Green Careers 2008

GREEN CAREERS ★

★ INSIDER

INSIDER GUIDE ★ WORKING GREEN: THE PROS AND CONS ★ ON THE JOB: REAL PEOPLE PROFILES ★ HOW TO TELL IF A COMPANY’S GREEN ★ OPPORTUNITIES IN GREEN TECH, GREEN BUILDING, SRI, AND MORE

SCOOP: FRONT-LINE REPORTS ★ BY FRANK MARQUARDT

Insider

Guide Green Careers

2008 EDITION

Green Careers

WetFeet, Inc. 1518 Walnut St. Suite 1800 Philadelphia, PA 19102 Phone: (215) 546-4900 or 1-800-926-4JOB Fax: (215) 546-9921 Website: www.wetfeet.com Green careers 2008 Edition ISBN: 978-1-58207-865-6

Photocopying Is Prohibited Copyright 2008 WetFeet, Inc. All rights reserved. This publication is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America. No copying in any form is permitted. It may not be reproduced, distributed, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, in part or in whole, without the express written permission of WetFeet, Inc. The publisher, author, and any other party involved in creation, production, delivery, or sale of this WetFeet Insider Guide make no warranty, express or implied, about the accuracy or reliability of the information found herein. To the degree you use this guide or other materials referenced herein, you do so at your own risk. The materials contained herein are general in nature and may not apply to particular factual or legal circumstances. Under no circumstances shall the publisher, author, or any other party involved in creation, production or delivery of this guide be liable to you or any other person for damages of any kind arising from access to, or use of, its content. All illustrations by mckibillo

Green Careers

CHAPTER

1 23 1 At a Glance

2 Green Careers at a Glance

Green Careers

5 A World of Green

17 Green Jobs

18 How It Breaks Down 6 Overview 12 The Bottom Line

23 Spotlight on Green Sectors

14 How to Use This Book

29 Do You Need an MBA?

14 A Brief Context: Capitalism and Nature

31 What Makes a Company Green? 33 What Do You Do with Your Degree? 34 Green Business Rankings

conte 2008 EDITION

4

39 Real People Profiles

46 Nicole Rousseau;

40 Toshio Meronek; Ideal Bite

48 Dennis Macray; Starbucks

41 Billy Lullo; Steaz

49 Ahmed Rahim; Numi Tea

5 6 53 Getting Hired

HSBC Bank

63 for your reference

54 Define Your Goals

42 Shauna Alexander Mohr; Lucina 43 Lisa Leff; Trillium Asset Management 45 Marc Heisterkamp; U.S. Green Building Council

64 Glossary 54 Create Your Opportunity 56 The Recruiting Process

68 Websites, Magazines, and Journals 69 Books

59 Interviewing and Job Search Tips 60 Competitions, Awards, and Challenges

nts

70 Major Green Conferences 71 Networking Events

At a Glance

1

At a glance a world of green

Green Careers at a Glance

Major Pluses •

There are opportunities for almost anybody with any skill level to get a green job. You might even be able to stay in your current job and turn it into a green one. Be aware, however, that just because it’s green doesn’t mean it’s going to be a great job.

•

The green sector is diverse and growing. It includes many small startup companies with a green product or service; clean tech companies; green building (sometimes grouped with clean tech); corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments at multinational corporations; socially responsible investment (SRI) firms; nonprofits; foundations; and government, state, and local agencies. It also informs line roles at conventional companies, which often now seek to integrate green practices into supply chain management, reduce material usage, and streamline energy use.

Getting Hired

•

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

details on your opportunities. In addition, things are evolving quickly in this sector, so you’ll want to read green media such as GreenBiz.com and Sustainable Industries Journal to stay on top of what’s happening.

Opportunity Overview

real people profiles

green jobs

Green Careers

•



The green sector is fragmented, and different companies apply green principles to their operations in different ways. Many corporations publish social responsibility or sustainability reports that chronicle their efforts. Others have social, ethical, and environmental elements written into their charters. Many work with consulting firms or nonprofits to help them apply green practices to their businesses. You’ll need to navigate the variety of opportunities to find a role that suits you. Myriad networking opportunities and information sources on green have sprouted up over the last several years. Attend conferences, monthly “Green Drink” networking meetings, and other events to meet people and get more W E T F E E T I N SIDER GUIDE

•

Those who enter the green sector tend to do so because they feel passionate about changing the world, and believe the only way to deal with issues such as climate change, poverty, or the degradation of natural resources is to come up with alternative ways of doing things. The greatest plus of working in this sector is that when you go home at night, you’ll feel that your work mattered.

•

The rapid growth of the green space means there will be a growing number of career opportunities in virtually every sector. Some observers predict that the next Google or Microsoft will emerge from among the clean tech companies now getting funding.

•

If you want to work in an area that’s crying out for innovation, this is it. New models for virtually every human activity need to be pioneered. Finding ways to eliminate waste from manufacturing, create carbon neutral businesses, and provide economically stable lives for people who live in poverty all are pressing challenges you may have a chance to solve.

Major Minuses •

Many times those with a sustainability title feel like they’re pushing paper rather than saving the world. Some days, you may not feel especially close to the world-changing work you set out to do.

•

In some roles and some organizations, you’re going to face resistance from those who don’t

At a glance

understand what you’re trying to achieve, or don’t believe it’s as important as you do.

•

While a great deal of change is happening, you may wonder why it’s not happening fast enough. Occasional bouts of depression or just plain despair come with the territory.

green jobs

Roles in the green sector have not been codified. They can change quickly, and tend to require flexibility. You’ll need to be constantly learning and tracking what’s going on in your area. Many like the challenge, but it can be a pain to keep up.

a world of green

•

Recruiting Overview

If you’re already in a job, consider trying to make it green. In virtually every role and organization, you have an opportunity to help “green” what you do or where you do it—though you’ll want to make sure you have your employer’s support in that endeavor when you start.

•

One effective way to get to know people and learn about the “green” space is to volunteer with nonprofit groups pursuing green programs in your area.

•

Internships provide an effective path for those going into nonprofit, business, and even government roles.

•

Networking is critical for meeting people, finding out what’s going on, and learning about new opportunities.

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

•

Getting Hired

Start by deciding what you want to do. How do you want to use your skills? What type of organization do you want to work at—startup, nonprofit, corporate, or government? What issues matter most to you—social equity, environmental stability, economic viability? You need to pick a path.

real people profiles

•

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A World of Green

2

Overview...........................................6 The Bottom Line.............................12 How to Use This Book....................14

A Brief Context: . Capitalism and Nature....................14

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers

Overview The idea of a “green career” implies work that’s

meaningful, where you’re changing the world for the better. It involves working in a suddenly sexy field, one that’s being covered by nearly all major media, with high-profile magazines publishing annual “green” issues. But just what is it? What counts as a green career? Where did this suddenly omnipresent sector come from? For years, the green sector created niche, often inferior goods—a far cry from the fashionable products featured at the Sustainable Style Foundation site (www.sustainablestyle.org) each day. Its entrepreneurs came from an activist background, who for years scorned the mainstream even as the mainstream ignored (and sometimes mocked) their tie-dye ethic. In 1993, Paul Hawken’s classic The Ecology of Commerce—an important book to read if you’re serious about entering the green sector—offered a vision of what a sustainable economy might look like, arguing for creating businesses that were in harmony, rather than at odds, with nature. “Businesspeople must either dedicate themselves to transforming commerce to a restorative undertaking, or march society to the undertaker,” Hawken declared, meaning that unless businesses took account of the limits of the natural world, there would be no natural world in which to do business. Today, facing the deterioration of virtually every ecosystem, from fresh water supplies to soil and air quality, businesspeople are starting to dedicate themselves to the transformation Hawken talked about. In some cases, they’re being forced through government regulation or rising costs of natural resources, such as oil; in others, their customers are demanding it. Regardless, this movement is creating career possibilities in virtually every sector of the economy, from nonprofits and government jobs to entrepreneurial and corporate opportunities. In fact, there are opportunities for a green career in 

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virtually every industry and every function—and more will be emerging in the years to come, as companies broaden their commitment to going green, while dealing with a tidal wave of environmental challenges: declining reserves of fossil fuels; climate change; increasing amounts of government regulation; and demands from citizens for healthier communities.

INSIDER SCOOP “I don’t know if there’s a green career. There are careers, and there are ways to green them.” —Dennis Macray, director of business practices, Starbucks

What Is a Green Career? The simplest definition of a green career is one that involves either reducing human environmental impact or promoting the environment’s restoration. You could be doing this in many different ways. You might be involved in reducing the amount of packaging used for the shoes your company sells, underwriting bonds for renewable energy development in your region, selling cleaning products that are free of toxic chemicals, advocating for the preservation of wetlands, or helping plan multi-use development located near public transportation. Another way of describing a green career is when you’re working toward the triple bottom line. The concept, created by John Elkington in 1994, involves shifting a company’s responsibility from shareholders to stakeholders—anyone who is influenced by the actions of a firm. But it’s even broader than that. Sometimes the triple bottom line is referred to as “people, planet, profit.” A triple bottom line enterprise: •

Treats all the people it touches equitably by paying a fair wage to its workers, never knowingly exploiting anyone, providing safe work conditions and tolerable hours, and giving back to the communities in which it operates—for instance, by providing health care and education

•

Does the least harm possible by curtailing its

Produces profit through a positive, lasting economic impact

uses the image of a funnel to help people visualize sustainability, with the upper side of the mouth representing our declining resources and the lower side, our increasing demand. The farther you get down the funnel, the smaller the margin of error for having a mismatch between available resources and resource demand. In other words, if you need more resources than are available, you have an unsustainable situation. And that’s the problem with the level of resource consumption today: The resources needed to support our industrialized economy are greater than what’s available, meaning we’re dipping into future savings accounts to fund our generation’s activities. It’s a way of doing business that can’t be sustained.

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

The Natural Step, an international organization founded by a Swedish cancer researcher, has created a framework for sustainability that somewhat expands and complements the framework presented by the United Nations. It consists of four “system conditions”: If a society is to be sustainable, it must not systematically (1) deplete concentrations of substances from the Earth’s crust (such as lead or oil), (2) produce increasing concentrations of its own substances (such as CO2), (3) degrade by physical means (extracting resources at a rate faster than they can be replenished), or (4) create conditions that undermine the capacity of its people to meet their needs. The Natural Step

Getting Hired

To understand green, you need to understand sustainability. The term “green” is really a shorthand way of talking about sustainable development, or sustainability—a concept that came out of the United Nations’ 1983 World Commission on Environment and Development (also known as the

π Defining Sustainability: The Natural Step Framework

real people profiles

What Is Sustainability?

green jobs

Many of the emerging green opportunities are variations on everyday jobs—even such everyday roles as carpenters, secretaries, and janitors. What makes their jobs “green” is how they approach their work: using recycled wood for building, reducing paper and energy use in the office, replacing conventional cleaning supplies with nontoxic ones. It may not sound all that sexy, but it’s important work. Other opportunities require more sophisticated knowledge, such as figuring out how to reduce energy and water use in a manufacturing plant, or how to reengineer a consumer electronics product to eliminate toxic materials. “They’re still traditional roles, but there are opportunities within traditional functions to think about what you do differently, to think about your role in the realm of sustainability,” says Valerie Nibler, an MBA student at Presidio School of Management who interned with Sam’s Club. “Ultimately, that’s the way it has to go. There’s not going to be a sustainability department that drives all of the changes. It’s got to be people on the ground making the day-to-day decisions about what products they’re going to buy. That’s who’s going to make the difference. We have to design different products and buy different products. It becomes everybody’s job.”

a world of green

•

Brundtland Commission). Convened to look into the deterioration of the human environment and natural resources, and the consequences on economic and social development, the Commission came up with a definition of what type of development would be sustainable: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” A number of UN initiatives since the Bruntland Commission have been designed to encourage a wide-ranging response toward the need for sustainable

At a glance

environmental impact. It carefully manages how much energy it uses and how many natural resources go into its products; it reduces or even eliminates waste wherever possible; and it doesn’t produce products that are harmful or destructive, such as weapons or products with toxic chemicals



At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers development policies. In 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development—the Earth Summit, held in Rio—the UN released a text of Agenda 21, a blueprint of actions to be taken globally, nationally, and locally by organizations, governments, and groups around the world. Like many blueprints, some communities and nations took up the call, but many more did not.

“Green is sort of like art. It’s hard to describe, but I know it when I see it. In the context of green careers, another way to put it is the Buddhist concept of Right Livelihood. The work that you do is based in a sense of compassion for humanity and for the planet, and a desire to not only provide for yourself and your family, but for future generations.” — Leif Utne, VP marketing & sales, QuantumShift.tv In 2005, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a four-year study that involved more than 1,360 experts worldwide, reported that over the last 50 years, “humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history” and that while these changes have improved human well-being and economic development, they “have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services.” Unless addressed, these 

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problems “will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from ecosystems.” In other words, we’ve achieved short-term economic success by depleting the environmental resources needed to continue that success. The purpose of these intergovernmental initiatives is to prompt action, though many of the largest governments, including the United States, have failed to pick up the banner. “We’re not trying to alarm, we’re trying to alert. It’s simply a way of telling the world, we still have a window for choices,” says Noel Brown, former director of the UN Environmental Programme and current president of Friends of the United Nations. “We have to begin with intergovernmental systems. We have one unique opportunity. We have the power of definition. We are able to define the global challenge very broadly, and with great authority. We provide frameworks. We also have the ability to bring governments together to focus their attention on these issues.”

Big Business Goes Green Two watershed events in 2006 brought green to the mainstream: The release of Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, and Vanity Fair’s May 2006 “Green Issue”—a model copied by magazines of every genre since. “[The Vanity Fair issue] was the first indication that this is mainstream, that it’s a mass movement,” says Pippa Sorley, cofounder and vice president of eConscious Market, an online charitable mall. “It seems like it took about 15 years of work to reach that tipping point.” Much work was accomplished in that 15-year period. Companies like Nike, IKEA, GE, McDonald’s, Xerox, Herman Miller, 3M, and HP have started initiatives like reducing packaging in their products, creating more energy-efficient manufacturing processes, recycling through computer take-back programs, eliminating toxic materials from their production processes and supply chains, and creating more sustainable products. “There has been some very exciting work occurring in some of the largest companies on earth, companies

At a glance

What companies are going green? Plenty. These are some of the plans announced in 2007: Some 30 companies committed to going carbon neutral, including Nike, Barclays, HSBC, Interface, Salesforce.com, and Yahoo.

Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, REI, and Whole Foods all announced plans to sell more green-labeled products. Bank of America announced that it would direct $20 billion to help its customers take advantage of green economic growth over the next ten years; Citigroup announced plans to target $50 billion over ten years to address global climate change.

Masatami Takimoto, VP of Toyota’s powertrain development, declared that by 2020, Toyota would be all-hybrid, with cost savings from improved quality and reduced waste. GE’s CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, announced plans to increase revenues in green products from $12 billion to $20 billion by 2010, and to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by one percent by 2012.



FOR YOUR REFERENCE

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Getting Hired

it also often makes bottom-line sense. Executives increasingly recognize that the value of going green, even while not always apparent, can be significant. The Economist found that companies with a proactive sustainability policy have seen their share prices rise over the past three years, and in 2007 Goldman Sachs found that the companies with the best environmental, social, and governance policies had a 25 percent higher stock value than their competitors. In an Economist survey of more than 1,250 senior business executives, 57 percent thought the benefits of pursuing sustainable practices outweighed the costs. They cited priorities like communicating their sustainability performance to investors and stakeholders, shrinking their environmental footprint through waste reduction and using recycled materials, and improving energy efficiency. According to State of Green Business 2008, by Joel Makower and the editors of GreenBiz.com, the “state of green business is improving, slowly but surely, as companies both large and small learn the

real people profiles

like Wal-Mart, where the CEO is sounding like a true green environmentalist,” says Hunter Lovins, professor of sustainable management at the Presidio School of Management and founder and president of Natural Capitalism. Among Wal-Mart’s innovations are performance scorecards for its suppliers that measure things like the amount of packaging in products. Suppliers who don’t meet minimum standards won’t be able to get their products in Wal-Mart stores. “Even if you don’t particularly care about green or the environment or sustainability,” says Lovins, “if you’re in a company that sells to any of these larger companies, you’re going to have to start caring.” For many companies, the move toward sustainable practices has a feeling of inevitability about it. They’re driven by rising oil prices, increasing environmental regulation in the U.S. and abroad, rising consumer demand for green products, demanding retailers, and the opportunity to save money through operational efficiencies. In other words, even though green behavior can help a company improve its reputation,

Coca-Cola set a goal to recycle or reuse all the plastic bottles it uses in the U.S. market, keeping them from landfills.

green jobs

Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which is a major recruiter at many colleges (it’s projected to hire 8,500 entry-level hires in 2008, more than any other company, according to CollegeGrad.com), announced plans to become the green leader in the car rental industry.

GM unveiled the Volt electric concept car, though it’s still several years from being showroom ready, and Chrysler announced plans to build hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles.

a world of green

π Going Green

At a glance a world of green

Green Careers value of integrating environmental thinking into their operations in ways that align with core business strategy and bottom-line goals.” “If you try to implement sustainability as an add-on after you’ve done everything the same old way, it will be very costly,” says Lovins. “But if you reassess how you’re doing business from a sustainability standpoint, you will drive your corporate innovation, cut your costs, empower your workforce, enhance labor productivity, and, most effectively, differentiate your brand.”

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

real people profiles

green jobs

Where Are the Opportunities? Some big businesses, such as Whole Foods and Patagonia, are known for their green products or services. Others, such as Nike or Starbucks, have reputations for strong corporate social responsibility departments, but may not be immediately recognized for their green efforts. Still others have purchased smaller, socially responsible businesses, which typically operate independently: Colgate bought Tom’s of

π False Claims and Greenwashing The rapid growth of the green marketplace has not come without controversy. Many companies trying to jump on the green bandwagon have been accused of greenwashing— misleading their customers about their environmental practices or the environmental attributes of their products. A 2007 report by TerraChoice Environmental Marketing looked at 1,018 products, 10

from cleaning and personal care products to TVs and printers, making more than 1,700 environmental claims and found that “all but one made claims that are either demonstrably false or that risk misleading intended audiences”—a remarkable finding. Some of the problems of the claims included: lack of proof, vague, irrelevant to the product, and misusing or misrepresenting certification by an independent authority.

