Green collar jobs now come in two varieties, light green and dark green. For the past several years, green collar jobs have been blue collar jobs with a green slant. For instance, a working class green collar job may involve the installation of solar panels, planting of trees or mechanical maintenance on a wind turbine.
But, now more white collar types have been going green with midlife career changes in an effort to live their convictions more fully by helping the environment. Mid and high level executives, lawyers, accountants and others have been switching over to environmentally friendly companies in order to gain fulfillment from their jobs.
And, the topic of green collar jobs has not been lost on the politicians as well. On the campaign trail, both Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have been mentioning green collar jobs in their speeches for months.
According to a report by the American Solar Energy Society, there are currently 8.5 million green collar jobs in the U. S. and by 2030, this number will likely balloon to 40 million or about one-quarter of the total workforce. And, the jobs listed are just in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors and don’t include other types of environmental employment.
Kermit the Frog used to say, “It’s not easy being green,” but now green is hot, trendy and popular. Green collar jobs are expected to sprout up and grow over the next several decades. And, this will be putting a little green in many people’s wallets.