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Sunday, August 7, 2011

Preparation for Environmental Careers

By Andrew Marshall


Global warming, pollution, and new standards for preserving the environment are in the news every day. Conserving energy and recycling are not the only ways to individually help the environment. You can also get a job to help enforce regulations, find new technologies, and even teach the world about how important it is to save the environment

If this is your chosen path, education is the first ring on the ladder. From as early as high school, up to college and university level programs, the Government's own EPA, or Environmental Protection Agency, offers programs like the Student Career Experience Program through accredited schools. Once enrolled in it, you can work at the EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance or in the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances. Research fellowships in 4 different environmental career categories are offered too.

Other educational opportunities are provided by the U.S. Green Building Council, which offers its own independent courses, both in-person and online. These are tailored to those who seek to learn about environmentally conscious construction, or green building, and attain knowledge about LEED certification or become a LEED Accredited Professional. The USGBC also offers information on curriculums and programs for K-12 schools up to high level colleges and universities.

Online education choices are prevalent in the environmental field, but there are programs related to environmental education offered at many colleges in the U.S. and worldwide. A nice resource for finding these is EnviroEducation.com, an offshoot of monster.com. Schools can be found by using the site's integral search system to look by state/country, environmental subject, and degree type. Yale University, Florida International University, and New York University and some online schools come up, listing a variety of opportunities.

Once you've passed the courses you need for an environmental degree, it's time to find a job. There many types of jobs. Becoming a LEED Accredited Professional is one of them, and may help boost opportunities in various other jobs in the field. A starting gig could be working as a nature camp counselor or park ranger, but you can be a marine biologist, environmental scientist, meteorologist, an engineer, or consultant. Teaching in any one of these and other areas can also be a lucrative choice

Upon graduating and beginning work, you must also be considering salary. Environmental engineers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, earned from $40,000-$50,000 to over $100,000 in 2006, and specialists with expertise in air pollution or weather were earning over $77,000 per year. The Bureau also says urban and regional planners earned in the $50,000-$60,000 range. Occupational health and safety specialists also do very well, and being LEED certified, as previously mentioned, can be a big boost. A PayScale.com report shows that LEED-certified project managers have earned over $76,000.

So, earning a living for oneself is an important aspect, but not the only aspect of working in an environmental field. There is also the idea that the work is going directly towards preserving the environment for generations to come. The work may also go toward avoiding the potentially disastrous effects of pollution and global warming.




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