Speaker Program: Bring an Environmental Professional into Your Classroom

August 23, 2011 - ECO Canada has launched a new speaker program that connects environmental professionals with high school students from across Canada. This program was developed in an effort to provide students with a tangible connection between environmental education and prospective careers.

A growing and constantly evolving environment industry provides exciting career opportunities for today’s youth. According to ECO Canada’s Profile of Canadian Environmental Employment 2010 report, there are over 318,000 Canadian organizations employing environmental professionals and “[retiring] environmental workers will create vacancies over the next decade as over 100,000 environmental employees reach retirement age.”

What is more, the environment industry requires highly skilled professionals. In fact, the same study has shown that 66% of environmental professionals have post-secondary education compared to 42% of the Canadian workforce—and with the emerging sub-sectors being carbon and climate change mitigation, and alternative/renewable energy—the demand for highly educated environmental professionals will continue.

To meet this increasing demand, the speaker program is designed to facilitate the connection

between industry and education. Through the speaker program, environmental professionals will:

• Provide information on the environmental sector;
• Discuss their education, career path, and current environmental career; and
• Act as a role model to aspiring students.

The speaker program is intended to create an awareness of post-secondary environmental programs and careers―connecting students with real-world environmental professionals.

To request a speaker or to learn more about the speaker program, contact Laura Sykes at career.awareness@eco.ca or visit www.eco.ca.