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Maine, an all-natural personal care brand; L’Oreal bought The Body Shop, a personal care chain; and Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s. There are opportunities in all of these companies. Meanwhile a host of new companies have emerged with services tailored for every sector of the economy, from Zipcar’s car share service to Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy, which offers complementary and natural remedies alongside prescription services. The Ambrose Group Hotels, an eco-boutique hotel development and management firm based in Los Angeles, has a host of programs to reduce water use, conserve energy, and use non-toxic and local products wherever possible. NatureMill makes an indoor composter. Comet Skateboards manufactures skateboards using sustainably grown woods in a solarpowered skateboard factory. Terracycle produces a liquid fertilizer from worm castings, which it sells in recycled plastic soda bottles. The list of innovative ecobusinesses goes on and on. In the technology sector, clean tech companies— which create products and services that improve performance, productivity, or efficiency while reducing costs, inputs, or pollution—have been one of the fastest-growing recipients of venture capital investment. Windmill makers, solar panel manufacturers, and component suppliers to renewable energy firms represent a huge potential for job growth. If oil prices continue to rise, as many expect, regional manufacturing will become an essential tool for reducing transportation costs, creating opportunities for blue- and white-collar jobs alike. Green building is another rapidly growing sector. Its revenues barely registered 10 years ago, but today it’s a $12 billion industry that’s being embraced by hotels, hospitals, homebuilders, and corporations. Architecture firms are trying to get their architects LEED-accredited—LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is the green building standard in the United States—but there are also career opportunities in greener home building products, with specialty retailers like The Home Depot looking to expand its number of green products and

GrEEN JObs rEal PEOPlE PrOFIlEs

GETTING TO WOrk

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FOr yOur rEFErENcE

When you’re looking for work, be aware the green sector isn’t a single industry or function—it’s all industries and, to a degree, all functions. Your fi rst task needs to be to fi gure out what you want to do. Th is may involve additional training, such as LEED- accreditation or an MBA. Once you’ve fi gured out the job you want, then it’s a question of fi nding the right fi t. Do you want to work at an established Fortune 500 company that perhaps lacks a strong reputation for being green, but is now trying to fi gure it out? Would you rather work at a smaller, growing company where social and environmental responsibility is one of the founding values? Do you want to work at a nonprofi t that partners with corporations to help achieve their goals or would you rather join a nonprofi t working to conserve open space or wildlife?

GETTING hIrED

While estimates on the size of the green marketplace vary, it’s clear the market is big—and getting bigger. Th e Natural Marketing Institute puts the LOHAS market—LOHAS stands for Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability—at $209 billion, including personal health, eco-tourism, alternative energy, alternative vehicles, green buildings, and natural lifestyles. Ecotourism alone is nearly a $25 billion industry. Organic foods—which grew an estimated 21 percent in 2006, according to the U.S. Organic Trade Association—is 3 percent of the total food market, worth $17 billion. Natural pet care, personal care products, and coff ee and tea all saw double-digit growth in 2006, according to the Natural Foods Merchandiser’s Annual Store Survey.

a WOrlD OF GrEEN

The Market

Th e clean tech sector has been growing even faster. According to Clean Edge, the global market for biofuels was more than $20.5 billion in 2006, and projected to exceed $80 billion in 2016; wind power, at just under $18 billion in 2006, is projected to exceed $60 billion by 2016; and solar photovoltaics is expected to expand from $15.6 billion in 2006 to nearly $70 billion in 2016.

aT a GlaNcE

new eco-home improvement stores, such as Bluehouse in Baltimore and EcoHome Improvement in Berkeley, CA, popping up in cities across the country. B Corporations are corporations that have written their values into their governing documents, voluntarily agreeing to meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental standards. Many, such as Nau, an outdoor clothing manufacturer; Seventh Generation, which sells cleaning products; Numi Tea; and New Leaf Paper, are leaders in pioneering green product niches, using recycled materials, and sourcing Fair Trade Certifi ed ingredients. (“Fair Trade” means that producers are paid a fair price for their goods, that they support environmental standards, and that their employees work under fair, safe conditions and receive a living wage.) Even at non-socially minded multinationals, groups are working on green products or services—sometimes while other groups continue to operate in decidedly un-green ways. In the oil industry, giants Royal Dutch Shell, BP, and Chevron have all acknowledged the need to create alternative energy sources, even while they continue to drill for oil and, according to critics, put way too little money toward green eff orts to justify the PR.

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers Do you want to get involved in your city’s efforts to create a more effective public transportation system, community garden program, or other goal? Your choice of employer will very likely be informed by your own values, goals, and personality. You may want to work at a company that’s out to reinvent itself and its industry, such as Interface, a carpet maker that aspires to be the first company that “shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: people, process, product, place and profits—by 2020.” Or you may want to work someplace that, motivated by the trend toward green, wants to do something, but doesn’t yet have a deep commitment to sustainability—a place where your internal advocacy could really make a difference.

INsider Scoop “There are thousands of entry points. If what you care about is working in the corporate world, there are growing numbers of companies with sustainability departments that you can intern in, or get an entry-level job in. But speaking from the standpoint of the business world, sustainability as a bolt-on cost center, as a ‘nice to have,’ is a very tough sell. Understanding the nature of business is just as important as loving the environment. That’s one of the reasons at Presidio we created a full-on MBA.” —Hunter Lovins, professor of sustainable management at the Presidio School of Management Wherever you start, be aware that this isn’t a defined field, career, or path yet. It’s in the early stages of being institutionalized, and the folks in the field today come from a wide range of backgrounds. Over time, certifications and specializations will no doubt emerge, but for now there’s a Wild West quality to the opportunities, with people selecting themselves to speak out and create sustainable change in their organizations. You also need to know that that sustainability —green—isn’t a well-defined path with a clear 12

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destination. Rather, it’s an ongoing process of asking questions about how to live and how to do business, still in its early stages. It’s a very interesting, very big, and very insistent challenge: How can we operate our businesses and cities so that we use resources in a sustainable manner? This challenge becomes increasingly difficult as our window for operating sustainably—the point when the demand for a resource outpaces its availability—starts to close, which will effectively force us to come up with an alternative way of doing things. It’s likely that people will be figuring out how to operate sustainably for the remainder of human history for a simple, compelling reason: Our lives, and those of our families, depend upon it.

The Bottom Line Realize that “green” doesn’t refer to any single

industry or role, but a whole bunch of them. The people drawn to the green sector tend to be those who want to do work that aligns with their values. If you’re interested in this sector, you’ll want to be clear about what you want to do in it and where you want to do it. Understanding what it means to be green, and in particular the challenges involved in operating a company sustainably, will be critical in your effort to make a difference. You’ll want to be sure to review the books and websites in the For Your Reference section, and you may want to consider getting an advanced degree in policy, business, engineering, or another field. While many companies and even cities are starting to post jobs for sustainability managers and other roles, the opportunities in this space are largely undefined and the responsibilities have not yet been codified. There are some obvious places to look for opportunities, such as companies with a stated mission to be socially and environmentally responsible or the

At a glance

The Earth Day Footprint Quiz from Redefining Progress lets you pick where you live in the world and answer a few questions on your eating, living, and transportation habits, providing a brief report on your ecological footprint: www.earthday.net/ footprint. The Home Energy Saver is a do-it-yourself energy audit tool for saving money on your energy bill: http://hes.lbl.gov.

The U.S. EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Footprint Calculator provides an estimate of your personal greenhouse gas emissions, along with tips for reducing your footprint: www.epa. gov/climatechange/emissions/ ind_calculator.html.

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

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Getting Hired

“Go out and smell the roses! Take a hike. Understand the value of the environment, of nature. If you’re committing yourself to working in that sector, it’s important to understand why this fight is so important. . . . The closer it is to your heart, the stronger your commitment and the more successful each person in the company.” —Alissa Sears, global betterment manager, Christie Communications

real people profiles

corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments of large multinational companies, but your best bet may be to invent a role for yourself at a place you’d like to work. Internships can be an effective way to break in. The green job market can be competitive—you’ll probably need to network, network, and network— but this is growing area of opportunity, and there will be a huge need and opportunity for people to come in at every level to redefine how businesses can operate more sustainably. Even so, the goal of becoming a truly sustainable company has not yet been reached—and will require the creativity and ingenuity of many enterprising, committed employees, entrepreneurs, and advocates. If you’re called to the green sector, listen: The financial rewards may not equal those in other parts of the economy, but the satisfaction of working toward something you believe in will prove priceless.

How clean (or toxic) is your area’s air and water? Find out at www.scorecard.org.

green jobs

One basic challenge of sustainability is that there are insufficient resources to support the earth’s population without transforming how we use and produce goods. To understand firsthand how your own day-to-day resource needs compare to what’s available—and what others in other parts of the world typically use—you can check one of several online calculators. Some online calculators also show how much you can save by changing your habits.

a world of green

π Calculating Your Impact

a BrIef COnteXt: CapItalIsm and nature

a WOrlD OF GrEEN

aT a GlaNcE

Green Careers

GrEEN JObs

While.capitalism.has.been a driving force behind

hOw tO use thIs BOOk

FOr yOur rEFErENcE

GETTING hIrED

rEal PEOPlE PrOFIlEs

Most.WetFeet.publications.focus on a single

function (such as human resources) or industry sector (such as government and nonprofi t). Green Careers necessarily covers multiple functions and industries; it’s a broad introduction to an emerging fi eld made especially attractive by the opportunity to make a positive diff erence. Use this book as a primer to understanding some of the key issues, areas of opportunities, and trends within the green sector. Whether you’re an undergraduate, MBA, or mid-career job changer, the information in this book should equip you with a basic understanding of core concepts in the green space, places where you can fi nd opportunities, the types of work you’ll be involved in, and how a handful of people working in the fi eld broke into it. Th e green sector has its own language, including fi nancial terms, acronyms for certifi cations, and general terms, many of which may be unfamiliar to you. If you come across an unfamiliar term, check out the glossary on page 64 for the defi nition.

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extraordinary increases in quality of life, national (and individual) wealth, and technological know-how, these and many other benefi ts have come with an often unexamined, tragic set of consequences. Among these is the degradation of the natural world and, in some cases, the impoverishment of local populations. Natural resources have been the unwitting victims of the rush to grow GNP—forests have been cut down to make way for crops, oceans have been fi shed until species have collapsed, and the rush to suck up fossil fuels has often had devastating consequences for local populations in areas where soils and rivers have been turned toxic. Th ese ecological costs have added up. A couple of statistics may illustrate the point. According to the Worldwatch Institute’s report, Vital Signs 2007-2008, scientists tracking historical changes in the world’s major fi sh populations have indicated that if current trends continue, all major fi sh stocks could become commercially extinct by the middle of the century. Meanwhile, since 1959, when measurements fi rst began, CO2 concentrations have risen 20.8 percent— a contributing factor to climate change. Th e culprit, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which includes some 2,500 scientists, is human activity, with the burning of fossil fuels a primary cause. Risks of these rising temperatures include the extinction of species, the prospect of drought, and a growing intensity in storms, with catastrophic results for some coastal populations. In many ways, the wealth produced through the capitalist system has come at the cost of ecological systems—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Natural

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when the life of the product ends. This approach was explored in the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002), by William McDonough, an American architect, and Michael Braungart, a German chemist. Their design firm, MBDC (www.c2ccertified.com), offers certification in cradle-to-cradle design. A number of products that apply this principle are on the market today, including the Mirra chair made by Herman Miller, which can be disassembled and is 96-percent recyclable, and gDiapers, which come with plasticfree, flushable, compostable refills.

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human problems. By modeling designs on nature’s adaptations— which are toxic- and pollution-free, energy efficient, and organic—we can create sustainable solutions. For example, by studying subSaharan African termites, which maintain a virtually consistent temperature in their homes despite wild temperature variations on the outside, we might find ways to eliminate the need for air conditioning or heating. Or by learning how a leaf produces energy from the sun, we might develop a more effective solar cell. Another design strategy is to think through the lifecycle of a product, from where its materials originate to what happens to them

green jobs

π Biomimcry and Cradle-to-Cradle Design The process of creating sustainable alternatives is fundamentally a design challenge—that of reworking science and technology so that the processes and outputs don’t pollute and aren’t energy- and materials-intensive. The innovative approaches for tackling these challenges are likely to produce a wide range of opportunities in the coming years. The most promising approaches, not surprisingly, draw on nature for inspiration. Janine Benyus’s 1997 book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, introduced the concept of “biomimicry”: the science of imitating nature’s process, systems, and models to solve

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belongs to everyone. (Peter Barnes considers this theme in his book Who Owns the Sky? Our Common Assets and the Future of Capitalism.) Reshaping how businesses operate and interact with their suppliers, communities, and other stakeholders poses an enormous—and enormously interesting—challenge. Small wonder that so many activists and idealists have been drawn to the field of sustainability: Fundamentally, the challenge is how to change the world. But this isn’t an opportunity for only the activists and idealists among us. The challenges affect all of us, and they affect our children even more acutely. They also affect the roughly four billion members of the planet who live on under $2 a day—whose poverty is itself unsustainable, a human catastrophe in waiting. Solutions are out there, in the creative minds of a public whose growing awareness is already contributing to a significant shift in how businesses and cities operate. These are the solutions those of you reading this book will be trying to figure out. Thank you for trying.

At a glance

capitalism, a term that emerged in the 1990s, proposes that natural resources and ecological processes, such as the water purification created by wetlands, constitute a kind of capital—sort of like money in the bank. This capital can be transferred into goods and services, but it means reducing the amount in the bank. By treating these resources as capital—timber (for paper and building materials), fresh water (used for many manufacturing and agricultural processes), and biodiversity (including unexplored plant species in the rainforests, which potentially store cures to the most intractable diseases, such as cancer)—we can make better informed decisions around how to use them. Multinational businesses, which draw on a disproportionate amount of this capital for the products they create, have a responsibility to redesign processes, products, and services to minimize the amount of natural capital they use. Key to achieving this goal is continuous improvement, conservation of biodiversity, and restoration of nature wherever possible. Community participation and social equity also play a significant role, because natural capital

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3

How It Breaks Down......................18 Spotlight on Green Sectors............. 23 Do You Need an MBA?.................. 29

What Makes . a Company Green?..........................31

What Do You Do . with Your Degree?.......................... 33

Green Business Rankings............... 34

At a glance a world of green

Green Careers

How It Breaks Down The green sector can be divided in a variety of

ways. The following is a broad division based on area of opportunity.

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green jobs

Corporate Many opportunities for green careers are in corporations. A lot of these are in corporate social responsibility (CSR) roles, which involve a range of environmental and social issues. A 2008 CSR JobsReport from Ellen Weinreb CSR Recruiting and Net Impact found that job listings for CSR jobs increased approximately 37 percent per year from January 2004 to June 2007. Despite this growth, demand for jobs outpaces supply; MBA students and alumni increasingly believe that businesses can earn a profit while creating sustainable social change. The 317 CSR postings by multinational corporations that were studied for the report showed that 25 percent were internal roles; of these, 25 percent were in the apparel industry and 22 percent in consumer products, with Disney, Nike, and Starbucks as the top multinational employers. (Of the non-corporate CSR roles, 41 percent were in services and 34 percent were independent.) Besides CSR roles, many corporations are likely increase hiring people in line functions who can integrate sustainability into their day-to-day work—everything from supply chain management to marketing to manufacturing. Further information on green corporate opportunities can be found in “What Makes a Company Green?” (page 31).

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Entrepreneurial One of the more robust areas of green job growth is the entrepreneurial sector, including venturefunded clean tech startups, small businesses taking a green angle on an old product, and service-based organizations, such as restaurants serving local, organic foods or dry cleaners using nontoxic dry cleaning 18

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processes. This sector may be one of the more powerful drivers of opportunity over time, as business owners pioneer new products and services that follow green processes. Local entrepreneurs, too, play an important role in this segment. The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE, www.livingeconomies. org), a network for locally owned companies, endeavors to create an “incentive for all concerned to take human and community needs and interests into account”; its various chapters provide events for networking and ongoing education of sustainability issues. Further ideas for green entrepreneurship can be found in “Spotlight on Green Sectors” (page 23).

Nonprofit Many nonprofits have a mission that involves the environment and sustainability. These can be excellent places to develop expertise on an issue while typically enjoying a more reasonable work-life balance than at a for-profit company. Many others work closely with corporations to monitor their operations, set up carbon offset programs, and otherwise provide support in their efforts to meet the environmental and social requirements of sustainability. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, for example, has developed a partnership with Wal-Mart, called Acres for America, designed to conserve fish, wildlife and plant habitat. It’s intended to offset the footprint of Wal-Mart’s domestic facilities; in WalMart’s Sustainability Progress 2007-2008 report, 395,000 acres, or three times the acreage Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores occupy, had been preserved through the program. Adobe, Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and a number of other companies are involved with Partnership for 21st Century Skills, which advocates for (and provides resources and tools to bring) 21st century skills into the classroom. Eddie Bauer, Nike, Nordstrom private label, Patagonia, Puma, and many others work with the Fair Labor Association, which monitors working conditions in developing countries, reports on remediation efforts, and investigates third-party complaints. Many of these

At a glance

π NGOs and Sustainability for green buildings, has played an essential role in helping create the green building market. The Fair Trade Federation (www. fairtradefederation. org) promotes trading practices based on social and economic justice, while TransFair USA (www. transfairusa.org), a member of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (www. fairtrade.net), certifies Fair Trade products in the United States. These pioneering organizations have been instrumental in helping shape sectors of the green marketplace and continue to play significant roles, and could be excellent places to intern for those starting out on their green career.

