An Ordinary Human’s Guide to…………… The Green Economy

This series hopes to break down key sustainable terms and ideas to make them more accessible for everyone to understand and use to make change. If you are already familiar with these ideas, refresh your mind and use your knowledge, but if this is new to you, read on and learn!

In a world of politics, budgets and our good old friend, money, environmental issues are often seen in isolation as a separate entity entirely. But in order to transition to a sustainable society, all jobs and careers will need to implement sustainability to adapt to the future and evolving markets (this sounds financial already!). This post explores what a green economy includes and how we can create ‘green jobs’.

The UN describes the Green Economy as one which where employment and income prospers while reducing carbon emissions, biodiversity loss and enhancing resource and energy efficiency. Contrary to political belief, it is possible for economies to remain stable and grow while transitioning to a sustainable society, in fact one of the sustainable development goals directly focuses on work and economic growth. The important idea to focus on now, especially in school leavers, graduates and those of a working age, is teaching green skills which can be applied to any jobs roles. In order to become sustainable, we don’t just need conservationists and geography teachers (though both are great ☺️). All employees need an understanding of sustainability principles in order to implement them in all aspects of life. You’re a builder? Help with the need to develop low-zero carbon homes and retrofit those that are currently not energy efficient. You’re a designer? Your innovation can be used to design products and places with little to no waste. You have a high influencing status, either within your job or as a media presence? Influence people to create the change we need rather than further over-consumption activities. Every job can become a green job by changing our perspective on what success is and what we are here to contribute on a wider scale.

In terms of job creation and employment, green jobs can provide the necessary opportunities to the communities that need it most. As has happened locally to myself, building new fossil fuel plants or high polluting industries can often be justified by creating jobs for local people and boosting local economies. Imagine you desperately need work – you’ll likely take whatever is offered to you, whether that’s a coal power plant or a new supermarket, because any job is better than none at all. But the same applies if that job was in a wind farm or electric vehicle manufacturing plant. So the same benefits can be reached by investing in green industries, with the added advantage of having longevity over fossil fuel-based industries that won’t survive for much longer as our stores decrease. As has happened in history before, we are at an employment transition point, and as hard as it can be to leave traditional industries and skills behind, it is now time to change the identity and make-up of our economy for the sustainability of our planet and our own kind.

This has been a very brief introduction, and one that definitely still has a way to go, but the main points you might want to consider in your own lives are:

• What can you do to boost your sustainability understandings and skills in the workplace to improve your place of work? This could be individually, or influencing your employers to create company level change, such as participating in Carbon Literacy Training.
• Making the learning of green skills and ideas key to younger generations – talk through ideas with your kids or any young people in your life, to keep the ideas relevant whatever career they decide upon.
• Support green job creation, especially any projects local to you. Be critical of the ‘boost jobs and local economies’ justification for damaging industries and remember any employer could describe themselves to do that, so choose who you work for carefully if you are in a position to have the choice.

Hopefully you now feel more empowered to engage in sustainability regardless of your career. Climate change should be discussed in every workplace and sustainability implemented at all levels, so see what is within your power to change and most importantly use whatever influence you have to support the learning of green skills and green job opportunities, so the green economy can go from financial fantasy to real-life policy. Who knows, maybe it will have benefits beyond the current money-focussed model… 💰