ENVIRONMENT
issues ,” Lane says . “ Larger issues are not just from one root cause . They ’ re from a lot of different multifactorial reasons , and to be able to come up with solutions for that it ’ s very helpful to have individuals that know how to work across sectors and with one another and communicate with a common language .”
Program participants might visit a river that no longer has continuous flows due to climate change and explore how that affects local people , livestock and the ecosystem . They look at how racism affects health outcomes — and how a changing climate exacerbates those outcomes for marginalized communities . Take , for instance , how extreme heat waves impact farmworkers , or how malaria and vectors for the disease are altered by changing weather conditions and extreme weather events , especially heavy rainfall .
“ We ’ ve seen the impacts of what happens when we have spillover of infectious diseases from wildlife to humans , and it ’ s only predicted that ’ s going to increase ,” Lane says , speaking of COVID-19 . The broader professional community and general society are recognizing the One Health philosophy “ intuitively ,” she adds . “ Of course , human health and environmental health and animal health and the ecosystems that we all share are interrelated .”
The program has hosted 85 participants from 15 countries since its launch in 2017 ( 2020 ’ s program was canceled ). Locations for the program have included Tanzania , Rwanda and California . “ For society , it ’ s important that we have motivated individuals who know how to work together and across sectors to be able to solve some of our really global challenges ,” Lane says .
When it comes to other climate-related jobs , the list is long : urban planners to help communities rethink their physical facilities and built environment ; hydrologists to find solutions for water availability and quality ; engineers to handle waste disposal and air pollution control . And , in rural communities , there are those much-needed forestry jobs .
Jobs to support a year-round economy
In the tourist haven of Tahoe , restaurant employees lost hours of work and tips due to evacuation orders and hazardous smoke from the Caldor Fire in the summer of 2021 . “ Suddenly you lose two weeks of wages because the road closes or there ’ s a fire or there ’ s a pandemic , and I ’ m trying to figure out ways to promote and recruit some of those tourism workers into more stable , year-round forestry jobs ,” says Hill Drum of the nonprofit Tahoe Prosperity Center .
The TPC is partnering with the North State Forestry Collaborative to help catalyze more forestry jobs , Hill Drum says . One collaborative member , Josh Metz , thinks emerging technologies offer a big opportunity . Metz , co-founder of the Drone Automation & Robotics Technologies program at Cal State Monterey Bay , said in a webinar that drones have unique capabilities for wildfires and forest management , including for mapping or air operations in poor visibility . The global drone market , he said , is projected to grow from $ 15 billion to $ 90 billion by 2030 and create about 104,000 new jobs , including for cartographers , photogrammetrists , and surveying and mapping technicians . But this workforce needs to be trained , and only 10 of California ’ s roughly 630 colleges have drone programs , Metz says .
In September 2021 , Gov . Gavin Newsom signed a $ 15 billion climate package , which includes $ 1.5 billion for forest and wildfire resilience such as fuel reduction projects among other strategies . This means more jobs . “ We need folks to go out and do forest management work — do prescribed burns , do targeted forest thinning , work on shaded fuel breaks around communities , and do that type of work ,” says Staci Heaton , senior policy advocate for Rural County Representatives of California . “ It serves the dual purpose of creating jobs and also doing community fire protection .”
Another program in the Sierra Nevada that aims to develop a workforce — in this case focused on skilled project managers for conservation efforts — is the Sierra
Corps Forestry Fellowship Program of the Sierra Nevada Alliance , a nonprofit network of conservation groups . Launched in 2019 , Sierra Corps identifies and places early-to-mid career professionals with environmental nonprofits . Fellows get professional training and real-life experience with project management — the host partners get a mid-level employee at 30-50 percent of the cost ( the project is funded by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy , a state agency ).
Sierra Corps has hired about 10 forestry fellows , says Taylor Parker , Sierra Nevada Alliance ’ s forestry program director . While working on conservation and climate change issues can be “ wildly depressing ,” Parker says , he also sees beauty in programs like Sierra Corps with young professionals eager to dedicate their careers to fixing environmental woes .
“ I am not an optimistic person by personality ,” Parker says . “ I ’ m a pretty melancholy individual . But I am not pessimistic about our environmental issues . I do actually think that we can fix them and it ’ s programs like this forestry program that are reminders to me that we have an incredible group of humans working very hard , very diligently .”
Mobilizing for a cause
When it comes to climate jobs , Generation Z might be the perfect candidates just waiting for the opportunity . Gen Zers , those born roughly between 1997 and 2012 , seem especially purpose-driven — even more so than millennials . “ They mobilize themselves for a variety of causes ,” according to the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company .
A chief cause is climate change . Younger activists show significant engagement with this issue , according to a Pew Research Center survey in 2021 : “ Compared with older adults , Gen Zers and Millennials are talking more about the need for action on climate change ; among social media users , they are seeing more climate change content online ; and they are doing more to get involved with the issue through activities such as volunteering and attending rallies and protests .”
64 comstocksmag . com | June 2022