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Nonprofits—which are sometimes referred to as NGOs, or nongovernmental organizations—are playing a critical role in helping shape standards, define opportunities, and create accountability for businesses and governments in the United States and around the world. The Global Reporting Initiative (www.globalreporting. org), for example, has developed the world’s most widely used sustainability reporting framework—the standard by which many companies measure their sustainability performance. The U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org), which has developed the LEED Rating System

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websites and newsletters, and host events that can be excellent places to network and learn about green issues.

Government Local, state, and the federal governments all have agencies that work on a wide range of issues that relate to sustainability. Many of the jobs there require an advanced degree or other advanced experience in policy, science, or engineering. The government offers opportunities to work on green building programs, air quality, city planning, and water and transportation, among other areas. WETFEET INSIDER GUIDE

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relationships are designed to provide third-party validation for a company’s operations, making the nonprofit organization an essential partner in enforcing the standard. Certificating agencies, most of them nonprofit, hire inspectors, program associates, and consultants, and provide engaging, interesting opportunities in addition to international travel opportunities. Large multinational corporations aren’t the only ones who partner with nonprofits. A growing number of small green companies work directly with nonprofit partners, and often donate a percentage of their profits to nonprofits. Lucina Company, a small online jewelry retailer (see page 42), buys hand-carved fluorite gemstones from graduates of the Women for Women Afghanistan jewelry workshop—part of Women for Women International, which helps women survivors in conflict zones rebuild their lives. Many of those it serves are war widows, and the sole providers for their families. EConscious Market, an online mall in beta (i.e., not yet formally launched), lets its customers choose a nonprofit to receive 50 percent of the net income from each sale. “Our donation model has attracted many of our vendors,” says cofounder Pippa Sorley. “So many of them that would otherwise not dropship are making exceptions to be a part of our marketplace. There’s a shift in the businesses as well as the consumers to drive change. They’re willing to do a little extra work to be associated with our model. It’s a profound paradigm shift that we’re trying to spawn here.” Depending on the issue you’re interested in, you should be able to find a nonprofit devoted to it, whether you lean toward environmental conservation or other issues like renewable energy, social equity, or greater transparency and accountability in business. Nonprofits tend to cluster in key cities like San Francisco, Washington, DC, and New York, but in some cases they have additional regional offices. See pages 20 and 21 for a short, by-no-meanscomprehensive list of nonprofits working on issues in the sustainability arena. Many have information-rich

At a glance

Green Careers

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green jobs

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Nonprofits working on issues in the sustainability arena Organization

Purpose

Apollo Alliance www.apolloalliance.org Headquarters: San Francisco

This coalition of business, labor, environmental, and community leaders works to catalyze a clean energy revolution in the United States in order to cut carbon emissions, reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil, and expand opportunities for businesses and workers.

Business for Social Responsibility www.bsr.org Headquarters: San Francisco

Provides socially responsible business solutions to corporations, helping them achieve success in ways that demonstrate respect for ethics, people, communities, and the environment.

Center for a New American Dream www.newdream.org Headquarters: Takoma Park, MD

Helps Americans consume responsibly to protect the environment, enhance the quality of life, and promote social justice.

Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies www.ceres.org Headquarters: Boston, MA

A national network of investors, environmental organizations, and other public interest groups working with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change.

Conservation International www.conservation.org Headquarters: Arlington, VA

Applies innovations in science, economics, policy, and community participation to protect biodiversity around the world.

Earthjustice www.earthjustice.org Headquarters: Oakland, CA

Public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the environment.

Ecotrust www.ecotrust.org Headquarters: Portland, OR

Supports sustainability in the Pacific Northwest—“Salmon Nation”—through a variety of programs.

Energy Foundation www.ef.org Headquarters: San Francisco

Advances energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Environmental Defense Fund www.edf.org Headquarters: New York City

Partners with businesses, governments, and communities to find practical environmental solutions.

Friends of the Earth www.foe.org Headquarters: Washington, DC

Defends the environment and champions a healthy, just world.

Global Exchange www.globalexchange.org Headquarters: San Francisco

Membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic, and environmental justice around the world.

Global Green www.globalgreen.org Headquarters: Santa Monica, CA

A national environmental organization that addresses climate change, weapons of mass destruction, and the provision of safe drinking water to those who lack access to clean water.

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At a glance

Purpose

Grameen Foundation www.grameenfoundation.org Headquarters: Washington, DC

Supports microfinance programs that enable poor people, mostly women, to lift themselves out of poverty and make better lives for their families.

Green Institute www.greeninstitute.org Headquarters: Minneapolis

Sustains the environment and communities through practical innovation

Nature Conservancy www.natureconservancy.org Headquarters: Arlington, VA

Private international conservation group that works to protect land and water worldwide.

NRDC www.nrdc.org Headquarters: New York City

Uses law and science to protect the planet’s wildlife and wild places and ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.

Ocean Conservancy www.oceanconservancy.org Headquarters: Washington DC

Advocates for a healthy ocean ecosystem through research, education, and science-based advocacy.

Redefining Progress www.rprogress.org Headquarters: Oakland, CA

Works to shift policy to achieve a sustainable economy, health environment, and just society.

Resource Renewal Institute www.rri.org Headquarters: San Francisco

Facilitates the creation, development, and implementation of practical strategies to solve environmental problems.

Rocky Mountain Institute www.rmi.org Headquarters: Snowmass, CO

Fosters the efficient, restorative use of resources to make the world secure, just, prosperous, and life-sustaining; led by a leading sustainability expert, Amory Lovins.

Sierra Club www.sierraclub.org Headquarters: San Francisco

A membership organization that works to protect the environment, the Sierra Club is the oldest and largest environmental group in the United States.

Trust for Public Land www.tpl.org Headquarters: San Francisco

Conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, community gardens, historic sites, rural lands, and other natural places.

Wildlife Conservation Society www.wcs.org Headquarters: Bronx, New York

Works to save wildlife and wild lands through science, international conservation education, and managing urban wildlife parks.

World Business Council for Sustainable Development www.wbcsd.org Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland

Provides business leadership as a catalyst for change toward sustainable development

World Wildlife Fund www.worldwildlife.org Headquarters: Washington DC

Works to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth and the health of Earth’s ecological systems.

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Organization

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At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers At the federal level, the Bush administration’s action on issues like climate change has been nominal at best, but the current presidential candidates from both parties have sponsored climate change legislation, and no matter who wins, there will likely be increasing activity at a federal level. States have taken more action. In California, one of the leaders on environmental initiatives, opportunities to work on sustainability projects are available in a range of state agencies. California’s Department of General Services, Real Estate Services and the Division of the State Architect are involved in green building initiatives for public buildings and schools, and the Procurement Division is leading the state’s environmentally preferable purchasing program. Other states have agencies working on similar issues, though the names and organization of the various departments may vary. Cities, too, have been playing a leadership role on sustainability. Major cities, including San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Portland, Boston, Denver, and Los Angeles, have sustainability or environmental offices leading the charge on carbon emission reduction, municipal composting, green roofing, green building, public transportation, energy efficiency, farmers markets, and other programs and policies. One trend among cities has been to hire a sustainability director, a generalist with political savvy who can guide the various experts and navigate through government institutions. In many cities, the rising cost of oil is a driving force of change; cities are exploring ways to move people and goods around inexpensively. Urban planning and public transportation are two other likely growth sectors. Already many cities around the world are using technology, sometimes in partnership with corporations, to create more efficient transportation systems. “In Seoul, people are going to have PDAs that let them know about transit options, so they can optimize their travel every day,” says Warren Karlenzig, founder of Common Current, a consulting firm. “Amsterdam is going to have work centers that are sponsored by the city, to bring people together in 22

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coworking environments. And San Francisco is using buses that are connected with information systems for timing, so you know when they’re coming.” These efforts reduce commutes and support public transportation usage, thereby decreasing automotive pollution and creating effective alternatives in the face of rising fossil fuel prices. A career in the government sector often requires specialized training. Scientists, engineers, and policy specialists have different roles, monitoring air or soil quality, overseeing buildings or other public works projects, and figuring out the most effective policies to implement. Breaking in can involve a different application process from that of a for-profit or nonprofit company, though networking still plays an important role. In addition to staff positions, many cities, states, and federal agencies hire consultants to work on projects, analyze policy, and otherwise contribute to the complicated challenge of running major population centers.

π California’s AB 32 California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006—AB 32—set up the first statewide program to cap greenhouse gas emissions from major industries. AB 32 was landmark legislation—it also created jobs. The Air Resources Board, the state agency responsible for monitoring

and regulation emissions under the bill, has brought in more than 100 people. Keep an eye out for regulation at the federal, state, or city level that requires enforcement, monitoring, and other expertise to implement—there may be a job in it for you.

Regional Another way to break down the green sector is by region. The Pacific Northwest (including Seattle and Portland) and California (in particular the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles Area) have a large number of startups, green businesses, city sustainability initiatives, and public awareness programs about

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One of the fastest growing—and potentially most transformative—sectors of the green movement is referred to as “clean tech.” The term itself is an umbrella for a wide range of technological applications

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Clean Tech

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a green mirror image: Covering this vast array of opportunities would require a separate book. This section is designed to highlight some of the more rapidly growing green sectors. We’ve also tried to provide a sense of where a job seeker might find opportunities. That said, unlike many more established industries, there are no clear career paths for many of these areas. Research, networking, and even working toward the creation of your own role (or business) can be key tools in initiating your career.

green jobs

Virtually every sector of the economy has

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Spotlight on Green Sectors

with ramifications for sustainability—such as technologies that reduce or eliminate the need for energy, water, or raw materials; reduce waste or toxicity; or deliver superior performance. These technologies can apply to virtually any industry sector, from manufacturing to building to transportation. The concept of clean tech commonly calls to mind solar and photovoltaic panel manufacturers, and alternative fuel companies, along with other renewable energy concerns. But the market is in fact much bigger than that, and includes companies like Tesla Motors, which makes an electric sports car that goes from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 4 seconds (among others, George Clooney owns one); Aqua Sciences, which makes water purification systems; and Serious Materials, which markets a product called EcoRock, a drywall material with a carbon footprint smaller than conventional varieties. More than other sectors, the clean tech sector is now driven by venture capital investment. The technologies’ transformative potential makes clean tech companies potentially lucrative investments, as alluring to investors as dotcoms were a decade ago. Many believe that clean tech companies will be the future Microsofts and Googles of the world. This may explain why Bill Gates and Paul Allen have both invested in clean tech, and why Google Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Google, plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in clean tech development, with the goal of making renewable energy cheaper than coal. Vinod Khosla, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and former partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers, formed his own firm, Khosla Ventures, focused on the clean tech sector. But he’s certainly not alone: In 2007, venture capital investments in the North American and European clean tech sector grew 40 percent, with $5.18 billion going to startups, up from $3.6 billion in 2006. That’s a lot of money, much of which is needed to pay salaries of researchers, sales teams, and marketers involved in creating and selling the products. Investment is likely to continue, and will probably grow thanks to trends such as high energy costs, global competition for resources, and the likely

At a glance

going green. Other cities, including Chicago, New York, Boston, Denver, Austin, and Philadelphia, also have growing pockets of green business, strong civic leadership around sustainability initiatives, and a developing awareness about green themes and trends, but the West Coast has traditionally been a leader in this sector. “There are a lot of artists and designers here; there are green energy companies and energy trusts,” says a Portland, Oregon entrepreneur. “There are so many innovative food and beverage companies here and restaurants and farms. There are a lot of people who make very sustainable lifestyle choices. There is bike traffic on the streets. There are biodiesel cars everywhere. There are green building centers. Every new restaurant has reclaimed wood floors. It extends naturally into the way business is done.”

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired

Green Careers drift of federal government policies toward greater support of clean energy. California companies received more venture capital investment in 2007 than those in any other state—around 35 percent of the total, or a little under $1 billion. Companies focused on energy generation received the most money, and include such names as Project Better Place, an electric car service ($200 million) and HelioVolt, which makes a thin-film photovoltaic ($101 million). Many cities and regions, recognizing that the industry will be home to a growing number of jobs, have been scrambling to promote clean tech development. Austin’s Clean Energy Incubator (www.cleanenergyincubator.org), the Greater Sacramento Region’s CleanStart Initiative (www. cleanstart.org), Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Renewable Energy Trust Industry Investment and Development Program, and San Diego’s Cleantech Initiative are all examples of regional efforts to build a clean tech industry. According to a 2007 study put out by SustainLane, the qualities most effective in nurturing a clean tech “cluster” include start-up or advanced-stage venture capital, access to a network of investors and business mentors, academic or federal lab collaboration, and active state or local participation and incentives. Austin, San Jose, Berkeley, Pasadena, and Greater Boston were the areas it ranked as the top five leaders. Those looking for jobs in the clean tech space might start looking at the companies receiving support in these places. Meanwhile, the website Cleantech.com is a good place to glean information that could provide job leads.

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INSIDER SCOOP “Clean tech is a great sector for interested people with marketing degrees. There’s going to be big growth there. Now that they’re perfecting these products, they’re going to need to get the word out.”—Warren Karlenzig, founder and president, Common Current 24

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π Job Titles of the Green Future The blog Earth2tech.com came up with a list of ten emerging jobs, not entirely in jest, which it proposes will shape the future of clean tech. These include: • Green brand manager • Biodiesel vegetable oil pickup person • Land use planner • Eco-brewmaster • LEED accredited builder • Green building manager • Composting toilet installer • Solar panel installation foreman • Corn farmer (thanks to ethanol) • Guilt-free venture capitalist

Green Building The opportunity to green the building sector, which includes commercial, industrial, and residential construction and represents some 14 percent of the $10 trillion U.S. economy, is vast. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that buildings account for some 38 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. Globally, buildings consume some 40 percent of all raw materials, according to the Worldwatch Institute. The green sector is poised for very rapid expansion: The McGrawHill Construction Analytics 2008 SmartMarket Trends Report indicates the value of green construction starts in 2008 will exceed $12 billion, increasing to $60 billion by 2010. No wonder a spate of architects, construction companies, and product manufacturers are moving in, providing a dizzying array of green options, from green pre-fab homes to natural ventilation systems to low-flow toilets.

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for a green-collar jobs program; the Oakland Green Jobs Corp launched in 2008 with seed money from the Oakland City Council. In 2008, Washington State also enacted a Green Jobs bill, which included plans to accelerate investment in clean energy technology. A variety of nonprofit organizations from across the country have come together on the campaign Green for All (www. greenforall.org), which calls for a national commitment to a green collar program.

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Green-collar jobs are blue-collar opportunities in the green space; they include eliminating toxins from the environment, retrofitting buildings with solar panels, organic farming, and installing wind farms. They’re a way to bring people from disadvantaged communities into the workforce by training them in skilled roles that produce an environmentally friendly product or service. In Oakland, CA, Van Jones at the Ella Baker Center has successfully led calls

green jobs

π Green-Collar Jobs

a world of green

of building projects, and rates buildings across six areas—the site, water efficiency, energy use, materials, indoor environmental quality, and the design process. Buildings earn “points” for green features; the more points, the higher the rating, which ranges from “Certified” to “Platinum.” One knock against the LEED system is that it gives more points for efficient fossil fuel use than for using sustainable energy sources. Some critics have called for a more stringent rating system. Building companies and architecture firms, moving rapidly toward serving the burgeoning market, have created roles focused directly on sustainability. Gensler, the architecture firm, hired a director for sustainable design in 2006. Swinerton, a San Francisco-based general contractor, created its first corporate sustainability management position in 2007. The company expects that, moving forward, 40 percent of its projects will be high-performance buildings;

At a glance

This market has been getting a push from city and states eager to promote green building as a way to reduce carbon emissions and create healthier environments. States like New York and California, among others, and cities such as New York City, Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, and Los Angeles all have initiatives, incentive programs, or ordinances designed to promote green building practices. Corporations, as well, have recognized the benefits of greening their offices—it has been shown to reduce absenteeism and increase productivity. Retail stores that include daylighting, which reduces electricity consumption, have seen 40 percent higher sales. The headquarters for Gap, Herman Miller, and Adobe are all green buildings. Ford’s River Rouge plant, designed by William McDonough, has a 10-acre “living” roof—the world’s largest—designed to cool the factory during the summer and insulate it in winter, while also cleaning the rainwater that flows off; it cost about the same as a conventional roof and is expected to last twice as long. Green features of the Hearst Corporation’s recently built world headquarters in Manhattan include daylight sensors to control lighting and reduce energy use, cascading water designed to cool the atrium in summer and humidify it in winter, and a rainwater collection system on the roof. Homebuilders and developers are catching on to the opportunity to market green homes, which tend to sell faster—and at higher prices—than their conventional counterparts, thanks to less polluted interiors as well as energy savings. Green remodeling is taking off as well. Home Depot’s Eco Options brand, which now includes 2,500 environmentally friendly products, is set to offer more than 6,000 by 2009, while retailers that sell green paints and remodeling products, like Green Sacramento, or Ecohaus in Portland and Seattle, are popping up across the nation. In the United States, the common standard for green building, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, is known as LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This rating system has special benchmarks for new construction, existing buildings, interiors, schools, and other types

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At a glance a world of green green jobs

Green Careers before 2006, that figure was just 10 percent. A number of architecture firms and building companies focus exclusively on green projects, but since these often tend to be smaller, with fewer job opportunities, you might have a better chance at getting a green building job by joining a larger firm, with the intention of working on its green projects. Other opportunities are showing up in the product sector—they involve finding ways to create more sustainable alternatives to resource-intensive, conventional products. PanelTech’s PaperStone, for example, uses 100 percent post-consumer paper and a cashew-nut resin to produce a bio-composite kitchen countertop. Milliken & Company’s 180 Walls is a woven wall covering for commercial applications made from 100 percent pre-consumer recycled polyester, minimizing the release of pollutants.

