# Qualifications for Environmental Jobs



## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

If there's one critical thing I've learned, it's that you should know what you want to do before you finish your degree in a university. 

I began thinking I wanted to teach, perhaps, because of my background in literature (I was taking university level English courses in high school) and I'm very glad for my informative, rich and varied experience as a liberal arts major.

Which basically landed me some low-paying jobs in private editing and some freelance writing but nothing that I felt really passionate about continuing, in fact I wasn't making enough money to justify that I didn't feel passionate about it.

Right now I'm pretty much self-employed, and you might be like "welp great! good for you! problem solved!" but I would like to do something I'm passionate about that gives me more of a long-term future, since I am in my 30s now. I don't have children, but I do realize that I'll be my mother's age one day, and I don't want it to sneak up on me, nor do I want to keep thinking "well by the time I'm 40 I'm sure I'll be married anyway so it doesn't matter."

Yes, it does matter. What if I don't get married. What if my husband gets injured, is disabled, is laid off, or has a low paying job. What if I get married and don't have to worry about financial security and still want a career of my own. 

But I refused to go back to school for several years now, because I wasn't ready to commit to anything. I looked into history and historic preservation, and realized the limits on those jobs, and that the museum curator job doesn't really exist anymore, which brings me back to teaching.

It seems that I've strongly and firmly decided against teaching, and that I keep leading toward preservation or conservation of some kind, as a form of more meaningful career life work that isn't just about the moment and money and my financial concerns and need for independence and freedom.

I think as an Fi dom I won't be happy until I feel my work is really ethical, but I can't fit myself into the wrong role either (i.e. teaching and social work are not for me, I already know it).

I considered hobbies such as cooking and yoga as potential future careers, but yoga instructing is HARD to make money at, for many people it's a second job.

Culinary school I looked into, realize I'd rather be in baking and pastry than being a chef, and noted how much harder it is to build a solid career in baking than it is being a chef; chef is a pretty widely available decent job, but I don't want the high stress of being a kitchen employee in that manner, because I have a mood disorder, and realistically I'm not sure it would suit my nerves.

I've been very careful about this, and I am in my 30s now, and I really think that the environment is the future. I think if I actually want a job (and not just a degree, and be back in the same position after finishing said degree) and also want to do something meaningful that I'm actually interested in, and could potentially build a long-term ethical career out of, it would be environmental work.

There are jobs available in forestry, national parks, recycling, field management, field research, etc. 

The environment is the future, and if I want to conserve history, a fine place to start is keeping the natural world intact.

Does anyone know if I could break into "hands on" side of environmental work (I do not want to be stuck in an office discussing environmental law, no, not for me) with a degree other than biology?

I'm not opposed to a biology degree, but my sister majored in biology, and I know how much chemistry is required, and chemistry is not a strong subject for me, though biology is much more accessible and interesting to me.

How do I make a career in the hands on side of environmental conservation (say working out in forestry, for example) with a degree, while avoiding chemistry as much as possible.

If anyone has an answer to this, let me know.


----------



## Hollow Man (Aug 12, 2011)

You could try to get a law enforcement direction with training with your state's DNR and some kind of environmental law enforcement background. This job would be like a game warden. These types of classes may be at a technical college. I am not sure what the major would be, but you'd get training that would circumvent chemistry and may qualify you! Plus, you may be able to work outside a lot and look for environmental litter-bugs or people who are taking too many natural resources.

It seems like a lot of environmental jobs require really technical science knowledge. Remote sensing(using satellite imagery or aerial photographs) is used in forestry at least sometimes. I took a very rudimentary remote sensing class as a geography under-grad student. Environmental geography courses may be a good start that may help you avoid chemistry, but geography degrees are not too useful for jobs unless you get a higher degree that's more specific (may run into chemistry eventually or biology territory, well, you'll need it to function up there, I think). I avoided the environmental and science-y geography classes...I was more into human geography and that kind of cultural stuff, but there's the environmental side to geography too.

Keep your eyes peeled on government sites like usajobs.gov (department of interior, national parks) or your state government site (DNR, land conservation department, etc.)and see what environmental jobs are available...they're pretty diverse, and you probably have some qualifications or they may give you a hint of what to look for in scholarly direction.

Good luck!


----------



## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

Slogo said:


> You could try to get a law enforcement direction with training with your state's DNR and some kind of environmental law enforcement background. This job would be like a game warden. These types of classes may be at a technical college. I am not sure what the major would be, but you'd get training that would circumvent chemistry and may qualify you! Plus, you may be able to work outside a lot and look for environmental litter-bugs or people who are taking too many natural resources.
> 
> It seems like a lot of environmental jobs require really technical science knowledge. Remote sensing(using satellite imagery or aerial photographs) is used in forestry at least sometimes. I took a very rudimentary remote sensing class as a geography under-grad student. Environmental geography courses may be a good start that may help you avoid chemistry, but geography degrees are not too useful for jobs unless you get a higher degree that's more specific (may run into chemistry eventually or biology territory, well, you'll need it to function up there, I think). I avoided the environmental and science-y geography classes...I was more into human geography and that kind of cultural stuff, but there's the environmental side to geography too.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much. I encountered a forestry program that is two years that is located in northern california, but apparently if I want to do environmental science degree, there's still chemistry involved, there's no way around it, even if I avoid biology and go straight to environmental science...but apparently environmental conservation degree isn't chem-heavy at all, and I read something that it would actually be more useful to do conservation rather than environmental science, because environmental science is "too broad" (opposed to B.S. in Biology, for example).

