By Kathy Belcher
What does Green Mean for CTE Educators and Students?
With all of the talk about “green this” and “greening that,” is there more to the meaning of the words than marketing hype to promote a product, service or lifestyle? What does all of this “green” mean for career and technical educators preparing students for occupations that will put the green in their pockets?
If you are pondering these questions, you may want to turn to a research study prepared by the National Center for O*NET Development for the U.S. Department of Labor called Greening of the World of Work: Implications for O*NET®-SOC and New and Emerging Occupations. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of green economy activities and technologies on occupational requirements to determine their impact on current O*NET®-SOC occupations and to identify new and emerging occupations.
Green economy in this study is defined as one that “encompasses the economic activity related to reducing the use of fossil fuels, decreasing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the efficiency of energy usage, recycling materials, and developing and adopting renewable sources of energy.”
The study finds that Green economy activities and technologies may have different effects on different occupations and has categorized “greening” of occupations into three general categories:
· Green Increased Demand Occupations - in which the impact of the green economy results in an increase of employment demand for an existing occupation. Green occupations designated to have a bright outlook in this category are Computer Software Engineers, Environmental Scientists, Team Assemblers, and Welders.
· Green Enhanced Skills Occupations – in which the impact of the green economy results in significant change to the work and worker requirements and may or may not result in an increase in employment demand. Green occupations designated to have a bright outlook in this category are Financial Analysts, Landscape Architects, Environmental Engineers and Technicians, Pipe Fitters, and Sales Representatives.
· Green New and Emerging (N&E) Occupations – in which the impact of the green economy creates the need for unique work and worker requirements, resulting in the generation of a new occupation. Green occupations designated to have a bright outlook are Wind Turbine Service Technicians, Green Marketers, Sustainability Specialists, Biochemical Engineers, Logistics Analysts, Water Resource Specialists, Water/Waste Water Engineers, and Risk Management Specialists.
To assist your CTE students in researching green occupations that have a bright outlook in Texas through 2016, and will put green in your students’ pockets, go to http://online.onetcenter.org/ 1) type in “green”; 2) click on a green occupation designated in the list for National Wages and Employment Trends; 3) then select “Texas” to see a comparison of State and National Trends.
Reference:
Dierdorff, E., Norton, J., Drewes, D., Kroustalis, C., Rivkin, D., Lewis, P. (2009). Greening of the World of Work: Implications for O*NET®-SOC and New and Emerging Occupations. Retrieved September 14, 2010, from O*NET Resource Center web site: http://www.onetcenter.org/green.html