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SRI Investing Socially responsible investing (SRI) refers to the practice of making investment decisions in order to achieve social good as well as generate financial returns. The tools for realizing these goals fall into three general categories: social screening, community investing, and shareholder activism. Social screening involves choosing investments based on specific, predetermined criteria, from environmental impact to employee relations. Social screens can be positive screens, such as selecting companies that invest in renewable energy, or negative screens, such as avoiding producers of military or gambling equipment. Community investing involves putting money into local communities through low-interest loans. Typically these investments go to address urban decay or rural poverty, with the loans going to people who are starting a business, building affordable housing, or investing in other projects designed to enhance the community. Financial returns may not equal those of other investments, but the social returns will often exceed them. Community development credit unions, loan funds, development corporations, and microfinance institutions are some investment vehicles. 26

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Shareholder activism takes place when people who own shares in a business agitate for change through proxy voting, dialogue, resolutions, or divestment. Increasingly, investors have been voting on proxy ballots or instigating their own shareholder resolutions as a way to introduce measures related to human rights, labor, and other issues. Dialogue is what it sounds like; when socially responsible investors have a large ownership stake in a company, they often can gain access to management and talk through resolutions to issues. Divestment, which unlike the other three approaches doesn’t require organizational support, involves selling a stock to relinquish an affiliation and make a social statement. The SRI sector is robust and growing. According to the Social Investment Forum’s Trends report, SRI represents roughly 11 percent of assets under management, and has risen from $639 billion in 1995 to $2.71 trillion in 2007—a 324 percent growth rate, compared to 260 percent growth in the broader universe of professionally managed assets. From 2005 to 2007, the disparity was even more pronounced: SRI increased more than 18 percent, compared to three percent overall. The socially and environmentally screened fund segment, including mutual funds and exchangetraded funds (ETFs), comprised a little over $200 billion in 260 funds in 2007, representing a 17 percent increase from 2005. Assets in community investing institutions rose some 32 percent, from $19.6 billion in 2005 to $25.8 billion in 2007. Meanwhile, shareholder activism grew significantly as well, with the average shareholder support for resolutions on social and environmental issues increasing 57 percent from 9.8 percent in 2005 to a record 15.4 percent in 2007. While these figures may not look high, even five percent support for a resolution represents a significant ownership stake. It can draw the attention of management and, most importantly, the public. The latter can be unwelcome, and might harm a company’s reputation; sometimes companies amend their

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

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Getting Hired

WETFEET INSIDER GUIDE

real people profiles

The trend away from industrial-farmed, prepackaged, and fast foods and toward local, seasonal, and organic or pesticide-free foods has played a critical role in shifting people’s awareness toward greener living. Books such as Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma have revealed the costs associated with industrial agriculture—it compromises nutritional value; it requires tons of toxic pesticides, which leak into water supplies; it’s inhuman to chickens, pigs, and cows; it relies on genetically modified seeds (GMOs) whose health and environmental consequences have not been fully studied; and the food travels an average of 1,500 miles to reach the plate. A variety of movements, from local farmers markets to community-supported agriculture (where groups of people purchase a “share” in a local farm’s production, and receive weekly or monthly boxes filled with the farm’s produce), have arisen to bring the producers and the consumers of food closer together. Following the lead of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, her famous Berkeley, CA, restaurant, chefs across the country are increasingly purchasing their meats and produce locally from organic farmers—i.e., ones who don’t use pesticides or hormones. These choices are a matter of taste, but they also reflect a concern for diners’ health: The hormones and antibiotics fed to cattle and pesticides used to grow fruits and vegetables end up in our bodies and water supply. The 100-Mile Diet (www.100milediet.org) came about in 2005, when a Canadian couple decided to eat foods only from a 100-mile radius of their home. The blogger No Impact Man (www.noimpactman. com) experimented with minimizing his impact on the environment by limiting himself for a year to food originating within a 250-mile radius of his home in New York City. While not practical for everyone, these efforts do show the challenge, and opportunity, of feeding ourselves with truly local foods. Slow Food (www.slowfood.com), founded in Italy in 1986, helped initiate this shift in thinking. Slow

green jobs

“Working with the financial markets is extremely challenging and multifaceted. You have to keep up with basically everything happening in the world—whether it’s economic or social, domestic or global. It’s enormously challenging to analyze it to figure out what [these factors] mean for investment opportunities and social change opportunities. One of the biggest negatives of this work is that it’s always demanding. It can take over your life. The pure time allocation to be successful in this business is very big. It’s hard to slow down.”—Lisa Leff, portfolio manager, Trillium Asset Management

Slow Food, CSAs, and the 100Mile Diet: Farms & Food

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INSIDER SCOOP

At a glance

policies after a proposal has been filed, preventing it from coming to a vote. Some of the better-known SRI firms include Ariel Mutual Funds, Calvert Group, Citizen Advisors, Domini Social Investments, Green Century Funds, Pax World Funds, and Trillium Asset Management. Banks focused on community investing include many local credit unions and community development banks, but there are some larger brands with a strong sustainability ethic, including New Resource Bank, ShoreBank, and ShoreBank Pacific. In addition to SRI-oriented firms, some Wall Street investment banks, such as UBS, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs, have been setting up groups focused on sustainability research and investment management, with the goal of enhancing financial performance. This work is slightly different from traditional socially responsible investing, which is grounded in values-oriented investing, in that it aspires to create value. You may hear it often referred to as ESG—environmental, social, and governance— investment research. If you’re looking for a more traditional investment banking experience, consider the opportunities in ESG that are emerging in Wall Street firms.

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers Food’s focus is on preserving “cultural cuisine”—the distinctive foods of a region—with members practicing through local chapters around the world. “We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus,” reads its manifesto: “Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods. . .” The purpose of Slow Food, which takes the snail as its symbol, is to promote the right to “good, clean, and fair food.” Its projects include defending biodiversity by cataloging, describing, and publicizing forgotten varietals and flavors, and establishing its University of Gastronomic Science. Plenty of opportunities exist in the area of sustainable agriculture and foods, though they are fragmented and may require some heavy sleuthing. Many organic farms offer apprenticeships. An increasing number of restaurants use local, seasonal, and organic ingredients. New artisan and specialty food producers that tend to use local and typically organic ingredients have emerged; over the last two years, this sector has grown 17 percent, compared to 4 percent for overall food sales, according to the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. Such companies have cropped up offering everything from fine teas, cheeses, and chocolates to sustainable seafood (www.cleanfish.com) and heirloom seeds (www.victoryseeds.com).

INSIDER SCOOP “You see a lot of people who have worked in [conventional food companies] starting to enter the natural and green sector. The skill set that helped the large corporations is now very, very much needed to help get a lot of these organic and natural companies into the mainstream— whether it’s going public or getting them into Wal-Mart.”—Alissa Sears, global betterment manager, Christie Communications In addition to sustainable agricultural companies, a growing number of conventional food brands now offer organic alternatives. Many of these companies 28

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have been purchased by larger consumer products companies: Odwalla (Coca-Cola), Cascadian Farms (General Mills), Back to Nature (Kraft), Ben & Jerry’s (Unilever), Horizon Organics (Dean Foods), and Naked Juice (Pepsi).

Professional Services If you’re interested in consulting, public relations, advertising, branding, graphic design, law, or other professional services that support the green efforts of small to mid-sized companies, nonprofits, and the Fortune 1000, you can find opportunities—though you’ll face a lot of competition to land them. Saatchi & Saatchi S, a sustainability consulting practice that launched in early 2008, received 1,000 resumes for 35 jobs in the first few weeks of posting them. The good news for those offering professional services is that many companies are outsourcing their sustainability efforts to both for-profit and nonprofit consulting organizations, along with individual consultants. A growing number of niche, servicebased consultants are hanging out a shingle, offering functional skills like product development and content expertise in areas like city sustainability, to those who are trying to go green. In addition, some large firms have small internal groups that consult on environmental and sustainability issues. For instance, Deloitte has an environment, health, safety, and sustainability consulting practice, and Edelman has a corporate social responsibility and sustainability public relations practice. Other service-based businesses with a green mission, including graphic design firms and advertising and branding shops, tend to be small, often under 20 employees. Getting a job at one of these groups will take persistence and a fair bit of luck. Often, they’re started by experienced professionals seeking to align their functional skills with their values. If you have strong skills and a track record, you might consider marketing yourself to such companies. You’ll likely face competition from others, but at least you’ll

FOr yOur rEFErENcE

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GETTING hIrED

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rEal PEOPlE PrOFIlEs

sector that don’t require an MBA, in many others— particularly if you’re interested in following a corporate route, but also for many nonprofi t roles—having an MBA could signifi cantly help your career. Th e management skills that come with an MBA provide tools for managing a business that can be very attractive to a startup with a big vision, a corporation trying to fi gure an eff ective way to manage its sustainability programs, a nonprofi t working with corporations, or a foundation trying to manage its endowment. In addition, business schools are increasingly off ering courses on social entrepreneurship and sustainability, meeting the growing interest of students in a curriculum that addresses environmental, social, and ethical issues.

Over the last ten years, a number of “green” MBA programs have emerged in schools like Bainbridge Graduate Institute near Seattle, Presidio School of Management in San Francisco, and Dominican College in San Rafael, California. Growth at these schools has been impressive; Presidio had a class of 22 students when it was founded in 2004; in 2008, it had more than 200 students. Th ese programs diff erentiate themselves from conventional MBA programs by including a sustainability perspective in every course. Whether or not this will improve your career opportunities depends largely on what you want to do. One Presidio student now interviewing for jobs explained the advantage her MBA gave over students from conventional MBA programs this way: “Every single class I took had an element of sustainability built into it. So it wasn’t an add-on in one or two elective classes. It was a core component of every [course] we took, from accounting to communications to marketing.” Th e curricula at the various green MBA programs also tend to be more innovative than those of conventional MBA programs. At Presidio, students learn from active experience, pairing up in small groups with local businesses and organizations, such as REI, the EPA, and Goodwill, to do hands-on projects as a core part of their education. Th e goal of the curriculum is to help students fi nd work they fi nd meaningful. Dominican College’s green MBA program integrates the Bioneers (www.bioneers.org) conference into its curriculum, and at Bainbridge students enroll in an “industry concentration,” working with faculty and an Industry Advisory Council to analyze opportunities and implement sustainability solutions within a particular industry. Students who have received sustainable or green MBAs have gone onto a wide range of roles, from holding sustainability management positions in city government and corporations to founding startups. Many have also had the unique experience during their graduate programs of working on sustainabilityfocused projects at corporations, nonprofi ts, and

GrEEN JObs

While.there.are.many careers in the green

Green MBAs

a WOrlD OF GrEEN

dO yOu need an mBa?

aT a GlaNcE

bring your values in line with your work—which for many is the reason for getting into the green space in the fi rst place.

At a glance

π Net Impact Undergraduates, professionals, and MBAs interested in the green sector all might consider joining Net Impact (www.netimpact. org). Originally a membership organization for MBAs (Net Impact has chapters on 24 percent of U.S. business school campuses), this international nonprofit has expanded, with several undergraduate chapters as well as a professional membership—perfect for midcareer changers.

green jobs

a world of green

Green Careers

Net Impact’s programs include a campus greening initiative, a career center, and educational offerings, including an excellent set of primers on its website (go to the learning center) on topics that include Fair Trade, green business, and socially responsible media. Members can also take advantage of “Issues in Depth” phone calls, where they’ll have a chance to talk with industry leaders on a range of topics. (In 2007, members had a chance to be on

Getting Hired

real people profiles

government that those in conventional programs are unlikely to have access to.

•

Conventional MBAs Conventional MBA programs may have less activistoriented curricula than the rising green MBA programs, but many—including Case Western Reserve, Northwestern, Stanford, the University of Michigan, and George Washington University—have concentrations in sustainable enterprise. The Yale School of Management has a 25-year track record of offering an MBA and Master of Environmental Management as a joint degree in conjunction with the Yale School of Forestry and Environment. If you’re thinking about getting an MBA from a conventional school but have an interest in sustainable management principles, here are two good sources to help inform your choice:

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

•

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Net Impact’s report, Business as Unusual, which is available for free at www.netimpact.org, profiles more than 50 business school programs, drawing on information from a qualitative survey distributed to Net Impact chapter leaders and an online survey completed by Net Impact members. W E T F E E T I N SIDER GUIDE

calls with CEOs from Starbucks, Seventh Generation, and Calvert on topics such as “Consumers and Sustainability,” “Carbon Offsets: Different Perspectives on a Growing Industry,” and “Sustainable Product Design at Gap Inc.”) Net Impact’s annual conference is a good venue for additional networking, with green leaders in business providing keynotes and a variety of provocative breakout sessions.

The Aspen Institute does a biennial survey and alternative ranking of business schools designed to spotlight programs that integrate issues of social and environmental stewardship into their curriculum. Here are the top ten from the 2007–2008 report:

Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2007-2008 Rank

University

1

Stanford University

2

York University

3

Yale University

4

UC Berkeley

5

Instituto de Empresa

6

ESADE Business School

7

Duquesne University

8

University of Michigan

9

Columbia University

10

University of Notre Dame Source: www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/index.cfm.

scientist called it “greenwashing.” (A Virgin spokesperson claimed the biofuel came from sources that don’t compete with food or freshwater resources, which is one of the criticisms of ethanol and other biofuels that displace food crops, increasing food prices.) Two key questions for assessing a sustainability claim are “Is it necessary?” and “Is it having an impact?” according to Celeste LeCompte, managing editor at Sustainable Industries Journal. “Sustainability claims for unnecessary processes, practices, products, or services are meaningless, because there’s no positive impact. Still, even in cases of greenwashing, there can be positive benefits. The very introduction of a sustainability theme promotes public awareness and raises the bar for those who come next.

real people profiles Getting Hired

While many companies are doing many things to green their operations and business practices, it can be hard to determine what’s legitimate and what’s not. For example, in February 2008 Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to stage a test flight using biofuels; the company is investing profits from its transportation business into biofuel R&D. (Because the airline industry produces 2 percent of the world’s CO2 emissions, which contribute to climate change, finding less polluting fuels is a significant challenge.) Many critics, however, question the use of biofuels, which require a lot of land to grow, driving food prices up, while contributing to deforestation. The head of the World Development Movement, Peter Hardstaff, labeled Virgin’s flight a “publicity stunt,” and Greenpeace’s chief

green jobs

improve its sustainability performance depend on its business. (Obviously, a consumer products company’s sustainability issues are different from those of an airline.) While there are common themes among companies striving to be more sustainable—how to reduce their carbon footprint, eliminate waste, and treat their employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders fairly—the specifics for each company’s program will vary wildly. An increasing number of companies are setting ambitious goals in an effort to operate sustainably. One of the hallmarks of a sustainable company is transparency—the willingness to be open and forthright about what it’s doing, and accountable for its operations, actions, and results. A growing number of corporations are publishing sustainability reports (the names vary from company to company) that provide a periodic report card, analogous to that of an annual report, for the company’s performance. Reviewing these reports can provide insight into a company’s operations, including the opportunities available. If a company is trying to eliminate toxic chemicals from its production process, for example, somebody internally is inevitably working toward achieving that goal. The table on the next page provides an introduction to a handful of targets, actions, and results at a handful of companies. Its purpose is to provide a flavor for some projects going on in multinational corporations. The information is taken from the company’s most recent sustainability report on its website.

π The Bullsh*t Radar: Is It Necessary?

a world of green

The types of programs a company creates to

At a glance

What Makes a Company Green?

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

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31

At a glance

Green Careers

Company

Sample Initiatives

Herman Miller A Better World Report 2007

Herman Miller aspires to design products with consideration to their environmental impact. Its Design for Environment (DfE) team works with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry to evaluate new product designs for safety of inputs, disassembly, and recyclability. All new products are designed using the DfE protocol.

Nike Corporate Responsibility Report, 05–06

Nearly 800,000 workers are involved in Nike’s contract supply chain, and 80 percent of them are females between the ages of 18 and 24. Nike has created a set of goals focused on improving the working conditions of this stakeholder group through eliminating overtime in contract factories. It’s also implementing human resource management systems and educational training for workers in certain target factories, including one to educate workers on freedom of association: the right of workers to unionize or otherwise come together to promote their common welfare.

Wells Fargo 2006 Corporate Citizenship Report

In 2006, Wells Fargo offset 42 percent of its greenhouse-gas emissions from electricity and became the largest purchaser of renewable energy in the United States. Five Wells Fargo buildings in California and Minnesota received Energy Star ratings from the EPA and the Department of Energy for being among the top 10 percent of energy efficient buildings in the country. Other actions included the reconfiguration of 400 ATMs in California’s Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Clara counties, making them envelope-free.

Procter & Gamble 2007 Sustainability and Philanthropy Report

Procter & Gamble’s Forest Resource Policy covers the 1.7 million air-dried metric tons of pulp it bought in 2006–2007. The paper goes to many of P&G’s product lines, including paper towels (Bounty), toilet paper (Charmin), diapers, feminine hygiene products, and tissue. The policy specifies that P&G only buys wood-derived pulp from suppliers that:

real people profiles

green jobs

a world of green

Sustainability inituatives from Multinational Corporations

• Ensure the safety of the forestry and manufacturing operations for employees and the environment; • Document the fiber is legally harvested wood; • Practice principles of sustainable forestry management; and • Refuse to obtain the fiber from sites designated for conservation or judged to have unique environmental and cultural value.

Target 2007 Corporate Social Responsibility Report

In the 100 new stores that Target builds annually, its Property Development Team will seek to minimize resource use through water conservation (including low-flow toilets, ultra low-flow hand-wash faucets, and customized irrigation) and low-impact development (such as the use of techniques that filter and infiltrate storm water runoff onsite and the installation of bio-swales instead of storm sewers to manage runoff from parking lots). In a separate program, Target has been manufacturing gift cards using resins from renewable resources. In 2007, it offered a limited introduction of a biodegradable, compostable, and carbon-neutral gift card.

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

P&G also has a goal of generating $20 billion in sales by 2012 of products with reduced environmental impacts.

