Tag: jobs

December 29, 2020

Job Market Outlook: Green Infrastructure, Sustainable Business, Circular Economy

By Pamela Berns In 2020, the triple bottom line—people, planet, profits—took on a whole new meaning. The number of lives lost to COVID-19 continues to grow into the new year. Environmental regulation rollbacks under the Trump administration and the US withdrawal from the Paris agreement put the planet on even greater climate risk trajectory than before. Job losses and business failures altered the economy in ways that economists say may take years to fix. According to Fast Company, as of May, 2020, 33 million Americans had filed for unemployment; while some jobs might come back, new ones will need to be created to replace those that didn’t  survive. While, sadly, we will never recoup the lives lost and upended by the pandemic, there is a way forward toward a reciprocal recovery for all of the three Ps. “One of the best ways to add new jobs,” said Fast Company, is to “invest in green infrastructure.” (more…)

August 1, 2020

Sustainability Goals Call For Ambitious Action

By Alexa Roccanova   Though the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted business as usual, it has also heightened awareness of the fragile balance between nature and humanity. To some, the magnitude of the virus’s impact represents a culmination of enduring environmental, economic, and social issues. Sustainability presents a globally beneficial path forward; however, not unlike the pandemic, its extensive scope demands responses that both tackle and develop complex and interconnected systems. Public and private sectors are now seeing the COVID-19 economic recovery as an opportunity for an operational reset. Ambitious Actions Needed: Sustainable Development Goals The United Nations Sustainability Goals (SDGs) are helping both sectors to pursue environmental and humanitarian targets by providing a universal framework of seventeen integrated objectives needed to facilitate global environmental, social, and economic well-being by 2030.

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January 27, 2020

GreenHomeNYC Careers Recap: Careers in the New Green Economy — Government Edition

By Jonathan Oriondo     On October 29th, GreenHomeNYC convened a panel discussion on sustainability careers in government, a field that promises change and growth in the new green economy. In New York in particular, breakthrough climate legislation is not just leading the way to a carbon neutral city; as our speakers demonstrated, it is also leading to innovative and meaningful careers.   (more…)

June 18, 2018

{Green Careers} June Recap: Women and Minorities in Green

by Curtis Morrow   The June Green Careers event, held at GroheLive! Center, focused on women and minorities in the green sector.  Former Green Careers Lead Volunteer, Samantha Yost hosted the event, the topic of which holds special meaning for her.  As an LGBTQ woman, Yost believes that GreenHomeNYC “had her back” and helped her break into the sustainability field.   Our panelists for the evening spoke about their experiences in the green sector as either a woman, a minority or both.  Julianna Wei, Energy Engineer and Technical Project Manager at TRC Energy Services, is a female engineer of Chinese descent, who as a child, was a minority in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  She highlighted the importance of finding allies and mentors at every stage of one’s career. Mentors may not directly present themselves as such – it’s up to you to build the relationship through on-on-one, person-to-person discussions. She advised acknowledging the lack of diversity in a specific setting as objectively as possible without adding subjective commentary on how to deal with it.   (more…)

December 2, 2017

{Green Careers} Webinar: Sustainability Careers & Job Search Strategies in a Changing World

GreenHomeNYC is pleased to present a new webinar by Dr. Eban Goodstein, Director, Graduate Programs in Sustainability at Bard College.   Dr. Goodstein will provide participants with a tailored, concrete job search strategy; outline different mission-driven career directions in sustainable business, non-profits and government; evaluate the impact of President Trump on sustainability jobs; discuss grad school and continuing education options (including school now/school later); and take questions from the audience.   Hosted by the GreenHomeNYC {Green Careers} Program and the Bard Center for Environmental Policy   REGISTER HERE   Webinar Date: Thursday, December 7, 2017 Time: 6:30 – 7:30 pm including Q&A Location: Your computer Login instructions will be sent with your confirmation.   If you have any questions, please contact our Green Careers team at [email protected]  

November 27, 2017

October Forum Recap: Women of Green

by Claire Brown   During GreenHomeNYC’s October Forum, eight women of green led us on a tour of their green building career paths. Through the Pecha Kucha style of presentation, the speakers used timed-slides to guide us through their search for their dream careers in engineering, sustainable design, new construction, and more. In addition to sharing their stories, the speakers offered advice to those seeking green careers. The forum was co-hosted by GreenHomeNYC and the Center on Global Energy Policy’s Women in Energy program at Columbia University.     Lucie Dupas, Entersolar Dupas had engineering built into her genetic blueprint, with both of her parents working as IT engineers.  She finished her formal education in engineering by completing a Master’s program in France, and was proud that the program was comprised of roughly 42% women.  Surrounded by so many women in her field, she felt that being a female engineer was “the normal thing to do.”  In search of her dream internship, Dupas moved to New York City and joined a renewable energy consulting startup at the NYU Poly Acre Incubator where she built her first photovoltaic system.  The internship ultimately led to a full-time job at Sollega, a solar equipment manufacturer where she did “all the things that you think an engineer does”.  According to Dupas, “I did a 3-D design of a racking part and tested it in a laboratory and I trained some 200 pound electricians.”  Next she worked at Bright Power, where she helped bring solar power to affordable housing and managed the installation of several solar thermal and photovoltaic systems.  She is now the Engineering Director at the nationwide solar installer Entersolar where she works on commercial projects with a specific focus on solar PV technology.  Lucie is an avid proponent of training programs.  “You know how you think you know something, but then you go through a certification program and you realize there’s so much that you don’t really know.  And having the certification on your resume is so useful to show yourself as an expert in the industry.” (more…)

