White and blue collar workers now have company: green collar workers. They're among the new jobs being created and existing jobs that, in an environmentally-conscious society, are changing, and community college classes are changing with them. Students enrolling in community colleges with on campus and online degree and certificate programs and classes might train for new jobs or update their existing skills.
The Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Education reports that colleges, universities and technical schools throughout the country in 2009 created or announced more than 113 new sustainability-focused academic programs. At community colleges particularly, students can train for "green collar" jobs. One professional interviewed for a Time magazine article defined green collar jobs as work that helps put America on the path to become cleaner and more energy efficient future. Another said that green collar jobs benefit the environment, give workers opportunities to progress in their fields, and provide salaries and benefits that allow for supporting a family.
Manual labor is often involved with green collar jobs, according to California community college magazine known as Affinityonline. Students who want to train for green collar jobs can often do so without a bachelor's degree, and they can look toward work in energy, agriculture and construction, or alternative fuels and transportation, Affinityonline noted. New and altered classes at community colleges are in some instances partnerships with workforce agencies. Several take only a few weeks to complete. In Missouri, a community college offers a lead and asbestos abatement program that's free for qualifying participants.
Federal stimulus money is helping to pay for the Missouri program as well as similar offerings elsewhere. President Barack Obama as early as 2008 vowed to spend $150 billion over the course of a decade to create green collar jobs, according to the Time magazine article. So far this year, he has announced tax credits for clean energy manufacturing and spending billions of dollars on a residential energy retrofit program.
Four Tennessee community colleges, through stimulus money, received a $2.9 million grant from a power company for energy training, according to a July Memphis Flyer article. The money is to allow for 10 programs with new and updated classes, such as solar energy, the Memphis Flyer noted. In Massachusetts, a community college is working with a workforce investment board to start a solar installation course, The Herald News reported.
Renewable energy particularly could create 5.1 million new jobs by 2025, with agricultural and forestry resources supplying one-quarter of the demands, according to a 2006 study from a Tennessee university. An organization known as Clean Edge in a 2010 report noted that renewable energy is a driving force for economic recovery. A report in suburban Chicago's Daily Herald contends that the state of Illinois has been at the forefront when it comes to the response to green workforce training, with newly added green classes at colleges and universities in the state filling up quickly.
A Massachusetts community college is changing a construction methods class to a green building practices course that provides students with strategies for achieving Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, The Herald News reported. LEED certification is internationally recognized and rewards builders and designers for efforts such as conserving water, improving indoor air quality and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. California has plans to reduce carbon emissions throughout the state by 25 percent by 2020, and gas and electric companies there have reported a desire to hire natural gas technology-trained mechanics, according to Affinityonline.
In Pennsylvania, a $5 million federal grant is allowing a community college and a technical college to begin training programs in natural gas, the Sun Gazette reported. Students by early 2011 are expected to have opportunities to enroll in courses in welding and brazing, rotary drilling and more, the newspaper reported, noting that low income students and military veterans are to be a focus. Unemployed and dislocated workers, on the other hand, are the focus for green collar job training at Tennessee's community colleges, according to the Memphis Flyer.
While there are many green jobs that need only online certificates to qualify a participant, there are still others more specialized that require on-campus or online degrees for one to work in that field. What these individuals usually have is a passion for the environment that translates into a lot of volunteer work and online schools allow them to continue their goal of service while getting the degree they need to really make a difference.
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