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At a glance a world of green

What Do You Do with Your Degree?

green jobs

Throughout this book we’ve tried to indicate different companies, industries, and roles in the green sector. The following Real People Profiles should be especially helpful in providing a sense of how some people have found their “green” careers, and what they’ve done since they got there. But if you’re still stumped about what career path you might like to follow, we’ve provided some ideas for the ten most popular majors, according to Princeton Review. Opportunities

Business Administration/ MBA

• Sustainability director within a Fortune 1000 company or city • Program management, operations, or marketing role at a nonprofit • Work on green certification systems for industry sector of choice • Emissions broker, facilitating carbon credit trading • Entrepreneur

English

• Editorial, marketing, public relations at media outlet, advertising, or branding agency • Journalist, covering sustainability beat

Communications

• Public relations for a nonprofit or socially responsible business • Marketing department of company with green initiatives

Psychology

• Exploring psychological impediments to adopting sustainable practices and proposing new product or service offerings • Travel guide at eco-tourist resort

Computer Science

• Programming for a nonprofit or for-profit “green” company • Developing energy-efficient hardware or software programs that track and help minimize energy use

Education

• Teaching sustainability within curriculum to elementary, secondary, or higher-education students • Training specialist working on internal educational initiatives for greening a corporation

Political Science

• Research analyst in state or federal government agency, think tank, or nonprofit • Advocacy with nonprofit focused on sustainable policy issues, like clean air or smart growth

Biology

• Horticulturalist or arborist for a city • Conservation research • Studying economic impacts of biological issues

Engineering

Nursing

• Practicing at a “green” hospital

• Green product design or “biomimicry engineer” • Reengineering manufacturing processes so they’re more green • Green building industry

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Degree

Getting Hired

Opportunities

real people profiles

Degree

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At a glance a world of green

Green Careers

Green Business Rankings A number of media organizations have come up with various systems that rank businesses according to

how green or socially responsible they are. As a job seeker, you can use these rankings as a way to help you find prospective employers. While the lists differ in what, exactly, they rank, they offer insight into which companies are making an effort toward greening their operations. Many of the companies in this list offer extensive information about their practices on their websites, including sustainability or corporate social responsibility reports—excellent sources of information, and required reading if you’re truly interested in a company.

Fortune magazine’s 2007 accountability ranking examined how effectively the world’s 100 largest companies have built sustainability into their strategy, corporate governance, and stakeholder engagement—and the degree to which it’s reflected in their actions. Note that the companies ranked are the world’s 100 largest; consequently, many companies are, by definition, excluded. Also, note that these are not the most accountable companies, but the most accountable among the world’s 100 largest. Fortune found reason to be optimistic after the 2007 rankings, concluding that “global corporations are becoming more accountable.” Still, the magazine noted that scores do “not yet” correlate to financial performance: “There is no demonstrated link across the Global 100 between performance measures such as return on equity and a company’s Accountability Rating.”

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

real people profiles

green jobs

Most “Accountable” Companies

Fortune’s 2007 Top 15 “Most ‘Accountable’ Companies” Rank

Rank 2006

Company

1

2

BP

2

N/A

Barclays

3

28

ENI

4

7

HSBC Holdings

5

1

Vodafone

6

3

Royal Dutch Shell

7

11

Peugeot

8

9

HBOS

9

30

Chevron

10

15

DaimlerChrysler

11

N/A

Tesco

12

N/A

BASF

13

14

General Electric

14

N/A

ABN Amro

15

26

ING Group

Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2007/accountability/full_list.html

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At a glance

Business Ethics’ “Top 25 Best Corporate Citizens, 2007” 1

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

2

Advanced Micro Devices

3

Nike

4

Motorola

5

Intel

6

International Business Machines

7

Agilent Technologies

8

Timberland

9

Starbucks Coffee

10

General Mills

11

Salesforce.com

12

Applied Materials

13

Texas Instruments

14

Herman Miller

15

Rockwell Collins

16

Interface

17

Steelcase

18

Dell

19

Cisco Systems

20

Lam Research

21

Johnson & Johnson

22

Adobe Systems

23

Kimberly-Clark

24

Gaiam

25

The Gap

Getting Hired

Name

real people profiles

Rank

green jobs

Developed by Business Ethics magazine, this ranking of the 100 best corporate citizens focuses on U.S. companies, scoring them on financial, environmental, social, and governance performance. It draws from a wider field than Fortune’s accountability rankings do, and looks at metrics that also have a significant sustainability component—how well these companies perform for their shareholders, employees, and communities in the areas of governance, diversity, employees, environment, and human rights. Since the annual list first appeared in 2000, 11 companies have made it every year: Intel, Timberland, Starbucks, Herman Miller, Cisco, Pitney Bowes, Southwest Airlines, Cummins, Ecolab, Brady, and St. Paul Travelers. In 2007, seven of these made the top 25, which are listed to the right.

a world of green

Best Corporate Citizens, 2007

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35

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Source: www.business-ethics.com/BE100_all

At a glance a world of green

Top Sustainable Stocks Progressive Investor newsletter, which is published by SustainableBusiness.com, put out a list of its top 20 sustainable stocks for 1997. Working with KLD Research & Analytics, the list recognizes companies that have either “greened” their internal operations or expanded their business through green technology. Those looking for a green career might consider including these companies in their search. Google, which did not make the list, did receive an honorable mention. Note that these companies are not ranked, but appear in alphabetical order.

Getting Hired

real people profiles

green jobs

Green Careers

2007 SB20 “World’s Top Sustainable Stocks” Company

Country

Best Water Technology

Austria

Canon

Japan

Comverge

USA

Chipotle Mexican Grill

USA

First Solar

USA

Fuel Tech

USA

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

USA

Groupe Danone

Netherlands

Herman Miller

USA

Interface

USA

Land Securities

Britain

Nike

USA

Novozymes

Denmark

Ormat Technologies

USA

Precious Woods

Switzerland

Renewable Energy Corp.

Norway

Royal Philips Electronics

Netherlands

Schmack Biogas AG

Germany

Vestas

Denmark

Whole Foods Market

USA

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Source: www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/progressiveinvestor. sb20p1

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At a glance

a world of green

green jobs

real people profiles Getting Hired

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

37

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Real People Profiles

4

Toshio Meronek.......................... 40 Billy Lullo................................... 41 Shauna Alexander Mohr.............. 42 Lisa Leff...................................... 43

Marc Heisterkamp...................... 45 Nicole Rousseau.......................... 46 Dennis Macray............................ 48 Ahmed Rahim............................. 49

At a glance a world of green

Green Careers IDEA MAN Name: Toshio Meronek Title: Editorial manager Company: Ideal Bite, www.idealbite.com Location: San Francisco Years in business: 3 Hours per week: 40 (“When I started, I was working as many as 70 to 80 hours on half-pay. That’s more a factor of working for a startup than working for a green company.”) Size of Company: 15 employees

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

real people profiles

green jobs

Education: BA, Reed College

What do you do? On a day-to-day basis, most of what I’m doing is writing. We have a team of interns who do a lot of the research. I take that and fill it into the tip form. I create language that people want to read on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes, the subjects are heavy, like if you’re talking about the ethanol or biodiesel issue; other times, the subjects might make people cringe. We ran a tip the other day on the DivaCup, which is like a reusable tampon. I had to find a way to make it something somebody wouldn’t immediately delete because it grosses them out. How did you get your job? I’d applied to work at Jen’s green consulting company [Jennifer Boulden is a co-founder of Ideal Bite]. Ideal Bite was launched on the side. I had an internship with her, then she started paying me for freelance consulting—odd jobs she needed done, mostly PR. After that I had a go at writing Ideal Bite’s green tips. What are some of the things that make Ideal Bite green? The business model is to bring green to a greater audience—people like my mom, who maybe recycle but might not know all the different options that are out there for organic food or something. Beyond that, internally, the benefits package includes carbon offsets; we have a transportation allowance; all of our

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furniture in the office is from Ikea, which uses Forest Stewardship Council-approved wood—there was some thought put into that. We’re getting the walls painted this weekend, and that’s all with low-VOC paints. Why were you interested in the green space? I’d always felt like I wanted to do something values-based. What are your career aspirations? After working in the startup environment for a couple of years, I have the entrepreneurship bug. I think about going into business, which had never even occurred to me early on. Now that I’ve seen that you can do good through business, it’s something that I’m definitely interested in pursuing. What do you really like about your job? Number one has to be the people I work with. I think it’s easier to get along with people who have the same base-level values. When you work for a company that’s environmentally focused, you know there are certain things you care about that your coworkers also care about. What’s challenging? We’re bringing these ideas to people who are just getting started with the whole green thing. Sometimes that can be frustrating. You want to tell people, “Consider biking to work,” but it’s not something they would ever do. The idea is if you introduce them to the concept that you can change things by doing small things everyday, eventually, those people will graduate to doing bigger things. What’s the biggest misconception about the green sector? I think there’s a lot of misinformation and greenwashing out there right now. How can somebody get a green job? What was really key with my situation was that I interned first. It was an unpaid internship that turned into a full-time job.

At a glance

THIRST QUENCHER Title: Director of sales Company: The Healthy Beverage Company/Steaz, www.steaz.com and www.steazenergy.com Location: Chicago Years in business: 2 years at Steaz, 9 in the industry

What are your career aspirations? I want to see Steaz and this brand succeed. In 2007, we won the Socially Responsible Business award at the Natural Products Expo East for our sustainable farming practices and Fair Trade certification, and I want to see that we continue on that path.

Hours per week: 70 Size of Company: 15 employees Education: BA, Eastern Illinois University

How did you get your job? I have a friend who worked in the industry and referred me to Steaz.

What’s the biggest misconception about the green sector? Right away, people think you have to be vegetarian or you have to be vegan, and it’s not true. You can live the life as you have and choose the more sustainable option, improving both your own health and the well being of our planet.

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How can somebody get a green job? Get into the industry any way you can—take any job you can, get to know people and network. I would recommend attending tradeshows and events in your sector of interest to see what’s needed from companies that are green or natural. There are huge opportunities at the Natural Products Expo East and West—that’s the onestop shop for hitting every company in the space.

Getting Hired

What are some things that make Steaz green? Our sparkling green tea beverages are both Fair Trade and Organic certified. We ensure our packaging is fully recyclable. We use soy-based inks and compostable sampling cups, and work to be as paperless as possible. We donate to global environmental causes and contribute products to green events and festivals nationwide. We’re involved in so many charitable events it’s hard to keep track of them all, such as rebuilding homes in Sri Lanka, promoting sustainable development in Sudan, and supporting health-related initiatives in the United States.

real people profiles

What do you do? I manage nine regional sales managers throughout the United States who are responsible for sales in the natural food channel.

What’s challenging? The difficulty I see is that the top three beverage companies are coming out with their version of a green energy drink, but their ingredients and marketing don’t convey to the consumer an understanding of the importance of green practices and principles.

green jobs

How did you get started in the green sector? Coincidentally. I was environmentally conscious; there were little things I was doing like recycling and using reusable shopping bags. A friend of mine introduced me to Steaz and I was thrilled to learn about the company’s mission and dedication to being green. When I came on with Steaz, and started learning more about natural products, I realized that I could do good and do well at the same time.

What do you really like about your job? I like the people I work with. I loved going to my first Green Festival and seeing how many people are out there trying to make the world a better place. I like that I work for a company where making the world a better place is their priority—that’s very rare. It’s not only about social responsibility; it’s about keeping our staff happy, healthy, and on the right path. Everybody in our company really believes in what we sell.

a world of green

Name: Billy Lullo

At a glance a world of green green jobs

Green Careers GREEN BY DESIGN Name: Shauna Alexander Mohr Title: President and founder Company: Lucina, www.lucinajewelry.com Years in business: 3 Location: Portland, OR Hours per week: I’m balancing this with two very small children. That’s part of the beauty of starting your own company—you can be more flexible. Officially, I work about 35 hours a week, but I don’t shut off when I’m not in the office, so it’s really more like 60 hours a week. As an entrepreneur, I’m constantly thinking about the subject matter and the possibilities. I’m constantly strategizing and happy to do so. Size of Company: 4 employees Revenues: Private

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

real people profiles

Education: BA, University of Virginia; MBA, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies

How did you get started in the green sector? I started at the Nature Conservancy, a conservation organization. That was my first internship in college. I worked in government relations in the Seattle office for three years. They lobbied on acquisitions and stewardship of biologically significant lands. That’s what got me interested in sustainable economic development—I saw what government could do, and where it could use collaboration from the private sector. What led you to start Lucina? I had worked in developing markets for sustainable and Fair Trade products for ten years. I had all this experience in specialty coffee, and consulting with socially responsible companies. I wanted to work in an area where there wasn’t a lot going on. When I started Lucina, the jewelry industry seemed largely asleep to sustainability issues. There were a few NGOs raising issues, but there was not a lot of information out there about sustainability and jewelry (in contrast to

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specialty coffee, where there is very high awareness and a lot of groundbreaking work). I was also attracted to jewelry because I knew of so many artisan workshops around the world that I’d come across in my travels, and I’d seen their handcrafted products. But they needed an infusion of North American design sensibility to be a hit in this market, which makes sense—if you live outside Bogota, how do you know what’s going on in San Francisco? What does Lucina do? Lucina brings together the craftsmanship of artisans in developing countries and the talents of American designers to create jewelry. Why were you interested in the green space? I have been interested since I was three years old. One of my first books was called Litterbugs Come in Every Size. It was just something that I was aware of when I was growing up. What are your career aspirations? There are two. I want to see Lucina become very successful from

“There’s a conceptual side of sustainability, and then there’s where the rubber meets the road. And I love being where the rubber meets the road. I have to make sure that the components that we source are sourced in an ethical manner. I love that.”

Name: Lisa Leff Title: VP and portfolio manager Company: Trillium Asset Management Location: Boise, ID Years in business: 15

What do you dislike? The quick answer is the day-today detail stuff that I am forced to attend to, lest it not be attended to at all. It pulls me away from the bigger picture strategic stuff that I relish.

Revenues: Manage around $1 billion Education: BS, California State, Polytechnic; MBA, Wharton; Chartered Financial Analyst

What do you do? I’m an investment manager, which means that I manage stock and bond portfolios primarily for high-net-worth families and individuals, and institutions, like foundations and endowments. What our firm does exclusively is socially responsible investing. In managing my client’s assets, I’m managing them to meet both financial and social goals.

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How did you get your job? Through a series of nice accidents. When I graduated from Wharton, I wanted to do something that would combine business with doing something good for the world. I thought that was either going to be working in management for a nonprofit, or doing some sort of cause-related marketing or management for a socially responsible company. My dream job was to be the person to figure out the cause-related campaigns that would be on the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream container. Instead, I went and did work for a little nonprofit that no longer exists called the Council on Economic Priorities. It packaged information on social responsibility for consumers and for investors. So many of the people who are pioneers in social investment worked there at one time or another, though most didn’t last long. When some folks at Smith Barney/Citigroup asked me if I would be willing to come work with their small, fledgling social investment group, I had no interest in going to Wall Street. I liked wearing jeans to work; [›]

Getting Hired

How can somebody get a green job? Definitely identify what your interests and passions are. There are so many different sectors. Try to narrow it down, either by a sector or a topic area. People are going to be looking to hire someone with passion and commitment. So you’ve got to be true to your heart— true to your passions and your real interests.

Size of Company: 42 employees

real people profiles

What’s the biggest misconception about the green sector? I think there’s a misconception out there that there are some simple fixes. To really “green” this world is going to take a lot of commitment. But it’s fun. I don’t mean to imply that “commitment” and “sacrifice” are the same. Creating a green future will involve commitment. But people think that to be green, there has to be sacrifice, in design, or product quality for example. Untrue. This is nothing that a lot of smart minds can’t come together to figure out.

Hours per week: 60

green jobs

What do you really like about your job? There’s a conceptual side of sustainability, and then there’s where the rubber meets the road. And I love being where the rubber meets the road. I have to make sure that the components that we source are sourced in an ethical manner. Looking at certification, looking at how to make sustainability happen in a for-profit environment—that’s a really interesting venture to be involved in. I love that.

a world of green

a business perspective and help set a trend and a standard around what’s possible in the jewelry industry. I want people to feel inspired by the beauty of our products, and by the way we do business.

At a glance

INVESTMENT STRATEGY

At a glance

“I love working with clients. I love helping them see the possibilities of for doing really good things with their wealth.”

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

a world of green green jobs

I liked the nonprofit environment. But after talking with them, I decided the potential for impact was huge, using the resources of this really large firm to influence corporate practices. I joined their group in 1993. At that time, I was working 80- to 90-hour weeks, moving up the ranks, traveling 40 percent of the time. It was a really exciting time for Wall Street in general, and social investment. We were having some impact, but Trillium has a model of social investment that could have more impact, and Trillium lives my values. I also wanted to get out of New York; I wanted a sane lifestyle. I had fallen in love with Boise, Idaho for a whole lot of reasons. I didn’t think there was a way I could merge my career with living in a place like Boise, but through a series of negotiations, that did work out. I left New York, moved to Boise, and opened a small office here.

real people profiles

Green Careers

What makes Trillium green or socially responsible? Trillium does only socially responsible investments. And our brand of socially responsible investment is very proactive and change-oriented. It incorporates traditional portfolio management with cutting-edge social and environmental strategies. We focus much more on investing in companies that are really responsive to social and environmental challenges, like climate change, water scarcity, and workplace diversity. We use two other strategies. One, when we own stock in a company, we’re very active owners. Investors have better access to corporate management than most other stakeholders; employees, clients, and community groups often can’t go right to the boardroom, but 44

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investors often can. We really use that power to talk with companies and encourage them to do social and environmental activities that we believe are good both for the planet and for long-term profitability. We have a team that does shareholder advocacy full-time. The other strategy is community investing, where we allocate a portion of client’s assets to community development loan funds and banks and microcredit programs that have a transformative effect in communities. Trillium was one of the first firms to start encouraging our clients to look at community investment as a special asset class. What are your career aspirations? My aspiration now is really getting a better balance between career and life. When I moved here I wanted to get to that better balance, and it is better than in New York. My three-hour daily commute has been reduced to about a 15-minute daily commute. But I’m still not there. This is a very demanding industry, and I’m such an achievement-oriented person, that it’s very easy for me to just work all the time—it actually makes me pretty happy. What do you really like about your job? I love working with clients. I love helping them see the possibilities of doing really good things with their wealth. Many of our clients are very philanthropic, and very interested in social strategies. I love being able to work with them to show them what we can do. I like the evangelical work of educating people, whether they’re clients or the world in general, about social investment—the possibilities of really creating change through investments. And I like the team of people I work with. What do you dislike? I don’t like all the travel. I would say it’s a part of the investment management business that isn’t terribly sustainable. The whole industry travels a lot. But I’ve reduced the travel quite a bit. What’s the biggest misconception about SRI investments? It’s probably still that if you’re

Company: U.S. Green Building Council Location: Washington, DC Years in business: 4 Hours per week: 60 to 70 Size of Organization: 130 employees (“We have about 20 postings on our website, just to give an idea of how quickly we’re growing.”) Education: BS, Principia College; MBA, George Washington University

What are your career aspirations? I’d say that I often saw myself working toward a CSR-focused job [›]

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What do you do? Right now I manage our work with corporations and investors who are implementing LEED throughout their real estate portfolios. I provide these organizations with support

What made you interested in the green space? I never know how to answer that question. My sister and I are both work in the environmental field, so I would credit our parents with raising our awareness of the issues and the needs of society. We grew up in an environment where we saw we needed to do something about this, and we both decided to devote our careers to it.

