Students gain interest in green careers
By Chris Benderev
June 7, 2009 9:12 p.m.
Jack Hogan, who grew up in a house a stone’s throw away from a reservoir in the forests north of San Francisco, finds it natural to be working closely with the environment after graduation.
Hogan, a fourth-year environmental science student, was the son of the Marin Municipal Water District’s chief ranger.
“My backyard was the woods, and my front yard was a lake,” Hogan said.
“With that kind of upbringing it was impossible not to be passionate about environmental stewardship.”
Today Hogan is one of a number of UCLA students heading into a growing sector of environmentally conscious careers, also known as a “green jobs,” a term with myriad meanings.
Hogan recently secured a career combining the traditional with the environmental at the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Beginning in July, Hogan will work a two-year rotation in the federal career intern program before he decides upon a specialty area.
The USACE operates large-scale projects focused on helping communities and their surrounding ecosystems, Hogan said.
Projects frequently include dredging, habitat restoration and management of water resources.
Publicly funded jobs such as Hogan’s make sense for many reasons, said Kathy Sims, director of the UCLA career center.
Though, one reason in particular stands out.
Where there is federal stimulus money, Sims said, there are often jobs not far behind.
Indeed, in February the USACE received $4.6 billion for its Civil Works projects in President Obama’s stimulus package, according to the USACE Web site.
Other students at UCLA are still in the process of finding their own green careers.
Fourth-year environmental science student, Sachin Goel, is waiting to hear back on an environmental consulting job in the Los Angeles area. He said he is excited about the potential position in which he would work to inform businesses of ways they can increase their sustainability.
However, he added that he only arrived at this point after months of legwork.
“It’s been kind of difficult because of the economy,” Goel said.
In the past several months Goel applied to between 20 and 30 listings.
He heard back from one.
Though he is eager for a job in the field of environmental consulting, unlike Hogan, Goel found an opportunity in protecting the planet later on in life.
“I’m not an (environmental) activist at all,” he said.
Goel came to UCLA with his sights set on chemistry and physical sciences. Later, he found the environmental science major and realized that his initial goals simply aligned with the aspirations of environmentalism, he said.
“It’s not a bad thing. I think it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
In that sense, Goel and Josh Green, a third-year mechanical engineering student, have a lot in common.
At a job fair earlier this year, Green lined up a summer internship at Opportunity Green, a local start-up company specializing in environmental consulting.
Although Green will work on projects aimed at bringing about more sustainable business practices this summer, he said he hopes to eventually integrate what he learns in his internship with his life-long passion: car design.
While he has never been opposed to the basic tenets of environmentalism, Green said he was not and is not a fervent conservationist. He was more of a car-buff and engineer by heart.
Since arriving at UCLA though, Green said he discovered a potential future for himself in designing cars that is both fun and sustainable.
“I can take my previous interest in designing cars and combine it with something that now feels important,” Green said.
“Becoming more energy efficient and less wasteful could be a really good thing, especially since people are never going to get rid of their cars.”
Diverse as it is, the green jobs market is not a steadfast in the overall economy just yet, said Charles Corbett, a professor of operations management and environmental management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
In fact, the paths of Hogan, Goel and Green illustrate what may be an important lesson for those enthusiastic to enter into an environmentally conscious career, Corbett said.
He said he believes to avoid any fluctuations in job security brought on by waves of popularity for the green movement, job candidates are best prepared by having skills rooted in established careers.
“You have to be careful about the hype part of green jobs,” Corbett said. “If you have a specific set of skills, tools and that ability, that’s hype-resistant. That lasts forever.”
