate change solutions, ideas and actions. Should be accompanied by explanatory message of 1 – 50 words.	Oct 23 2009	Book, T-shirt, DVD, poster

I wish I could research all of the contests out there but time does not permit.  If you know of any others then please send in the info and I will update this list.
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Your School Campus

Fifteen Things That You Can Do To Green Your School Campus

By Merryl Brown, President, Merryl Brown Event

Every one of us has the ability to make a difference on our child's school campus by making a few easy changes to school policies and practices. This is a wonderful opportunity to have a positive impact on your environment, your community, your school and your child. Here are fifteen things that you can do to make changes at your own child's school this year.

Start by creating a policy that at all school events, plates, cups and glasses must be either reusable or compostable. Be clear that disposable plastic and Styrofoam are no longer allowed to be used anywhere on campus. Provide information about where to buy compostables so that people are able to easily make this change. Here are a few options that I would recommend:

Fabri-Kal Greenware, Arrow Tableware, Nature Friendly Products, World Centric Biocompostables, Green Logic

At lunch and at larger gatherings, be sure that condiments and things like butter and cream cheese are purchased in bulk rather than individual servings. I just participated in a large waste audit where we had to pick through literally hundreds of tiny foil butter wrappers that were scattered throughout the food scraps and compostable tableware, all items that were on their way to giant windrows to be composted. If those wrappers had not been removed, they would have ruined the entire batch of compostable material. Imagine how much more difficult this would have been if there had been ketchup and mustard packets too!

Have well labeled recycling/composting bins throughout the campus with clear signage indicating what goes where in order to help both direct waste flow and to educate the children about what can and cannot be recycled/composted.

Conduct waste audits with each grade so that the children can see what happens when a whole school throws things away for a whole day. Weigh each type of waste to see how much of each there is and brainstorm about ways to reduce campus waste. This process will be very educational for the children and they may have some good ideas about the ways that they can help to be a part of the solution.

Encourage the copy room staff to print double sided copies whenever possible and request that they use 100% post-consumer recycled paper that is processed chlorine free.

Consider instituting a "Pack in Pack out” policy where anything brought from home for snacks and lunches either gets eaten or returned home. This allows parents to see what their children are and aren't eating and also significantly decreases the amount of trash and recycling that the school must pay to have hauled each year.

Ask your school board to stop using water bottles if they are using them. In order to set an example, have them bring their own reusable cups and a pitcher of filtered water. Leadership starts at the top and if our school's leaders are setting a good example, parents, staff and faculty will note it. This will trickle down to the students as well.

Host a Zero Waste Sustainability Event to create awareness and educate parents and teachers. Incorporate a chance to network, offer incentives such as prizes for those who choose carpooling in order to limit the amount of driven trips to school.

Make sure green cleaning products and practices are used everyday to ensure a healthy and hospitable environment for your child. Create a purchasing policy that states that all cleaning products purchased by the school must be green and non-toxic in order to protect your child from hazardous toxic chemicals.

Make sure energy saving features are enabled on all computers in the school, so that they go into sleep or hibernation when no one is using them instead of displaying a screensaver. This simple setting change makes the computer use much less electricity, saving money and greenhouse gas emissions

Pack your child’s lunch in a lunch box or some other reusable container instead of a disposable paper bag. Don’t stop there – put the food reusable containers as well instead of baggies, and use a Thermos or other reusable drinks bottle instead of a juice box or disposable milk carton.

When buying new furniture or equipment, look for products that have credible green product certifications such as Energy Star, Green Seal, Forest Stewardship Council, and Ecologo.

Post reminders next to all light switches reminding people to turn off the lights when they leave the room.

Make a policy asking students, faculty, and staff to unnplug televisions, computers, microwaves, and any device that is not being used. This stops devices from drawing electricity even when they’re turned off or in standby.

Push to prohibit electric space heaters. They use up to $1000 in electricity every year, increase cooling costs, and are a significant fire hazard.

Utilizing these simple and logical green solutions, you can create a sustainable foundation for environmental responsibility at your child's school. Not only will you be directly contributing to an effort of sustainability, but also creating awareness and educating the leaders of tomorrow.

Merryl Brown is the President of Merryl Brown Events LLC, a Santa Barbara based sustainable events company. http://www.merrylbrownevents.com/index.html