Getting Hired

What makes the U.S. Green Building Council green? We focus on real estate and the environmental and human health impacts of buildings. And through our third-party certification, the LEED rating system, we really work to transform the market using a triple bottom line approach—improved environmental performance in a financially sustainable way.

real people profiles

Title: Manager, corporate and investment real estate

How did you get your job? I always thought I’d be working in a classic environmental job. That’s what I was passionate about. [But] as I looked at opportunities, I saw there were opportunities to make substantial change through business. Green building represents one of our best, most successful business cases for green. The financial implications of what we’re doing resonate with businesses. As I looked for an opportunity where I could really make change, this was an obvious place.

green jobs

STRUCTURED ENVIRONMENT Name: Marc Heisterkamp

and guidance as both USGBC and the industry learns how to take green building beyond individual buildings and into standard business operations. I also work on the development of tools and programs to broaden interest in green building in the private sector. But I’ve worn many hats here and the organization’s growth has allowed me to move around and fill strategic roles.

a world of green

How can somebody get a job like yours? When I talk to people who are looking at the investment management industry and want to go into social investment, I usually urge them to get as much experience managing money and/or doing financial analysis in a traditional environment as they can. What the social investment industry needs are people with skills and experience. But it isn’t big enough to start at the bottom and learn everything you need to learn in an SRI environment.

At a glance

going to do social investment, you need to give up some investment return or really hot investment opportunities. There’s lots of evidence that not only do you not need to give up investment return, but that if you’re looking at how companies respond to social and environmental challenges, there may be some opportunities for outperformance. I believe that positive link between social and environmental performance will strengthen over time.

At a glance a world of green

What do you really like about your job? I’d say that the fact that, while many organizations and many people aspire to create change, my organization does actually makes an impact. We’ve been able to catalyze an industry and work towards solving some of the issues this society faces. That’s what makes me get up every morning.

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

real people profiles

in the private sector—working with a large firm and helping them improve their environmental impact. As I’ve worked more in the field and seen how it’s evolving, I think I’m more likely to move towards something using financial and capital markets as a mechanism for creating change. However, this field is constantly evolving, and so are the opportunities. Like many committed to the sustainable business movement, I will likely work where I feel I can make the most significant impact.

green jobs

Green Careers

What’s the biggest challenge? Because we are growing so quickly, at the cutting edge of a movement, change is basically a daily thing here. That can be tough in many instances. I never have the same job; it’s a constant evolving process—a matter of what needs to be done and who needs to do it. While that’s exciting, at times it’s very challenging to be that flexible and deal with the many unknowns. What’s the biggest misconception about the green building sector? One, that green building costs more. Green buildings can be built and certainly can be operated for less money than non-green buildings. Second, because of the glitz and glamour of architecture, people think that green buildings have to be new. From an environmental standpoint, existing buildings are our biggest opportunity. A big part of our work these days is working on existing real estate to improve its environmental performance. How can somebody get a job in green building? There is ample opportunity with architecture, 46

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construction, general contractors. The big and emerging opportunity is to work with owners, investment advisors, asset managers, and on the financial side of real estate. Those are the companies I work with on a daily basis. They’re very excited to be working on this, and they also see the opportunity to be leaders in their industries. These are great opportunities for somebody who’s an MBA. These companies need people with expertise and understanding of the financial part who have the passion and enthusiasm that an MBA or a young, business-minded person can bring. That might be asset management, a real estate appraiser, a real estate broker. There are not enough people in those jobs yet who really get green building.

BANKING ON GREEN Name: Nicole Rousseau Title: VP, retail marketing Company: HSBC Bank Location: New York City Years in business: 11 years marketing; 3 years at HSBC Hours per week: 50 Size of Company: approximately 312,000 employees worldwide Education: BS, Smith; MBA, New York University

What do you do? I was hired to drive business for the bank—to acquire new customers and new banking relationships. Banking is such a commodity: Everyone needs it, but it’s a difficult industry for differentiating your product offering and maintaining customer loyalty. I think one way to accomplish both is use existing corporate values to build an emotional connection with your customers. Last year, it seemed natural to use HSBC’s green message to

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Getting Hired

What do you dislike? Working with people who don’t believe that this is a real customer segment and a way to build business. And trying to get things done when there is no formal commitment in my business unit. I don’t consider green as a risk; I only see the upside, I only see the reward. Many people simply do not have the vision to see how being green equates to improving the bottom line. When corporations go through a tough time, these programs are the first thing people want to cut. I don’t

real people profiles

What do you really like about your job? I guess in everything that I do with green marketing, the response is really rewarding—watching how people respond to it. I also enjoy the ability to influence and educate people in this new emerging area. We just ran an eco-bag design contest within HSBC. Reusable bags are going to be the new thing this year as cities and businesses ban plastic bags. My idea was to create an employee-designed HSBC-branded bag and give it to our employees and our customers. In mid-February we put out an announcement, and I really didn’t think anybody would respond. One week later we had 75 employees create over 100 designs. The theme was, ‘Environmental responsibility is everybody’s responsibility.’ Some of participants wrote in about the inspiration for their design and others told me how happy it made them.

green jobs

Why were you interested in the green space? I’m a vegetarian. I’m a naturalist. I’m an animal lover. I’m a wellness person. A lot of the categories that describe green consumers describe me. I also think there has

What are your career aspirations? I’m kind of figuring it out as I go along. Recently, I think I want a larger role in sustainability, perhaps at HSBC. I would also love to work for a large multinational at a corporate level. Something like the (RED) campaign, that concept would be my ideal. [The (RED) campaign teams with well-known brands to create (PRODUCT)RED branded products; a percentage of each of these products sold is given to The Global Fund, and goes to help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.]

a world of green

What are some things that make HSBC green? HSBC has been doing a lot to improve the environment over the past 20 years; we started way before it was cool or trendy to be involved. We were one of the first financial services companies to become carbon neutral, which we’ve done through purchasing renewable energy, reducing our waste and water consumption, and using green building practices. One of our main goals as a corporation is to engage employees in climate change; we’ve sent thousands of employees on expeditions through Earthwatch.  

been a major shift: Many consumers have come to expect environmental responsibility from corporations.

At a glance

create a connection. In the past year, ‘green’ has really exploded, so now my role is also green marketing for the bank. I’m really carving out my own job. Before me, it didn’t exist here. It’s not always easy because although there are a lot of believers, there are also a lot of doubters. I’m a green consumer and an experienced marketer, so I’m very aware of trends in sustainability. When I joined HSBC I started to learn about all of our environmental programs and partnerships. For the past 20 years, we’ve been doing a lot of good work in silence: We’re donating to environmental groups; we’re the first bank to go carbon neutral; we signed the Equator Principles. For example, HSBC has a partnership with Earthwatch and has sent over 2,000 employees on Earthwatch expeditions. It’s not a vacation; you’re working hard on a scientific project. I went on a remote glacier project in Alaska with a group of scientists from SUNY [State University of New York] Oneonta. In late 2006, after I returned from my Earthwatch expedition, I pitched the idea of running a green campaign. I saw HSBC’s dedication to the environment and employee engagement as a natural asset. I thought it was the right time to bring our green credentials to the forefront.

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles

Green Careers think that’s the right tactic: continuing this message will build confidence. Thankfully, I have a lot of support from HSBC, the corporation. What’s the biggest misconception about the green sector? People still think of the old green consumer— crunchy, anti-establishment. People don’t realize that it’s mainstream. This is an issue that many customers care about. How can somebody get a job like yours? Unless they really want to pioneer something new, they should go to a company that has a commitment to the environment. The only reason I can do what I do is because HSBC has a commitment at a corporate level. Also, I recommend they get experience at a nonprofit on the side—get involved on boards. Go to Green Drinks, get involved in the community, read the magazines, read blogs and websites.

CAFFEINE FIX Name: Dennis Macray Title: Director of business practices Company: Starbucks Coffee Company Location: Seattle

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

Years in business: 6 years at Starbucks Hours per week: However many it takes

very important part of my work, and also tracking performance and reporting that publicly. I also oversee the collection of data and auditing of Starbucks Annual CSR Report, ensuring the accuracy of the data. What makes Starbucks green? We have literally hundreds of initiatives; I can’t describe them all—our CSR Report does a good job capturing and highlighting many of them [see www.starbucks.com/csrannualreport]. For me, I am proud of C.A.F.E. Practices [Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices—Starbucks’ green coffee sourcing guidelines] and the chance to influence—in a positive way, I hope—the livelihood of 25 million coffee producers around the world. That’s why I came to Starbucks and that’s why I’ve stayed. It’s a tremendous opportunity to have a big impact. Why were you interested in sustainability? Before going to business school, I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I also worked with Conservation International and did a lot of work in Latin America around social enterprises and socially responsible businesses. I’ve been very focused on sustainable development throughout my career. For me it’s really about what I can do to have an impact on people in developing countries. I’ve been attracted to companies where I could make a difference, because I want to get satisfaction out of my job. I want to love my work.

Size of Company: 172,000 employees Revenues: $9.4 billion (2007) Education: BA, Harvard; MBA, UC Berkeley

What do you do? Essentially, I’m the director of sustainability for Starbucks. My team reports to the COO, who reports to the CEO. We’re involved in setting strategy for the company around sustainable products including coffee, tea, and cocoa, and developing programs to support that strategy. Goal setting is a

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What are your career aspirations? To figure out how I can reach more of the 25 million people growing coffee for their livelihood. To take the models that we’ve developed in coffee and apply them to other industries—scaling up the efforts I’m involved in here. What do you really like about your job? The diversity of the interactions I can have with Starbucks partners [employees]. The excitement of working across our global enterprise. Marketing, finance, operations,

Name: Ahmed Rahim Title: CEO and co-founder Company: Numi Tea Location: Oakland, CA

What’s the biggest misconception about your job? The biggest misconception is that because Starbucks is seen as a large corporation, my ability to make a difference is limited and the company can’t possibly be socially and environmentally responsible with farmers and local communities.

Size of company: 45 employees Education: BA, New York University

What do you do? My title is CEO and co-founder. When we started it was just my sister and I in our 600square-foot apartment. Now I oversee sales, operations, and finance. We have key managers—a COO, controller, director of operations, VP of marketing, VP of sales. They oversee their departments, and I help them in any way possible. How did you get started? We had a great idea, took out a loan from a bank, designed and formulated the idea, and launched it at a trade show. It was a lot of risk, but it was and remains quite exhilarating to see the demand and interest in the product that we created. To see people get excited about the types of teas we’re offering, the quality, our commitment to organic—that’s exciting. We’re doing something that people want.

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

What are some things that make Numi Tea green? We’re certified organic. We use eco-friendly packaging, post-consumer waste. We use bamboo: we don’t follow the trends of those nylon, petroleum-based or GMOcornstarch tea bags. We really care about the health of farmers. We give the farmers extra wages for their work and for the care they take picking and processing their teas. We have a lot of communities we’ve built throughout the world in India and China, from farmers to bamboo sewers to flowering tea growers. It’s not just a product. It’s a product about lifestyle and experience and values. We’re not just trying to sell tea; we’re trying to sell tea with a conscience. [›]

Getting Hired

I am proud of the chance to influence—in a positive way, I hope—the livelihood of 25 million coffee producers around the world.

Hours per week: 50

real people profiles

How can somebody get a job doing what you do? I don’t do what I do in isolation. I depend on people in marketing, procurement, operations, and finance who get it, who want to make the company greener, and who share these values. I look for colleagues who bring their expertise to the challenge at hand and I help leverage their capacity to implement green solutions. It isn’t so much how people can do what I’m doing, it’s how they can apply this in their given function and area of expertise.

Years in business: 8

green jobs

What’s most challenging? Working for a company that’s so heavily criticized. People sometimes ignore the good that big companies can bring. Small businesses and nonprofits do great things, but being a big business does not necessarily mean it’s bad. Big businesses can work toward the same solutions and have a bigger impact.

a world of green

procurement—I get a chance to work across the whole business. It’s very stimulating and exciting to work so closely with so many business units.

At a glance

TEA SERVICE

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers Why were you interested in the green space? Again, there’s a lot more to do in life than to sell. You know what you’re doing is caring for hundreds of people, not just your own pocketbook. We have to do a lot of education, so consumers understand what organic is, what fair trade is. Hopefully this work helps change things. What are your aspirations at this point? We’re expanding in Europe. We want to grow and build overseas. Other aspirations are to really put a lot more focus on the farmers and communities. We want to put more resources and time toward education. As a company we want to continue to be an innovator and pioneer of products, to really care about the roots of the brand. What do you really like about your job? Making a difference in the perception of tea, the quality of tea, and overall in building really strong values and sharing them with people. Caring about the people we buy from—when we go to visit, they get really excited to see us. Building a great team. Hopefully 10, 15 years from now people will look at Numi as a business platform that they’ll want to use as a model when they start their own business. It already happens; a lot of people contact us and say they’re inspired by our company and they want to run their company the same way. What’s most challenging? Managing the finances of a fast-growing company is really challenging; you’re always looking at your cash flow. The competition is getting really strong in tea. We’ve always been ahead of the pack in quality and values, but everybody is going to throw money at the shelves to get more space, and when you don’t have a lot of money it’s challenging. What’s the biggest misconception about your job? I would maybe say that all systems are always a “go.” You don’t realize all the challenges of growing a business fast. You need the right system; you need the right people. There’s always some cog that’s thrown in 50

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the wheel. People don’t see that when they’re buying your product. Or they think you’ve got a lot of cash because you’re a successful brand. But at the end of the day all the money’s going back into the business. Profitability’s not that simple. What advice do you have for somebody who wants to start a business? Put your heart where your money is. A lot of people do business just because they’re doing it for money. If you put your heart there and do good, good comes back to you. Really caring about process and the people you hire and the vision you’re creating and the culture you’re creating—that comes more from the heart than the mind.

At a glance

a world of green

green jobs

real people profiles Getting Hired

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

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Getting Hired

5

Define Your Goals....................... 54 Create Your Opportunity............ 54 The Recruiting Process................ 56

Interviewing and . Job Search Tips........................... 59

Competitions, Awards, . and Challenges............................ 60

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers

Define Your Goals If you want to break into the green sector, start by

getting clear on what exactly you hope to do. Do a value check: What matters to you? Are you drawn to a specific topic area, such as wetlands preservation or energy efficiency? Do you want to work in business and, if so, in what type of industry, at what kind of company—a startup, a small- or medium-sized firm, or a large corporation? Or would you rather work at a nonprofit or a government agency? “I would encourage people to be selfish,” says Leif Utne, VP of marketing and sales at QuantumShift. tv, which he describes as a solution-oriented video network that gives independent producers, nonprofit organizations, and socially responsible businesses a platform for telling stories that inspire people to action. “What is it that you really love doing? What is it that’s fun for you? Try not to think about your career as an obligation, but as an opportunity to really express your values.”

INSIDER SCOOP “We get so many applicants at SustainLane, because so many people are looking at just green-focused companies. But other companies that aren’t green-focused have green departments or green initiatives that you might not know about if you just look on the surface.” —Christine Volden, VP sales, SustainLane

What motivated you to read this book? Overwhelmingly, the people we talked to in the green sector seem to be doing the work because it’s a chance to make a difference. Their typical motivation isn’t making millions or becoming famous, but creating a healthier, more vital society. Many came to a green job as a second career, because it represented a chance to better align their work with their personal values. Others recognized an emerging opportunity 54

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for achieving financial success while doing work they believed in. Some recognized that the problems they’d face would be some of the most important and interesting imaginable.

Create Your Opportunity Once you know what you want to do, you can start targeting opportunities. “You have to be creative about how you define your role or define your career path. The logical start is to look at the CSR departments of big companies,” says Shauna Alexander Mohr, founder of Lucina Company. “But you can go beyond that and get experiences just as great if you’re looking in sourcing, or supply-chain management, or manufacturing. You can take your engineering or marketing skills and apply them to a wide range of issues. Think about your skills, what you’re good at and passionate about, and what’s needed both at a company and in the green space.” Many corporations have a standard set of issues they’re working on, such as reducing waste and improving energy efficiency, but the processes for resolving these issues have not yet been codified or defined. “The things they’re looking at are how to focus on the regulations coming down the pike, how to stay ahead of those, how to set the company up to manage those in a business-conscious and regulation-conscious way,” says Tauni Swenson, an MBA candidate at Presidio School of Management who has worked on sustainability projects for Gap and Williams Sonoma. “They really want people to have skills with implementation. How do you implement anything across the company? I would say there’s a lot of leeway. There’s no formula yet, just a lot of trial and error.” One of the key opportunities for those who want to work on sustainability projects in business is to define the problem and sell others on the importance of a

a world of green green jobs real people profiles

solution. If you can successfully sell management on a program, you can start building your green credentials. “Even if you can’t get a job that has ‘sustainability’ in the title, that doesn’t mean you can’t take action on things in your company to make them more sustainable,” says Valerie Nibler, an MBA candidate at Presidio School of Management. “Culturally, it might

At a glance

“There aren’t just green jobs. There’s a green overlay to all traditional careers— everything from accounting to marketing to product development.” —Jennifer Boulden, cofounder, Ideal Bite

be easier to do that at some places rather than others. Look for places that have made sustainability part of their values.” Many of the most interesting jobs will be opening up in functional roles. Celeste LeCompte at Sustainable Industries Journal told us that in the Northwest, where sustainable businesses are some of the most mature in the country, companies are looking not for sustainability directors but instead for product developers or supply chain heads who can see things through a sustainability lens. “You don’t have to look for a job in a CSR department to make a huge difference,” says Dennis Macray, director of business practices at Starbucks. “The people who are making a bigger difference are in one of the functional units.” “[The green sector is] still in its infancy,” says Jacquelyn Ottman, a marketing consultant focused on the green space. “You will likely need to create your own job. Don’t expect everyone in the company to embrace you—many will fear you or simply not understand you. So you will need to exhibit a great deal of diplomacy.”

