Posts Tagged green job

Collaboration between Liverpool City Council and social enterprise provide green jobs and training

June 11, 2009 at 11:56 am · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , ,

For months now, politicians and commentators have been harping on about how green jobs can provide both a way to tackle climate change and an avenue for unemployed people to find a new career. Finally, we are starting to see some action in this vein, and it’s in the north that the initiative is being taken.

In Kensington, Liverpool, the award-winning Clean Team is already a common sight for residents, as the team ensures green spaces and communal gardens are tended too. Now, the team is set to become even more prolific.

Three more members have been added to the team, selected from 43 applications for the positions. This just goes to show how keen people are to move into a popular, stable and expanding environmental sector.

The scheme isn’t just a way to keep the city clean and provide jobs; those three new team members will start NVQ level 2 qualifications in amenity horticulture too, plus health and safety, risk assessment and manual handling training.

This was all achieved by collaboration with Riverside landlords, keen to keep the land around their properties green; Local Solutions, a social enterprise that provides services in various areas such as training, anti-bullying initiatives, crime prevention and much more; and Liverpool City Council’s Transitional Employment Programme.

The scheme exemplifies what great changes can be made to the way we work in the UK through green and ethical industries. Not only has this programme provided jobs and training for local people, as well as cleaning up the area; it has also encouraged collaboration between local landlords, the City Council, and social enterprises. It seems that a fresh approach to the environment has fostered a fresh approach to valuing employees, providing them with training that will not only help them to do their job, but also empower them to move forward in a green career with training that can easily be built on. As well as that, it’s a fresh approach in terms of business, with a social enterprise rather than a traditional business providing services. Let’s hope that fresh approach is taken up in more areas to provide green jobs to people eager to work and develop careers in the environmental sector.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in the UK.

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Boris promotes green volunteering (and takes a dive)

June 5, 2009 at 10:56 am · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

You may think that London Mayor Boris Johnson is less suited to controlling one of the world’s most powerful cities and more to, well, just bumbling about, really. This month, however, Boris was able to combine his two roles in a particularly amusing way.

In order to promote volunteering, Boris was present at a clean-up project at the River Pool in Lewisham. The project was run by charity Thames21, which is committed to ridding London’s waterways of pollution and stagnation.

Whilst striding about importantly in the river, rolling up his sleeves and helping other volunteers pull out harmful plant Himalayan balsam, Boris stumbled into a deeper patch of the water and sank chest deep into the murky liquid.

As one on-looker proclaimed the tumble as “classic” of the Mayor, volunteers rushed to the floppy-haired-one’s aid. During an interview later, Boris said:

“In order to promote this (volunteering), I took the maybe ultimate sacrifice. I decided to fall in a very spectacular way.”

It wasn’t all self-deprecating joke, however; Boris had a serious message about volunteering. He said:

“Volunteering is good for individuals and great for London in tough economic times.

“By giving your time, whether a one-off few hours or a regular commitment, we can both help to make the capital a more civilised, pleasant place and reap the rewards of putting something back into the communities in which we live.”

Boris did not mention how useful volunteering, especially in an environmental project, can work wonders for your CV if you are looking to get into a green job or an ethical career. The experience and contacts gained are invaluable, so get volunteering and get on the ladder!

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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First ever green job survey depicts a booming industry

June 5, 2009 at 10:51 am · Filed under ethical jobs, green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Finally, in the midst of the plethora of ugly headlines about redundancies, high prices and overstretched public services, there has been some good financial news. Even better, it comes from the environmental sector.

Reuters published its first ever Carbon Salary Survey in early June, and boy does it look good. A whopping 68% of green job holders said that they felt an increased sense of job security in the past few years, going against the grain of most industries, where workers are clinging desperately to their careers.

Most respondents in the survey put this warm, fuzzy and secure feeling down to increased enthusiasm from governments and businesses to go green and tackle the effects of climate change.

