Business Going Green:
Missouri stands to benefit environmentally, economically at a green crossroads

When you think of cleaner air and water, renewable energy and sustainable development, how often do you also think of wages that sustain families and good job opportunities for the future?

Today America stands at a crossroads where environmental improvement meets economic potential. A recent paper from the Missouri Division of Workforce Development, How Green Jobs are Connected to Workforce Development, discusses the directions to which this intersection could lead.

There are four areas that require the expertise of green-collar workers, according to this research. These areas are currently being developed in many states, including Missouri, through legislation and capitalization. The first is renewable energy — a sector that will continue to grow, especially as oil, gas and coal costs rise. The development of solar, wind, hydropower, biofuels, and hydrogen fuel cells will require technical knowledge, post-secondary education and training.

The second sector includes processes that improve energy efficiency in the manufacturing, distribution, construction, installation, and maintenance of products and services. Demand for experts in efficiency will turn traditionally blue-collar jobs into green-collar jobs.

The third sector, where good jobs will continue to grow, is natural resource conservation. There is an increasing need for improved forest and land management, water conservation, planting and farming, methane capture from animal and food waste, recycling, and waste management.

Finally, technology industries that develop ways to reduce greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions won't be going out of business anytime soon. Such industries include fuel-efficiency technologies, public transit, alternative fuels, and electric and hybrid vehicles.

The tangible evidence that green jobs will continue to grow can be seen in the actions of the White House. The first presentation of The Middle Class Taskforce, which is a series of forums developed by the Obama administration, was about green jobs. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides funding to train workers in energy efficiency and renewable energy as a way to restore a solid, middle class job market.

Green-Collar Jobs in America's Cities: Building Pathways Out of Poverty and Careers in the Clean Energy Economy — a report by The Apollo Alliance, Green For All, The Center for American Progress, and The Center on Wisconsin Strategy — sees the green economy as a meeting place of the past and the future. It will reflect the solid, blue-collar industries of the past, which supported a major section of the middle class, through the creation of jobs for the future, in such areas as green building and wind turbine development.

Green industry also creates more work for those who own businesses or are already employed. The growing market for solar energy, for example, creates jobs for factory workers, truck drivers, carpenters, electricians, and service technicians. Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State by State Picture of Occupations that Gain From Green Investment, by Robert Pollin and Jeanette Wicks-Lim of the Political Economy Research Institute, discusses green employment in 12 states, including Missouri. The report reveals that millions of U.S. workers, across a wide range of familiar occupations and backgrounds, will benefit from our nation's efforts to preserve the environment.

Missouri already comprises a small piece of the green economic pie. According to The Clean Energy Economy, a study released by the PEW Charitable Trusts, there were 11,714 green jobs and 1,062 green businesses in Missouri in 2007. As the green economy grows, things can only get better — environmentally and economically — for Missouri.

This story was featured in the August 2009 newsletter