Career opportunities in the environmental field continue to expand, despite the downturn in the economy, and they aren't limited to jobs in the research lab.
The Alberta Solar Decathlon Project team. Holding a solar panel are Matt Beck, project manager, in the white shirt, and mark Blackwell, chairman, in the dark shirt.
The Alberta Solar Decathlon Project team. Holding a solar panel are Matt Beck, project manager, in the white shirt, and mark Blackwell, chairman, in the dark shirt.
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"I certainly wouldn't say that environmental employment is recessionary proof but I would say that we are a little more recessionary resistant than some other sectors of the economy, primarily due to the considerable amount of environmental work that is driven by regulatory requirements," says Grant Trump, president of Environmental Careers Organization (ECO), a Calgary-based non-profit agency.
"Companies simply cannot say we are not going to do our environmental work any more."
What's more, he says, funding for environmental initiatives is expected to increase as governments around the world introduce economic stimulus packages. The massive $787-billion U.S. stimulus bill calls for billions of dollars in spending and tax credits for renewable energy projects, energy efficiency programs and other environmental initiatives.
The Canadian federal budget last month contained more modest provisions to fund sustainable energy and other green infrastructure projects and a proposed Green Energy Fund to support clean energy research, including carbon capture and storage techniques.
But, Mr. Trump says, the proposed $12-billion set aside for infrastructure projects could also go to support new waste-water and solid-waste management facilities. "Those all have considerable environmental impact," he says.
And, he adds, what happens in the U.S. is bound to catalyze governments and businesses here.
"So I think the environment is going to be an area of expansion," he says. "It may not grow as quickly as we would have anticipated six months ago, but the growth, we believe, is going to be steady."
What's more, he says, environmental jobs are no longer just for scientists and engineers but increasingly for those with backgrounds in the humanities and social sciences and now encompass everything from law to marketing to starting your own business.
Take Matthew Beck, a student in the University of Calgary's master of environmental design program. The program combines some of the more traditional aspects of environmental science with architecture, urban planning and industrial design.
Mr. Beck, 26, says he eventually sees himself starting his own company, designing and producing energy-efficient homes.
He's currently getting good training as a member of the Alberta Solar Decathlon Project, a team of postsecondary students and professors that is designing and building a solar home.
The house will be entered into the Solar Decathlon competition later this year in Washington, D.C. The international competition, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, brings together 20 teams from around the world that compete to design, build and operate a solar-powered home. It was his involvement in the project that piqued his interest in the housing industry.
"The residential housing sector in Canada uses over 30 per cent of Canada's total energy load," Mr. Beck notes. "So if you can start to make a significant impact on the energy use of homes, that has a huge impact on Canada's total energy use," he says.
Students like Mr. Beck are exactly the kind the program aims to nurture. "We're trying to create entrepreneurial, independent problem-solvers who can find ways to make change," says Mary-Ellen Tyler, interim associate dean in the faculty of environmental design. "Many of our alumni over the last 37 years have pioneered jobs that never existed."
To meet the rising student interest, postsecondary institutions are increasingly offering programs that combine environmental studies with a wide array of other fields such as tourism and forensic science.
Starting in September, students at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., will be able to combine a degree in forensic science with any program of their choice, and one logical pairing would be environmental studies, says Joanna Freeland, chair of the forensic science program.
Students in the program would learn how to investigate a contaminated area, how to collect evidence and how to present the evidence in a court of law, she explains. "It is basically solving a crime." But, instead of solving a murder, "it's figuring out who left a particular contaminant," and, as a result, who is liable for cleaning it up, she says.
Dr. Freeland believes the job prospects are promising in this burgeoning field, in part because of some recent legal decisions that have held individuals or companies liable for introducing pollutants into the environment.
Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont., introduced a tourism and environment degree four years ago, which allows students to combine the business skills acquired in a conventional tourism program with an interest in environmental sustainability.
"We feel that this is the future of tourism," says Tony Ward, chair of the program. "This is why we put the program together."
Graduates of the four-year bachelor program have found work with conservation authorities, Ontario's Ministry of the Environment and various environmental groups. And one went to work for a non-governmental organization in Honduras to study how tourism can be used as a tool for sustainable development.
Students are also trained to come up with ways of implementing sustainable practices at hotels, he says. "This goes beyond changing the sheets every other day," Dr. Ward says. "There's a lot more to be done there."
And, at the University of Waterloo, students have the option of combining environmental economics courses with another undergraduate degree. Environmental economics prepares students to work in positions in government or with regulatory bodies, says Margaret Insley, director of the program.
"It focuses on how regulators and governments can give the right incentives to individuals and companies so that our regulations give us the environmental result we want in the most efficient manner," she says. For example, an environmental economist could assess the value of a carbon tax versus tradable permits in influencing the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Special to The Globe and Mail
