All this is very good, and the growth of green jobs such as these is welcome.

But at the same time, how many people can take advantage of these opportunities? For folks like myself who are interested in a career change, but don't have the time and certainly not the money to return to school to get another degree, we need opportunities to enter the field that don't have such high entry costs.

I am currently working for a large Fortune 500 company in the Pharma/Biologics area and I just wanted to give some input as I work in the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) dept. (who, for this company handles Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility).  When I started here (having a degree in Biology) I though I was really out of place, but the more I met people the more I found out what a random conglomeration of people work in our "sustainability" department.  For example the people I work with daily have degrees in Industrial Hygiene, Chemistry, Business, Engineering, etc.  I guess my point is, if you want to get into a sustainability type job, chances are, there is a company looking for someone who has your experiences (as long as you are even close to the realm of this line of work.) So, look around, many departments needs writers, scientists, and business people.  I think this is especially true because there are not a whole lot of people running around with degrees in "sustainability", just people who's careers have lead them to jobs in it. And also, it seems like the best people in this field are cooperative and innovative, two things you could learn in many former jobs...

As Sustainability Coordinator for Boulder Community Hospital, I am seeing wave of interest in the medical community toward the position.  It is so important that there be a passionate champion on staff to work across all departments on minimizing environmental impact.  Not only are they turning their community green, but they are also saving the hospital lots of green.  Our program, at BCH, can be attributed  toward over $500,000 in cost savings or avoided cost.  If you work in a medical setting and would be interested in pursuing this calling, please contact me at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) //= 0; i=i-1){ if (l[i].substring(0, 1) == ' ') output += "&#"+unescape(l[i].substring(1))+";"; else output += unescape(l[i]); } document.getElementById('eeEncEmail_4AFZnzoMEa').innerHTML = output; //]]> .

Kai Abelkis Sustainability Coordinator Boulder Community Hospital