π Green Job Listings

• Greenjobs.com posts jobs in the renewable energy sector.

• Green Dream Jobs, which you can find at www. SustainableBusiness.com, lets you search its job database by skill level and function. • If you’re going the nonprofit route, check out www. nonprofitoyster.com. • Idealist.org is a good source for nonprofit jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities. The site also has community

features designed to facilitate networking and a blog with info on opportunities in different parts of the world. • Business for Social Responsibility has a job list, primarily for CSR-type roles (www.bsr.org). • You can find a variety of other sites that post jobs, including GreenBiz (www.greenbiz. com/jobs), Treehugger (jobs. treehugger.com), and many other boards that target specific sectors of the green space.

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

• Green Careers (www. monstertrack.com/greencareers) is sponsored by Environmental Defense and run by Monster. com. Its search tool is targeted to entry-level, part-time, and internship seekers. Take a look at the Green Scholarship page for a list of environmentally focused scholarships, fellowships, and competitions.

• Grist is an excellent news source and has a pretty good jobs board as well at jobs.grist.org.

Getting Hired

If you’re looking for green job listings, check out these websites:

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At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers

The Recruiting Process When you’re on the hunt for your green

career, you won’t face a standard recruiting process. Opportunities in the green sector are fragmented across many different roles, industries, and organizations. The recruiting process will vary depending on where you want to work and what you want to do. An excellent way to break into many organizations will be through an internship. Nonprofits in particular tend to bring on full-time hires through internship programs, but many government agencies also have fellowship and internship programs. Many companies offer internships as well, and even if they don’t, you might consider promoting your own internship. Similarly, you might consider defining a volunteer project at an organization you’d like to work. If the project goes well, the organization may hire you; at least, you’ll be able to take the experience elsewhere. “These are new challenges, in an environment that’s somewhat unstable and still being defined,” a strategist at Saatchi & Saatichi S told us. “I think companies are looking to hire people who can really be leaders and make solid decisions based on not only academic experience, but experience in the field. There are so many local, green initiatives happening everywhere. Use [internship] experiences as a way to get involved, connected, and keyed in.” Don’t underestimate the value of your network, either. “Whether it’s nonprofit or a startup, people are going to go with somebody they like, whom they’ve met in person or who’s been highly recommended by somebody they trust,” says Robin Park, associate director and project manager at The Trust for Public Land, and the founder of San Francisco’s Green Drinks. Take advantage of social networking tools 56

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like LinkedIn and Facebook as well as in-person networking events to get to know what different people in the field are doing—and what you’d like to get involved in.

Special Information for Undergraduates Many of the companies that are projected to hire the largest number of undergraduates in 2008, such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Target, Bank of America, General Electric, Wal-Mart, and HP, have green initiatives, though it’s unlikely that you’d be involved with them as an entry-level employee. You should nonetheless be sure in interviews to mention your interest in working on sustainability projects. Your interest and enthusiasm could possibly lead to a project and, over time, an expanded role in that area, as an expert in your function or an at-large source for the company. Make sure you check the company’s website and familiarize yourself with its environmental and sustainability programs, as these will be important talking points. Many small and medium-sized companies have entry-level roles for those coming out of college in functions as varied as marketing, sales, editorial, and administration. Often, joining a company where you’d like to work in an entry-level role, even if it’s in an administrative function, can provide you with the experience in the company’s business that can lead to a higher-level, more interesting role when an opportunity emerges. If you advocate for more sustainable practices, or take on an extra project to green some area of operations, you can establish yourself as an internal expert and may find yourself with an increase in opportunity.

INSIDER SCOOP “Some of our best ideas for greening our company come from our retail store partners— baristas in our stores, who maybe are taking some classes. Some of them have even moved into positions in different parts of the business, because they’ve suddenly become internal experts.”—Dennis Macray, Starbucks

Several people we spoke with in developing this report recommend finding a mentor. The people who tend to go into the green sector do so out of a desire to help others, and that impulse often extends to people who want a break. Often, a mentoring relationship is informal, and simply

involves getting together occasionally with an experienced professional to bounce ideas off of, and who can give you suggestions for navigating your career. If you come across somebody you respect, consider asking her to mentor you—the worst that will happen is she’ll say no.

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

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real people profiles

other words, your ability to make a business case for a green idea will play a key role in selling a prospective employer—or investors—on it. The opportunities MBAs have gone into range from portfolio management for SRI funds to city sustainability directors to global sustainability specialists within corporations to founders of innumerable startups. What you choose to do will depend on your interests and beliefs, but be sure to look beyond the obvious opportunities. “The really sought-after green jobs seem to be CSR/Corporate environmental strategy for companies like Starbucks, Nike, Apple, and Google,” says an MBA now working as an investment banker financing public energy projects. “But I think those positions are marginalized in a company (unless it’s Patagonia or a company that was founded on environmental ethics) because they’re usually just cost centers and don’t really contribute much to the bottom line. I think the more exciting roles are the ones that are core to a business—CFO, supply chain manager, buyer, sourcing person—where you can use your leverage to make a company go green, or at least adhere to environmental and social standards.” As an MBA or other advanced-degree holder, once you know the type of role you want you may need to work with prospective employers to help define

green jobs

With an MBA or advanced degree, your first order of business is to figure out what you want to do. “There are different entry points into the field,” says Nicola Acutt, a core faculty member at the Presidio School of Management. “There’s this twist where somebody brings their green or sustainability credentials to their traditional career. The challenge is to present the business case, to position themselves as green.” In

π Get a Mentor

a world of green

Special Information for MBAs and Advanced-Degree Candidates

At a glance

If you’re still in school, volunteer at green nonprofits or search out internships at companies that work in the green sector. Conferences such as the Green Festivals, Natural Products Expo, or Earth Day events can all be good places to get to know companies and nonprofits that are doing work you consider meaningful. Pitch the organization on a project or an internship. Often, these organizations need help, but may not have a formal internship program; you can offer to help set the program up, and serve as their first intern. City, state, and federal agencies can also be good places to get experience. You might consider working with an agency on a class project. Once you develop some contacts, you can broach the subject of creating a internship or volunteering there. Most city websites offer information on their initiatives in areas like energy efficiency, waste reduction, air quality, toxics reduction, green building, and transportation. Without extensive work experience, it’s unlikely you’ll find a job out of school that’s far up the food chain. But nonprofits, while tending to pay less than business jobs, are excellent places to gain subjectmatter expertise. They provide an opportunity to take on a wide range of tasks and develop skills that can be attractive to businesses. If your college has its own greening initiatives, getting involved can be an excellent way to build experience and skills that could prove attractive to a prospective employer. Joining an undergraduate Net Impact group will lead to contacts, perhaps helping you start a network that could be valuable throughout your career.

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Green Careers

“What you need is a strong stomach. You need to be a visionary, you need to be tough. You need to be highly influential: Influence people, educate them, inspire them.” —Nicole Rousseau, VP of marketing, HSBC

Advanced degrees in science and engineering can be valuable in many green sectors, from developing renewable energy to green building to new everyday products. The Environmental Protection Agency offers a variety of fellowships to advanced-degree candidates in environmentally related fields (check out es.epa. gov/ncer/fellow/), as do many environmental nonprofits, such as Environment Texas (www. environmenttexas.org) and Environment California (www.environmentcaliforia.org). Lawyers interested in environmental law can find fellowships at both the state and federal level.

Special Information for Mid-Career Candidates it. “I feel like the students, more than the companies coming to us, are driving the opportunity,” says Abby Scott, executive director of MBA Career Services at the Haas School of Business. “There are more and more job requirements that are coming up in this area, but they’re really looking for students to do some blue-sky thinking. The projects can be very entrepreneurial and very interesting.” When interviewing, employers will be looking to see if you have the qualities of an entrepreneur—a key skill, as you’ll likely be involved in defining and building the function. You’ll need to be a self-starter, and able to analyze a marketplace, make data-driven decisions, and communicate your thinking in a persuasive way. Other advanced-degree candidates should heed the advice given to MBAs. Your opportunities will depend on your skill set. City, state, and federal agencies all have growing need for scientists, engineers, and policy specialists focused on areas such as energy efficiency, green building, renewable energy, transportation, planning, and air quality. City sustainability directors need to be generalists with a lot of political savvy, and the ability to guide the experts. Arborists and landscape specialists play an important role making sure the city’s vegetation is native, thus requiring less water and fertilizer. 58

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If you’re a mid-career worker, your best bet may be to define a role within your present company that involves greening some aspect of the organization— such as establishing a recycling program, reducing paper use, or sourcing more environmentally friendly materials. You can also take your experience to a company that’s more directly focused on the green sector. The standard rules for a career or job change apply; you’ll want to be clear on your goal, take advantage of your network, and be persistent. You might also consider additional training and education. You can achieve this by serving on a board of a local nonprofit working in the green sector, volunteering your time, or taking classes to help you understand how sustainability applies to your function.

Compensation The primary motivation of most of the people who go into the green sector is not financial, though you can make a perfectly adequate—and even exceptional— living in this area. Compensation will depend wholly on circumstances. Nonprofits typically pay less than for-profit companies. Salaries for functional roles that have a green component are equivalent to those without one. For MBAs going into CSR or sustainability roles in business, the average salary was

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GETTING hIrED

If you’re already in a job, think about creating something that’s green there. You might start with a recycling program, a newsletter with green tips, or an employee group. You’ll get into the fi eld, build experience, and possibly put yourself into position for a full-time green gig.

rEal PEOPlE PrOFIlEs

•

GrEEN JObs

Start.your.search.for a job at a green company by doing your homework. You’ll want to fi nd a company with a culture, ethic, product or service, and mission that really resonates with you. Much of this work can be done by reviewing company websites, reading their “About Us” sections, and studying their

a WOrlD OF GrEEN

IntervIewInG and JOB searCh tIps

mission and values statements. Typically—though not always—companies that are doing something green or sustainable talk about it on their site. Of course, informational interviews and other direct contact with employees will be the richest source of information about the company and its culture. An increasing number of companies have corporate sustainability or citizenship reports—check the website of the company you’re interested in to see if it has one. Th ese reports, which provide information about a company’s social and environmental performance, usually rely on a third party standard reporting guideline called the Global Reporting Initiative, a framework that defi nes 49 core performance indicators and 30 additional indicators on everything from energy use to customer health and safety to diversity. You can fi nd a partial list of corporate sustainability websites at www.covive.com/links. GE, Bank of America, Verizon, HP, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Pfi zer, Target, Microsoft, Time Warner, Cisco, Nike, and Wells Fargo are just of few of the well-known companies that publish corporate sustainability reports or websites. Network everywhere—through friends, your college career center, eco-events, conferences, and anywhere else you can meet people. Green Drinks is a monthly networking event that takes place in many cities; check to see if there’s one in your city. (You can fi nd a list of events at www.greendrinks.org.) Attend green conferences, such as the Green Festival, Natural Products Expo, Earth Day events, and other places where you can talk to vendors, nonprofi ts, and others. Share what you want to do and don’t be shy about asking for help. Other things you’ll want to keep in mind as you search out opportunities:

aT a GlaNcE

$67,000, according to a 2007 by Net Impact and Ellen Weinreb—though this number included may skew low due to the disproportionate number of nonprofi t hires in the sample. One MBA-level candidate we spoke to told us about a sustainability director role at an airline that started at $100,000. Two bonuses at many socially responsible companies are the benefi ts and perks. Health care coverage sometimes incorporates alternative practices, such as acupuncture; commuter benefi ts are common; and there tends to be a strong awareness at these companies about the importance of work/life balance.

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles

Green Careers •

Be clear on the type or role you’ll take, and the type of organization you want to be in. For example, if you’re offered a job that’s green at a company that isn’t green, you’re going to have to deal with a lot more resistance than if you take a job at a company that’s green. Can you accept that?

•

•

Don’t think the job has to be green. A great opportunity to make a difference is to take a job that isn’t green—for instance, one in manufacturing—and reinvent it so that it’s done sustainably.

Competitions, Awards, and Challenges

INSIDER SCOOP “What happens often when a candidate is searching for a job is that he’ll say, ‘This is why you should hire me.’ But he doesn’t say, ‘This is what I’m going to get out of the position.’ An employer wants to hire somebody who’s going to grow in the position—who’ll get something out of it.”—Ellen Weinreb, CSR consultant and recruiter

Grilling Your Interviewer Here’s a set of questions to help you find out if your prospective, so-called green employer really is walking its talk:

Getting Hired

•

• • • •

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

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How committed is the company to social responsibility? Why is it important to the organization? Does the company publish a CSR or sustainability report? What’s the company’s carbon footprint? What initiatives are in place to reduce its carbon footprint? Does the company buy carbon offsets for business travel? Why or why not? What is the company doing to reduce its packaging? What is the company doing to reduce its waste? Do you have environmental procurement policy? What efforts is the company making to reduce the amount of paper it uses? W E T F E E T I N SIDER GUIDE

Does the company offer any sort of credit for employees who take public transportation to work? Is there a carpool program, a room for those who bike, or other efforts designed to help people get to the office without driving?

If you’re looking for a nontraditional way to break

into the green sector, you might try winning one of the many challenges, awards, and competitions. Following is a list of some of the business plans, engineering challenges, and social entrepreneurship opportunities available to student and professional teams (as well as to individuals) trying to create new business ideas, products, and solutions to the world’s challenges.

California Clean Tech Open www.cacleantech.com A business-plan competition that seeks entries from professionals, scientists, and students and focuses solely on clean technology. Sixty finalist teams receive access to mentoring, a summer workshop series, and a sustainability starter kit. Winners in six categories— air, water, and waste; energy efficiency; green building; renewable; smart power; and transportation—get $50,000 plus office space for a year and legal, recruiting, accounting, public relations, insurance, and marketing services.

EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge www.ecocarchallenge.org This three-year competition gives engineering students at accredited North American colleges and universities a chance to design and build cars that minimize environmental impacts. (Schools were selected in Spring 2008, so check to see if yours is participating.)

At a glance

Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship

www.socialvc.net This student-led business plan competition, organized by a group of business schools, offered a $25,000 prize in 2008 for the business plan that achieved the best blended value—high economic and social returns.

http://www.skollfoundation.org/ Awards go to organizations led by a social entrepreneur that are tackling critical challenges like environmental sustainability, health, institutional responsibility, and economic and social equity. Winners receive laterstage, or mezzanine funding, generally structured as $1 million paid out over three years.

Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition

Net Impact Green Challenge

PICNIC Green Challenge

World Changing Ideas Award www.saatchi.com/worldchanging This is a $100,000 award for a world-changing idea; the next award will be given out in 2009.

X Prize www.xprize.org This $10 million prize is open to teams from around the world that can design, build, and bring to market a commercially viable vehicle that gets 100 miles per gallon.

Getting Hired

www.greenchallenge.info This €500,000 business plan prize goes to the team with a winning plan for a product or service that contributes to an eco-friendly lifestyle, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and scores highly on convenience, quality, and design.

www.virginearth.com This $25 million prize goes to whoever can demonstrate to the judges’ satisfaction a commercially viable design that results in the removal of greenhouse gases; judges include Al Gore and Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin.

real people profiles

www.netimpact.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&s ubarticlenbr=1909 Open to Net Impact members who organize in student and professional teams, this challenge is designed to foster tangible projects that create a positive local environmental impact. Prizes for 2008 had not been announced when we went to press.

Virgin Earth Challenge

green jobs

www.ignitecleanenergy.com This business plan awards a $125,000 prize to a great clean energy business idea; its goal is to help build a clean tech industry in Massachusetts. Teams receive mentors, professional coaching on their executive summary, and access to a variety of events.

a world of green

Global Social Venture Competition

Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

www.epa.gov/greenchemistry/pubs/pgcc/presgcc. html These annual awards recognize individual, group, and organizational innovations in cleaner, cheaper, and smarter chemistry.

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For Your Reference

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Glossary...................................... 64 Websites, Magazines, . and Journals................................ 68 Books.......................................... 69 Major Green Conferences........... 70 Networking Events...................... 71

At a glance a world of green

Green Careers

Glossary The number and variety of terms, certifications,

organizations, and standards in the green space is fairly staggering. The following glossary gives definitions for some of the more common terms. To get a more comprehensive list or learn more about any of the terms below, check out the Presidio School of Management’s excellent dictionary of sustainable management at www.sustainabilitydictionary.com.

Getting Hired

real people profiles

green jobs

Agenda 21 This refers to an action plan, adopted in 1992 by more than 178 governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, designed for organizations in the United Nations system, governments, and major groups such as NGOs. The number 21 refers to the 21st Century. The plan has 40 chapters on issues like poverty; conservation and management of natural resources; and the use of science, technology, and education to promote sustainable development.

Alternative energy Energy not produced from fossil fuels. Alternative energy is typically renewable energy, such as sunlight or wind, with low environmental impact.

B Corporation A new type of corporate model designed to benefit all stakeholders, not just shareholders. Sometimes referred to as a for-benefit corporation.

