Seeing Green: The Kids Are All Right
Thinking of master plan, because it ain’t nothing but sweat inside my hand. So I dig into my pocket, all my money spent. So I dig deeper but still coming up with lint. So I start my mission, leave my residence. Thinking how I could get some dead presidents, I need money….
- William Michael Griffin, Jr
A lot like now, there was also much talk about “green jobs” a decade ago. Just not the kind you want to hear when you’re listening for good change. The New York Times was blunt: “Federal and state efforts to stimulate creation of green jobs have largely failed, government records show.” We were training workers for jobs just over the horizon, but many of the jobs never arrived.
Not everyone bought the narrative. Green jobs grew by 8.3% from 2003 to 2010, which outpaced the general economy. Looking at the decade that proceeded from there, though, it is clear we are still in the early days of the green economy overhaul.
Fulfilling the need for green jobs training becomes very tricky when the market demand is unpredictable.
Some people might say we took a “L” the first time around, and I would agree. But my “L” is lessons. What did we learn?
Thinking big and small. These days the Bureau of Labor Statistics is looking at the growth of green jobs in dual ways. And their definitions offer one signal for how those in workforce development should be thinking, too.
One definition, “Jobs in businesses that produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources” has us thinking about big endeavors for technologies that can reverse the climate crisis.
The other definition, “Jobs in which workers’ duties involve making their establishment’s production processes more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources” makes us realize some of this change is going to happen in small, quiet ways. We have to be ready for both — and more. As part of CREST, a JFF Climate Innovations initiative sponsored by ARES Management Charitable Foundation, our team led by @MeenaNaik is leading new research to bring these definitions into the future, to help learners and workforce developers see the full spectrum of potential opportunities.
Thinking fast and forward. It is great when you can predict the future but, turns out, the future does not always comply. One way for workforce development to get ready for green job training is by being quick to develop strategies for assessing needs for green skills and building out training opportunities that align with those skills. That likely looks like a tight chain of communication between industries, public and private workforce developers and learning management technologists that can train for an emerging jobs as close to real-time as possible. The most important part of agile thinking is the assessment — what is happening right now and how will that change what happens next?
One current example is the cost of fuel, which should accelerate green alternative transportation. But that acceleration is never going to be smooth. Supply chain issues, overall inflation, affordability of EVs all factor in. If you don’t understand the mindsets of everyone from CEOs to consumers, predicting what happens next will be impossible.
A new generation is here. Those born after 1986 are coming to work and one thing is clear: They want a sustainable planet, and they are not playing. The beef between Gen Z and Millennials ends here: young people want to work for a healthier planet. Pew found that climate is the top personal concern for a third of both generations, roughly 70% said it should be the nation’s top priority. KPMG recently found that in the UK environmental policies are driving decisions to take or stay in a job. All the more reason to be crystal clear about the potential career pathways in green jobs and the skills needed to get on board.
Much like the late 2000s, the conditions for a big step forward in a green infrastructure are staring us in the eye. If for all number of reasons, we blinked as a society last time, that might not be an option now. Too many people are watching. That’s just more reason to be crystal clear about the potential of career pathways in green jobs, and the skills needed to get on board.
