Careers With a Conscience - Green Jobs on the Rise

Created by C3 Teen Interns Eshaan Mital, Gryphon Byrne, and Kate Vaughan

Contributions from Leah Jones and Sarah Delgado

The Earth has warmed more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the Industrial Revolution, resulting in environmental disasters that adversely affect people and habitats worldwide. To reorient the global economy towards a sustainable future that can successfully combat climate change, we must build a strong green workforce. 

Green careers are employment opportunities that indirectly or directly work on combating climate change, reducing emissions, or improving environmental conditions. Through our experiences, we found that many people don’t know about new, well-paying green job opportunities in Virginia, and that’s why we (C3 Interns), released a Virginia Explore Green Jobs resource guide that lists information about green careers in numerous sustainable sectors, as well as a 'Green Jobs on the Rise' video with personal stories and insights from the industry. 

The green workforce offers numerous benefits to those seeking a career in one of its various fields. One advantage of finding a green job is the high demand for positions in rapidly growing sectors of the economy. For example, the renewable energy field, specifically solar power, offers many high-demand positions due to the industry's growth throughout the U.S. With these job openings for renewable energy come another benefit: many starting positions require only a few certifications and training, making the work more accessible to those who do not seek higher education.

This summer, we explored the green workforce in depth to produce a video resource for others to learn about these exciting career opportunities. In the video, we interview professionals from various sectors of the environmental workforce and discover the many paths one can take. 

Throughout our research, we found that one of the greatest advantages of choosing a green career is the positive impact it has on the environment. Many people we interviewed found their jobs extremely rewarding, like Elizabeth Putfark, an associate attorney at Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC,) who believes that the most rewarding part of her job is “[understanding that] we need to [not only] be reducing emissions, we need to be cutting carbon, we need to be protecting historically disadvantaged communities, Black and brown communities, who’ve borne more than their fair share of pollution over the years”.

According to Generation United Kingdom, green jobs “focus on protecting the environment, reducing waste, [and creating more sustainable ways of living.]” Green jobs are essential if we want to live in a world that has beautiful scenery, amazing national parks, and affordable housing.

With all of the advantages that the green workforce has to offer, there are also challenges. One of the challenges in finding green jobs is the lack of convenient and relevant online training and resources. Many websites offering information about the green workforce, including job postings, are outdated or only applicable to a specific state in the U.S. 

Additionally, there is a lack of racial and gender diversity in the green workforce. According to a report from the International Renewable Energy Agency, only 32% of the renewable energy workforce is constituted by women. The Diverse Green’s ‘The State of Diversity in Environmental Organizations’ explains that “the members and volunteers of environmental organizations are predominantly white”, and therefore the green career path doesn’t reflect the racial and gender identity makeup of those who will be most impacted by climate change.  

Another consideration when pursuing a green career is that in the U.S., the current federal administration has just restricted many previous provisions that impact green jobs and climate change. Even though we do not know the full effects of new legislation, we can still see the immediate impact policy changes have on the green workforce, raising questions about job stability in these fields. 

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has already negatively impacted clean energy and jobs associated with that field. Not only does it defund renewable energy and cut incentives, but it has also eliminated tax credits for many clean energy projects. These changes encourage the use of nonrenewable sources of energy, such as coal and natural gas, which emit a significant amount of greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming.  In addition, the loss of many of the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate grants may lead to even more jobs in this sector being lost over the next few years.

Funding cuts to federal programs supporting clean energy infrastructure and parks are already impacting positions nationwide. It is expected that hundreds of thousands of jobs in the clean energy sector will be lost. The budget cuts could result in the closure of around 350 national parks. Dismantling the parts of our government whose primary goal is the safety of the people and the natural world will only have negative consequences - and it will affect everyone, not just people in green careers.

Despite these challenges, there is still a high demand for many green jobs. Many people, companies, organizations, and local governments recognize the importance of mitigating climate change and are making headway in green industries. According to USGBC, jobs such as renewable energy technicians, solar energy installation managers, fuel cell engineers, and others are all expected to experience significant growth over the next decade. And there are still actions taking place locally that are helping people get into the green job sector.

In more good news, organizations like FLIPP Inc., a nonprofit in Dillwyn, Virginia, are focused on training unemployed, underemployed, and justice-impacted individuals through paid internships to prepare them for permanent careers in the solar sector. These trainings make it more accessible to obtain a well-paying, stable job while positively impacting the environment. 

Check out C3’s resources below and see how you can work towards supporting a greener future!

'Green Jobs on the Rise' video

Virginia Explore Green Jobs resource guide