Biodegradable Capable of decomposing under natural conditions.

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Biofuels Fuels from recently living plants and animals, or from metabolic byproducts such as manure from cows.

Biodiversity The diversity of lifeforms within an ecological system, 64

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such as a forest, ocean, or even a farm. Greater biodiversity signals a healthier ecosystem—it can control the spread of diseases, provide more types of food, and offer a greater variety of compounds for medicines and industrial applications, among other benefits.

Bottom of the pyramid Refers to the roughly four billion people in the world—something close to two-thirds of the world’s population—who live on less than $2 a day. One key target of sustainable development is to bring this majority population out of poverty.

Carbon footprint The amount of carbon an individual, company, city, or other discrete group produces over the course of a period of time. A number of online calculators can help you determine your family’s carbon footprint.

Carbon neutral Refers to net zero carbon release. This is brought about by offsetting or sequestering (permanently storing) an amount equal to what you use.

Carbon offset People purchase carbon offsets to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Typically, they’re provided by nonprofit carbon offset providers, who plant trees, invest in renewable energy, conserve energy, or put the money toward some other method of mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

Clean tech Technologies that harness renewable energy, reduce the use of natural resources, and cut or eliminate emissions and waste.

CFCs Chlorofluorocarbons—greenhouse gases that cause ozone depletion in the stratosphere. The Montreal Protocol, an international treaty that went into effect in 1989, banned their use.

Closed-loop system Manufacturing designed to produce no waste.

CSA

CSR Corporate social responsibility.

Downstream

Earth Charter

Ecological footprint An analysis that examines how many natural resources are being used and compares that to the Earth’s ability to regenerate those resources. In other words, how many planet Earths are necessary to support current resource usage indefinitely?

Equator Principles Developed by private sector banks led by Citigroup, ABN AMRO, Barclays, and WestLB and launched in 2003, these have become the de facto standard social and environmental benchmarks for the major development projects around the world.

Ethanol An automotive fuel derived from grass, sugar cane, or corn. Burning ethanol adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, but it’s seen as a renewable fuel, like solar power, that does not deplete natural resources.

E-waste Waste materials from discarded electronic devices, such as TVs, cell phones, and computers. E-waste tends to be toxic, posing a risk to people, animals, and plants.

Fair Trade The principle of paying farmers or artisans a fair wage, and supporting the maintenance of social and environmental standards where they live. The Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (www. fairtrade.net), a 23-member nonprofit association, has created Fair Trade standards and supports Fair Trade Certified Producers.

FSC

Getting Hired

A declaration of values and principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society.

The process of determining the energy consumption of a building or facility.

real people profiles

What happens to a product outside of its immediate manufacture. For example, the downstream consequences of bottled water usage include the degradation of rivers and other water sources, due to the diversion of water sources and the pileup of plastic trash.

Energy audit

green jobs

Community-supported agriculture. CSA refers to the process by which people in a community purchase their food in “shares” (or weekly boxes) from local farmers in season, eliminating the middleman. Typically, CSA farmers produce their foods organically or without pesticides.

emit; if the company’s pollutants are less than its cap, it can trade or sell the credit to another.

a world of green

A smaller version of a fluorescent lamp that fits into a standard light bulb socket and produce light in a more energy-efficient way.

At a glance

Compact fluorescent bulb

Forest Stewardship Council. FSC-certified woods are woods forested from sustainably managed forests.

Full cost accounting

Refers to a way of controlling pollution through economic incentives; sometimes called cap and trade. The idea is that a government or international body puts a cap on the amount of pollutants a company can

Accounting that encompasses all impacts and costs—environmental and social as well as financial (the triple bottom line); sometimes referred to as true cost accounting. WETFEET INSIDER GUIDE

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Emissions trading

At a glance a world of green

Green Careers Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sometimes called the GRI Guidelines, this is the most common framework for sustainability reporting, and is used by corporations, public agencies, NGOs, and other groups. The idea behind the GRI is to create standards for an organization’s reports on economic, environmental, and social performance that are comparable to its reports on financial performance.

green jobs

GMO Genetically modified organism, or an organism where the genetic material has been altered. Many advocates of sustainable agriculture are opposed in principle to GMOs, though some think these technologies are necessary for increasing yields to meet the needs of the world’s growing population.

real people profiles Getting Hired

Hybrid car An auto with a small, fuel-efficient gas engine, combined with a battery-powered electric motor that assists the engine when accelerating and an energyrecovery system that fuels the battery through braking.

ISO 140001 A standard for environmental management systems.

Kyoto Protocols

The warming of the Earth’s atmosphere, attributed to a buildup of carbon dioxide and other gases that retain heat.

An international climate change framework with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; as of 2007, 174 countries, including India and China, and the European Union have signed the Protocol. The United States is not a signatory, but a number of states, including California, have set targets in line with the protocol. And thanks to Seattle mayor Greg Nickles’ nationwide effort, 740 U.S. cities representing 76 million Americans have agreed to the protocol.

Green Seal

LEED

A third-party certification that uses scientific evaluation to review the lifecycle of a product. It sets standards for lodgings, cleaning materials, paints, windows, doors, and other green products.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a standard for developing high-performance, green buildings developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Green tag

LOHAS

Carbon emission offsets.

The practice of misleading people about the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Lifestyles of health and sustainability. Another way of saying, “the green market”; it refers to the market segment, defined by the Natural Marketing Institute, that includes health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living, and social justice.

Hanover Principles

Methanol

First formulated by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, the Hanover Principles seek to foster the design of buildings and objects with forethought about their environmental impact and impact on society, through tactics like eliminating waste, ensuring long-

An alcohol that can be used as an alternative fuel or as a gasoline additive.

Greenhouse effect

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

term value, and recognizing the interaction of the design with the environment.

Greenwashing

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Natural capital The financial value of ecosystem services. A 1997

Peak Oil

Triple bottom line

The concept that when the maximum rate of global petroleum production is reached, production will hit a terminal decline, causing prices to rise dramatically. Some argue “peak oil” has already arrived.

Refers to a way to measure results by looking at economic, environmental, and social performance; contrasts with the single bottom line that looks at profitability alone.

Restoration ecology

True cost accounting

Study of how to renew a damaged or degraded ecosystem through human activity. The goal of many businesses is to be restorative, though this goal can only be achieved once those businesses are sustainable.

See Full cost accounting.

Rio Summit

RMI Rocky Mountain Institute.

SRI Socially responsible investment.

Agricultural systems that produce profitability for a farm or farming community without causing damage to the environment or harm to workers (such as through spraying of toxic pesticides), and that

Upstream The material and other resource requirements needed prior to the development of a product; for example, all the raw materials needed to create a hamburger (the wood for the paper packaging, the land for the cattle, etc.) would be what’s upstream of your McBurger.

VOCs Volatile organic compounds. Under normal conditions, these chemicals, many of them suspected carcinogens such as benzene and toluene, vaporize and enter the atmosphere. (They’re responsible for “new car smell.”) WETFEET INSIDER GUIDE

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Sustainable agriculture

Proposed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1999, the Global Compact seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship so that businesses can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalization. The Global Compact includes ten fundamental principles that include human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption.

Getting Hired

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which took place in 1992 and led to the drafting of Agenda 21 and the Earth Charter.

UN Global Compact real people profiles

A measurement of the insulating performance of a material.

green jobs

R-value

a world of green

An approach to problem solving that views problems as part of an overall system. Systems thinking is often referred to in the context of sustainability, because solutions to problems such as waste or energy use tend to involve transformation of the systems that produce them.

Systems thinking

At a glance

replenish the soil with minimal use of non-renewable resources.

report from Richard Constanza, “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services,” valued the economic value of soil formation at $17.1 trillion, water regulation and supply at $2.3 trillion, climate regulation at $1.8 trillion, and total ecosystem services at $33 trillion—compared to global GNP of $18 trillion. By defining the economic value of forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems, it’s easier to make the case for preserving them—and to calculate the cost of their degradation.

At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles Getting Hired

Green Careers

Websites, Magazines, and Journals What follows is merely a handful of the hundreds

of media sources devoted to the many aspects of the green sector. Many smaller websites, blogs, and publications cover various sectors within this universe of topics, from hybrid cars (www.hybridcars.com) to sustainable food (www.sustainablefoodnews.com). A number of cities, states, and regions have their own sustainability-oriented news services or blogs.In addition to these sources, many major media outlets like The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Economist regularly cover green-related topics. Business for Social Responsibility offers a set of issue briefs (www.bsr.org/insight/issue-briefs.cfm) that provide excellent primers on key issues in the area of corporate social responsibility. The website also features excellent reports on topics like labor, supply chain, toxicity and health, and the future of the corporation. Clean Edge (www.cleanedge.com) researches and publishes information for companies, investors, and governments who want to understand how to profit (financially as well as environmentally) from clean technologies. The site is a good source for current industry news.

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Clean Tech (www.cleantech.com) tracks technology and business models designed to solve global issues like energy generation, manufacturing, agriculture, water, and recycling and waste.

Co-op America (www.coopamerica.org), a nonprofit membership organization, has the largest network of socially and environmentally responsible businesses in the U.S.; check out its National Green Pages for possible employers. The Daily Green (www.thedailygreen.com), published by Hearst, bills itself as “the consumer’s guide to the green revolution.” It offers news, blogs, features, and even “green” social networking. Evo (www.evo.com) offers product ratings of a variety of green products. This can be a good place to get a sense for how well companies walk the talk. GreenBiz.com (www.greenbiz.com) and its sister sites (which include GreenerBuildings.com, GreenerComputing.com, and GreenBizLeaders.com) are excellent resources for tracking what’s happening within the green business space. Grist (www.grist.org) reports on environmental news and provides commentary on a wide range of topics. While the articles on the site don’t track green business, they do provide a look into what’s happening in the green space. Check out the popular “Ask Umbra” column. IdealBite (www.idealbite) is “how-to” newsletter for living “light” green, with daily tips for products or practices that can green your life. Social Funds (www.socialfunds.com) is a personal finance site dedicated to socially responsible investing (SRI). Social Investment Forum (www.socialinvest.org) is a nonprofit association for SRI; the site is good source of reports and other information on the subject. Sprig (www.sprig.com) is a green lifestyle website put out by the Washington Post.

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At a glance

SustainableBusiness.com covers global news about green businesses. Be sure to check out its Green Dream Jobs service.

that look at various “green” topics, from sustainable business to clean energy to green product design to social entrepreneurship. Many have a strong business focus. Others look at everyday issues, such as food or environmental toxins in everyday products. The titles listed here are some of the best-known books in the green space, and will provide an excellent introduction to the many issues facing businesses and organizations that strive to be green.

Sustainable Industries Journal is the trade magazine for green business, but it also offers a robust website (www.sustainableindustriesjournal.com) with a newsletter and green jobs and event listings. Treehugger (www.treehugger.com) is a kind of super-blog, with contributors from around the world tracking news in the green space. If you want an introduction to what’s going on in the green space, or you’re looking for the latest green products or business ideas, this is a good place to start. Its “How to Go Green” guides cover greening for everything from your wardrobe to your workplace.

A number of excellent books have been written

The Ecology of Commerce By Paul Hawken Published in 1994, The Ecology of Commerce remains arguably the most powerfully written case for why businesses should start operating sustainably— and how they can do it.

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things By William McDonough and Michael Braungart This influential manifesto proposes a design ethic that’s a wholesale rethinking of how products are made and what their life cycle is.

By Alex Steffen, et al. A compendium of inspirational solutions to today’s vexing environmental and social challenges, this really is a handbook to what’s possible. WETFEET INSIDER GUIDE

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FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century

Getting Hired

By Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins A little denser than The Ecology of Commerce, this is a good introduction to the ideas behind natural capital. Its authors, all three leaders in sustainability, offer cases that argue for a system in which businesses are good for the environment.

real people profiles

Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution

green jobs

Books

a world of green

SustainLane (www.sustainlane.com) provides user reviews on a wide range of green products, along with a directory of green businesses across the United States.

At a glance a world of green

Green Careers Silent Spring By Rachel Carson Released in 1962, Silent Spring helped start the modern environmental movement, revealing the toxic byproducts of many common, everyday goods.

Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature By Jeanine Benyus

Deep Economy

green jobs

By Bill McKibben

Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage By Daniel C. Esty and Andrew S. Winston

The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity

real people profiles

By Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder

The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets that Change the World By John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan

Getting Hired

Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World By Gary Hirshberg

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals By Michael Pollan

Capitalism at the Crossroads By Stuart L. Hart

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Small is Beautiful By E.F. Schumacher

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Major Green Conferences The green sector fosters many conferences. These are some of the largest, oldest, and most accessible events.

All Things Organic An annual trade show, put on by the Organic Trade Association, for independent retailers, manufacturers, distributors, chefs, and foodservice establishments. (www.organicexpo.com)

Green Festivals Open to the public, these events bring together a diverse collection of green businesses, leading speakers, and workshops. They’re excellent places to network while augmenting your green bona fides. In 2008, Green Festivals were planned for Seattle, Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco.

LOHAS Forum An annual conference, taking place in Boulder, CO, for business leaders, consultants, nonprofits, and the media. (www.lohas.com)

Natural Products Expo East and West Annual trade shows for the natural and organic products industry, with speakers, seminars, and networking. (www.expowest.com and www.expoeast.com)

West Coast Green An annual residential building conference and expo; the 2008 gathering is in San Jose, California. (www.westcoastgreen.com)

At a glance a world of green

Networking Events EcoTuesday Events in some cities that include presentations on green-relevant topics and opportunities for networking. (www.ecotuesday.com)

Green Drinks green jobs

Monthly networking events that take place in 348 cities around the world. In California alone there are some 19 monthly Green Drinks events. (www.greendrinks.org)

real people profiles

π about the Author Frank Marquardt Insider Guides and websites. Frank is the coauthor of How Green Is Your City? (New Society, 2007). He has written articles, book reviews, and essays for GreenBiz.com, Wired, The Sacramento News & Review, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Fortune, Playboy.com, and many others.

Getting Hired

Frank Marquardt is a freelance writer and editor, specializing in career information and sustainability. He was executive editor at SustainLane, an online media company that focuses on “green” issues, and was content producer for its animation series, The Unsustainables. He has also served as managing editor of WetFeet’s

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

WETFEET INSIDER GUIDE

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At a glance a world of green green jobs real people profiles

WETFEET INSIDER GUIDES series Ace Your Case - Consulting Interviews Ace Your Case® I: Consulting Interviews, 3rd ed. Ace Your Case® II: Mastering the Case Interview Ace Your Case® III: Market-Sizing Questions Ace Your Case® IV: Business Strategy Questions Ace Your Case® V: Business Operations Questions Interviewing Ace Your Interview! Beat the Street® I: Investment Banking Interviews Beat the Street® II: I-Banking Interview Practice Guide The Wharton MBA Case Interview Study Guide: Volume I The Wharton MBA Case Interview Study Guide: Volume II Resumes & Cover Letters Killer Consulting Resumes Killer Cover Letters & Resumes Killer Investment Banking Resumes Job Hunting Getting Your Ideal Internship The International MBA Student’s Guide to the U.S. Job Search Job Hunting A to Z: Landing the Job You Want Job Hunting in New York City Job Hunting in San Francisco Financial Services Careers 25 Top Financial Services Firms Careers in Accounting Careers in Asset Management and Retail Brokerage Careers in Investment Banking Careers in Venture Capital Financial Services Companies Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs Group JPMorgan Chase & Co. Merrill Lynch & Co. Morgan Stanley UBS AG

FOR YOUR REFERENCE

Getting Hired

Green Careers

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Consulting Careers 25 Top Consulting Firms Careers in Management Consulting Careers in Specialized Consulting: Information Technology Consulting for PhDs, Lawyers, and Doctors Consulting Companies Accenture Bain & Company Booz Allen Hamilton Boston Consulting Group Deloitte Consulting McKinsey & Company Career Management Be Your Own Boss Changing Course, Changing Careers Finding the Right Career Path Negotiating Your Salary and Perks Networking Works! Industries and Careers: General Industries and Careers for Engineers Industries and Careers for MBAs Industries and Careers for Undergraduates Million-Dollar Careers Industries and Careers: Specific Careers in Advertising and Public Relations Careers in Pharmaceuticals Careers in Brand Management Careers in Consumer Products Careers in Entertainment and Sports Careers in Health Care Careers in Human Resources Careers in Information Technology Careers in Marketing Careers in Nonprofits and Government Agencies Careers in Real Estate Careers in Retail Careers in Sales Careers in Supply Chain Management

ultimate guide for job seekers hoping to enter the green sector of the economy: the rapidly growing area at the nexus of business and sustainability. Green jobs are popping up in virtually all industries and all types of organizations, from nonprofits to startups to government agencies to Fortune 1000 companies. Green Careers delivers the lowdown on how the concept of “green” is reshaping the business world—and creating a wealth of job opportunities.

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>>You can get a job—or you can get a job that changes the world. Green Careers is the

IN GREEN CAREERS, YOU’LL FIND OUT ★ WHERE THE JOBS ARE IN THE GREEN SECTOR ★ WHY THE GREEN ECONOMY IS POISED FOR RAPID, RECESSION-PROOF GROWTH

★ TODAY’S HOTTEST “GREEN” AREAS: CLEAN TECH, SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING, GREEN BUILDING ★ THE JOBS THAT BEST FIT YOUR EDUCATION

★ WHAT IT MEANS FOR COMPANIES TO GO GREEN—AND HOW TO TELL IF THEY’RE ON THE LEVEL ★ DO YOU NEED AN MBA? PLUS—THE BEST “GREEN” BUSINESS SCHOOLS

★ INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDERS: HOW REAL PEOPLE HAVE FORGED GREEN CAREERS ★ HOW TO LAND A GREEN JOB

WetFeet has earned a strong reputation among college graduates and career professionals for its series of highly credible, no-holds-barred Insider Guides. WetFeet’s investigative writers get behind the annual reports and corporate PR to tell the real story of what it’s like to work at specific companies and in different industries. www.WetFeet.com

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