June 2, 2017

More Good Green Jobs For OneNYC

By Nancy Anderson, Ph.D.   With a tip of the hat to Jane Austen, let me tweak her famous observation “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Today, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a liberal big city Mayor must be in want of good jobs for all.” I can’t vouch that Austen was comedy-free, but I do believe that Mayor de Blasio is earnest in his commitment to good jobs for all as part of his OneNYC mission.  

Photo: Ed Reed Mayor de Blasio announces GJC

In the Mayor’s 2017 OneNYC Progress Report, large print trumpets his credo laid out in the first OneNYC Report of 2015: “I believe fundamentally you can’t have environmental sustainability without economic sustainability. Nor can you have economic sustainability without environmental sustainability.” This is a good thing to believe, so let’s see how this credo is getting expressed in concrete policy and actions. (more…)

March 12, 2017

Sustainability Careers in Our Changing Political Landscape: A {Green Career} Webinar Recap

By Pamela Berns   Green careerists and sustainability students have been wondering just how the changes in our government policies will affect their career choices. While Dr. Eban Goodstein is the first to admit he doesn’t have a crystal ball, his longtime experience as a career advisor and current role as Director, Graduate Programs in Sustainability at Bard College do afford him insights that can help jobseekers gain some sense of direction. We asked him to share those insights, along with strategies for education and job searching in a webinar hosted by GreenHomeNYC on February 16, 2017. Here’s what he had to say.

http://www.bard.edu/mba/

  “We are really at the end of an era, a forty-five year period of policy stability and bi-partisan consensus,” says Dr. Goodstein. “There is new leadership now, and we have to think about how to negotiate that.” With indisputable scientific data indicating that the planet has become a half a degree warmer in just the last three years alone, “you guys are signing up to figure out how we’re going to rewire the world…That remains our mission in spite of the politics of the day.” It sounds daunting, yet Dr. Goodstein balances the challenge with a dose of hope. “We’re still living in an extraordinary moment in the human project.” Sure, we are ” in a race,” he added, “but we haven’t lost yet.” (more…)

January 27, 2017

{Green Careers} January 2017 Recap: Resilience and Stormwater Management

by Samantha Yost  

Photo Courtesy: Pamela Berns

On January 10, GreenHomeNYC hosted three professionals in the field of resilience and stormwater management at the offices of the Community Preservation Corporation, which itself has done significant post-Sandy recovery work in some of the most vulnerable and heavily impacted communities. This Sustainable Career Tracks event attracted a diverse crowd eager to get career advice from our panel of experts.   Mark Ginsberg, Principal at Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, LLP Mark Ginsberg is a familiar face in the resilience community, having spoken on several previous panels about the work his firm has done with new construction and renovations on buildings in the flood plain. Mark is also co-author of Enterprise’s manual Ready to Respond, Strategies for Multifamily Building Resilience, which seeks to give information to owners of multifamily buildings on how to protect their properties and residents in case of an emergency.  He spoke about the Arverne East project that his firm has designed in the Rockaways, an area in the flood plain that has endured heavy damage during Superstorm Sandy. (more…)

March 28, 2016

Diversity in Green: A Panel Discussion with Green Professionals and Diversity Experts

Today’s workforce is becoming increasingly diverse — but although great strides have been made in the past few years, there are still many barriers and additional hurdles that traditionally underrepresented populations may face when searching for employment.   https://internsinasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CulturalDiversity.jpg Join green professionals and diversity experts for a panel discussion on diversity in today’s green workforce. This is a session for everyone who is interested in making their organizations more just, fair, and equitable. Join us as GreenHomeNYC tackles these questions:   What are some of the barriers minorities of all kinds face when searching for employment and within their organizations once they are hired? Why is diversity important to an organization and how can you encourage diversity within your own company? How do the best organizations already address diversity in the workplace? How can you encourage diversity in the hiring and promotion processes? How are environmental issues and social justice issues are related?   RSVP HERE to attend! Speakers: Bomee Jung Vice President, Energy and Sustainability at New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) www.linkedin.com/in/bomee       John Oppermann Executive Director at Earth Day Initiative www.linkedin.com/in/johnoppermann       Sharon Griffith Sharon Griffith Project Manager at New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) www.linkedin.com/in/sharon-griffith-1bb8034     Sandra Bushby Sandra Bushby Diversity & Inclusion Solutions at ExecuInsight LLC www.linkedin.com/in/sandrabushby     Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm with networking afterwards Location: NYCHA, 90 Church St., Flr. 05 – Ceremonial Room, New York, NY 10007   RSVP HERE to attend!   If you have any questions, please contact the GHNYC Green Careers group at [email protected].   Photo from https://internsinasia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CulturalDiversity.jpg