By Derek Sankey, Canwest News Service
April 24, 2010
When the municipality of Whistler, B.C., wanted to prepare itself for the 2010 Winter Olympics, officials turned to Kelly Hawke Baxter to help them develop a sustainability plan, Whistler 2020, to transform every aspect of how the town approached its development.
Baxter is the executive director of The Natural Step Canada, a non- governmental organization (NGO) that educates and instructs individuals in private industry and the public sector how integrate to environmental considerations into their operations.
"We're moving from lip service to really looking at how we can use environmental responsibility and sustainability to drive innovation and value creation so that we can be part of the new economy,'' says Baxter.
The new economy is all about green jobs, she says. "It's really gone from the margins to the mainstream. It's a huge opportunity for those that want green careers to either enter the green sector or the traditional sector where there are more and more green jobs.''
Sustainability departments are being established in everything from retail chains such as Walmart to the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world, Nokia.
Don Gorber is president of SENES Consultants Ltd., a company that specializes in environmental, nuclear and energy services with offices in Canada, the United States, India and South America. He has seen the industry change dramatically during his career and believes demand for highly skilled environmental workers will continue to rise.
Worthy candidates for his firm, he says, "should have a good education with some technical or social background that allows you to start here.'' Given the demand for good people, lack of experience isn't necessarily a critical liability. "We'll hire people with little experience and train them,'' he says.
The specialized nature of many environmental jobs means they are in demand in almost every industry and sector - from private to public and NGOs to university research departments. However, job seekers eager to enter the field should be aware the term "green job'' is sometimes used loosely, says Grant Trump, president of the federally funded sector council Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) Canada...
Full Story