Being secure in your job, in the midst of a recession, is plenty to be thankful for, but wait; there’s more! The average salary in the climate sector came out at around £47,000, which is a promising indicator of a healthy sector.

The rapid growth of the green industry is partly due to government agreements to tackle climate change. In the UK, green jobs were given a lift by the EU agreement in December 2008 to source 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020 and to cut its carbon emissions to 20% below 1990 levels.

Now for a little patriotic pride; the UK remains the hub of the green job sector, with 28% of green business headquarters located in Britain. North America was close behind at 26%, with Europe at a close third with 24%. At least the UK’s flagging Prime Minister Gordon Brown has managed to hit one target; his pledge to keep the UK as an international leader in green technology seems to be in sight.

The Reuters survey goes to show one thing; that an environmental career is the way to go for stability, great salaries and progression up the ladder. The only negative aspect that the survey revealed was the fact that women, on average, still earn around 18% less than men working at the same level. So, girls (and open-minded boys), there is only one thing to do; check out the job listings on JuicyJobs and correct the balance!

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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Fuel company could create green jobs boost in Norwich

May 29, 2009 at 5:33 pm · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Ah, Norwich. It’s not an area known particularly for its innovation and technological advances, but, as we often discover on JuicyJobs, it is the unlikely places that you find real advances in green technology.

Achor International, based at Colney Hall in Norwich, is a company that creates clean, sustainable fuel from household waste. What better way to reduce carbon consumption than to use the very things we constantly throw away for clean fuel?

Many people across the globe think that this is a good idea too, which is why Achor is considering truly enormous expansion plans. The business is currently in negotiations to build new plants for their innovative fuel production in Africa, Asia, Europe and the US.

Now, not only does that mean that there will be hundreds of green jobs created in each of these countries, but it also means that there could be up to 30 green jobs created in Norwich itself, as staff numbers at the head office will need to be increased.

This is an example of who the winners will be when the UK comes out of recession. Whilst MPs face a mass boot-out and bankers cling to their jobs, green entrepreneurs will weather out the storm. In fact, the storm – advancing climate change and deepening financial chaos – is just the kind of climate a green entrepreneur needs to sell in successfully.

Achor International is a case in point. The company’s current yearly turnover is around £200,000, which is a healthy amount for any company of its size given the recent troubles. What is amazing is that this green company is in a position to expand, and once it does, is predicted to bring in a turnover of a whopping £300 million over the coming years. It also means that those green jobs created by the company will be far more secure than your regular job by that point. If that’s not a great example of why sustainable business is a good thing, I don’t know what is.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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What’s going on with public sector jobs?

May 15, 2009 at 11:47 am · Filed under ethical jobs, green jobs ·Tagged , ,

There have been mixed reports lately over the stability of public sector jobs. Whilst this particular crop of jobs has not suffered as badly as some areas of the private sector, it has had its share of losses. Predictions on what will happen as the recession wears on, however, range wildly from the apocalyptic to the optimistic.

Head of Public Sector at KPMG Alan Downey predicted this week that local government could rid itself of 100,000 jobs after 2011, at the end of the current spending period. During a speech to the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, Mr Downey analysed the recent budget and said:

“If you assume that health and education spending will be spared the worst of the cuts, somebody else has to take cuts of 5%, 6% or 7%,” he said.

“There are job cuts in the public sector that are going to be numbered in the tens, or hundreds of thousands.”

President of the Public Sector People Managers’ Association Gillian Hibberd did not seem to disagree with this prediction either, saying that a loss of 100,000 staff would not surprise her.

Taking the opposite perspective, this year’s budget earmarked thousands of pounds’ worth of investment in green jobs, some of which will be pumped into local authorities and other public sector bodies. Are we to believe that this wave of public sector green jobs will also be axed at the end of the current spending period?

If so, this represents quite a confusing and short-sighted piece of fiscal policy from a government that so far has placed an emphasis on stability, sustainability and quiet growth out of the recession.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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