Green Jobs = "Career Advancement in Tough Times"
According to BusinessWeek (warning: I'm also plugging the green efforts of Schwartz client Foodservicewarehouse.com), "the hard times can also be an opportunity to advance one's career—or at least show the boss that you are worth hanging onto." Savvy, recent grad Ashley Howard of Foodservicewarehouse.com did it by becoming accredited to council commercial kitchen operators in using the company's green certification program and turning it into valuable Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points.
As we face economic uncertainty and job loss, the passing of the ITC and stories like Ashley's fill me with hope for the future. It's a hope I happily share with everyone I meet, especially those looking for a new career path. Last Sunday I took a cab to a friend's BBQ (it was tough to access by public transit and I was late, but enough with my green guilt) and my driver started telling me how he hated being a cabbie. We talked about the difficulty of starting a new career—whether you're 22 or 42 (which was his age). He did have one idea though; taking a few electrician courses at SF City College, which he would begin winter semester. He explained that he had read about the solar industry and it looked like "the next best thing since drilling for oil, and a lot better for the planet too." We enjoyed a lively dialogue about the business, which installers were here in the Bay Area and spots where he might find on-the-job training.
Before I paid him and left the cab, he turned around and said he had a confession to make: He had been driving a cab for seven years, but before that had lost 17 years to a heroin addiction. In his words, "I'm sick of wasting time and I want to do something that matters." And though I didn't think to say it in the moment, I wish I had told him that it all may have been perfectly timed. I think he and many others will find a happier place in this green economy.
Tags: green, green economy, green jobs, solar
Posted by Whitney Phaneuf on October 24, 2008 at 6:31 PM
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