Environmental concerns and government regulations are creating new jobs for environmental professionals.
These specialists include environmental technicians, scientists, architects, social scientists, ecologists, fundraisers, activists, engineers, teachers, lawyers, consultants and auditors.
They work in academia, government and industry; for utilities; and as independent consultants. They specialize in compliance laws, impact assessment, regulations and technology.
They focus on air, water, waste, noise, wetlands and other environmental concerns of business and the government.
Their work is so important to business and industry that the professional environmentalists most in demand are managers for large companies, but not necessarily environmental companies, that must comply with regulations.
“Job opportunities are increasing,” said Mary Pat Paris, director of membership services for the National Association of Environmental Professionals, based in Washington. “The people I talk to, especially headhunters, are looking for environmental professionals who are multi-disciplined, who know the various specialties and also have good management skills.”
Paris continued: “It’s OK to concentrate on one area, but you don’t operate in a vacuum. There are a lot of highly trained, qualified professionals working together to solve the problems we’ve created.”
The trade association is indicative of how the field has grown. Founded in 1975, it was run by a volunteer staff up until 1992; today, it has a paid staff. The group has 3,500 members today; last year, it had 2,500. Though all members make their living in the field, a majority feel committed to wanting to save the environment, Paris reports. “Global Strategies for Environmental Issues” is the topic of its annual meeting in New Orleans next June.
A bottom line requisite for jobs, she says, is a bachelor’s degree, particularly in biology, chemistry, engineering or environmental sciences. Salaries range from $23,000 to $50,000 for environmental scientists, to $60,000 to $80,000 for top certified environmental consultants, studies show.
The association runs an employment marketplace through its newsletter. Some recently filled jobs include a writer-analyst to prepare environmental analysis and documentation for a computer company; scientist or engineer to do risk assessment for a major chemical firm; specialist with a master’s degree in natural resources for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and environmental manager with broad-based knowledge of regulations for a major company.
Jobs in the environment are growing rapidly and cover a variety of disciplines, Paris points out. “The key to the environmental professional of the future is a common certification, because at last count more than 90 professional certifications are given, some worthwhile, others, pieces of paper,” said Paris, whose organization offers a highly respected certification as environmental professional. It also has a strong ethics code for members.
What often attracts people to the broad-based environmental field is a love of nature. Mark G. Thompson is principal scientist at the Chicago office of TAMS Consultants Inc., a diversified consulting firm in engineering, architecture, planning and environmental science. Its billings are $40 million to $50 million annually.
“My family did a lot of camping and I was involved in the Boy Scouts, so from 5th grade on I was interested in the outdoors and environmental sciences,” said Thompson, whose firm is based in New York and has 400 employees nationwide, 100 of them dealing with environmental matters.
Thompson’s specialties are environmental impact assessments and wetlands. He received a bachelor of science degree in 1980 in environmental science and forestry at the State University of New York at Syracuse.
“Looking at the cans and bottles in the beautiful lake at Green Lakes State Park in Syracuse crystallized my career path and led me into water resources,” said the scientist, who earned a master’s degree from the university in that specialty in 1982.
Thompson worked for the federal government before starting in 1987 at TAMS, where he heads the firm’s environmental group for the central division, which has offices in Chicago and Belleville, Ill.
Some of TAMS’ recent environmental projects show the scope of the field: Illinois-Indiana regional airport study; U.S. Highway 117 corridor study and environmental impact statement, North Carolina; Dulles 28 Centre wetlands delineation, Washington, D.C.; Mt Hope (N.J.) hydroelectric project; Cartagena airport master plan, Cartagena, Colombia; and USAID program for locust and grasshopper control in Africa and Asia.
“In a team project at Scott Airport in Belleville, we were able to reduce the wetlands and flood impact by 50 percent,” Thompson said. “We made a contribution there-and it made me feel very good.”
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