So Environmental Conservation would be the bachelor's to obtain, and there's also that two year forestry program up north, but I wonder how many jobs that creates, apparently people who graduate from HSU, the second most hirable people have forestry degrees.

I think the law enforcement/game warden choice is an interesting one I did not think of, that I may look into.

Thanks again!


----------



## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

Okay for less than 800 bucks I can get a certification in three months to get an entry level job at a campground, national or state park, or as a hatchery helper, which I'm sure all pay barely above minimum wage (I'm thinking 10-13 dollars per hour) but it's a foot in the door.

There's apparently more real opportunity with an associates in science in Forestry, at which point I could be qualified to be a game warden, park ranger, forestry tech etc.

It's only at the Bachelor's level of Forestry that I'd make any kind of real money, but even the jobs with the A.S. aren't bad paying, they just aren't high paying. They'd be enough to feel secure, though (around 30 grand range), and get benefits, especially with a state or national job. Probably no more or less than teaching would have been. That's pretty much what teachers make starting out.

The B.S. in Forestry does require calculus according to Berkeley, but I didn't see any emphasis on chemistry, just geology, biology, and environmental science. You have to have one of these to be a real "forester" and make at least 50-60 grand per year.

EDIT: Do not want to be a Forester...it can actually involve logging, which would probably piss me off equally as much as working in environmental policy and law. With my natural constitution, though I'm ethically passionate about those things, I couldn't deal with the day to day stress of being upset by the "battle" of logging or policy. 

I'd actually rather be a park ranger, environmental interpreter, or forestry field tech, all of which I can do with an Associates in Forestry. 

I'd rather be secure with a lower-middle class job that had good benefits and long-term promise, that brought joy to me and help to others than to work at an upper-middle class job that stressed me out on a global ethical level daily.

I already looked into a sample course for the certification in wildlife and forestry for the entry level positions, and I think I'd love to take it for my own edification, or as a jump start to getting my associates, which is what I will have to do to have the job(s) and financial security I want.

It doesn't even look like "work" to me, it's really interesting, like how to humanely trap injured wild animals and identifying plants an all kinds of neat stuff. I'd probably breeze right through it, too, as under-educated agricultural workers (like people in rural areas who farm or work in hatcheries) can take the course as long as they have an 8th grade education. Don't see too much of that these days, but it's really for people who want to work on the land.

And with my college background plus this, I would easily qualify for state parks jobs, as I looked into some of them, and they basically want a high school diploma plus a minimum of three months experience or education in a field related to agriculture, forestry, animals, etc.

I've also worked as a pet bather in a grooming shop, and apparently that counts as animal handling experience.

I think I've figured out what I want to do with my life, I had these state-or-national-park dreams as long as two years ago, when I first started considering also going into historic preservation, as some of the historic preservation jobs are through the state and national park system.

I also like that it would give me the kind of solid security and benefits that I fantasized about having when I thought I wanted to teach middle school.

This way I could also live on the Central Coast (in or near Big Sur, or other similar areas) or further Northern Cal, in the huge protected redwoods region.

Ocean conservation is NOT realistic with my aversion to chemistry, unless it's as volunteer work.


----------



## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

You could find places that have invasive species like the Pythons in Florida and if they have a bounty, make money off of killing them and turning them into for the bounty.


----------



## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

fourtines said:


> Does anyone know if I could break into "hands on" side of environmental work (I do not want to be stuck in an office discussing environmental law, no, not for me) with a degree other than biology?
> 
> I'm not opposed to a biology degree, but my sister majored in biology, and I know how much chemistry is required, and chemistry is not a strong subject for me, though biology is much more accessible and interesting to me.
> 
> How do I make a career in the hands on side of environmental conservation (say working out in forestry, for example) with a degree, while avoiding chemistry as much as possible.


If you know where you'd want to work in terms of forestry or out in a park, why wouldn't you call up those people and ask for a 15-20 minute time period to ask them about how to get into that field? It would seem like a natural way to find out if a degree is required in the first place.

At the same time, I'd probably suggest figuring out what kinds of activities do you want to be doing here as there are more than a few possible ways to support the cause from fundraising and event planning to doing the work out in nature as another thought here.

I'd suggest going to the source to get the facts as well as recognize that there may be new roles that could make sense here as some companies get more into corporate social responsibility that may want people to help show how companies are giving back, recruiting volunteers and doing various programs to help make the world a better place.


----------



## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

jbking said:


> I'd suggest going to the source to get the facts as well as recognize that there may be new roles that could make sense here as some companies get more into corporate social responsibility that may want people to help show how companies are giving back, recruiting volunteers and doing various programs to help make the world a better place.


Not sure how that would go on the ethical thing like she mentioned because in the whole scheme of things, corporations will spend the bare minimum in order to give an illusion it really cares (when it doesn't).


----------



## jbking (Jun 4, 2010)

PowerShell said:


> Not sure how that would go on the ethical thing like she mentioned because in the whole scheme of things, corporations will spend the bare minimum in order to give an illusion it really cares (when it doesn't).


I disagree on the idea that all corporations spend the bare minimum to give an illusion it really cares. While it would take some legwork and research, there are probably some companies that have been created that it isn't all about making money at the end of the day. While there can be the occasional pinkwash campaign and it is easy to think of big CEOs as fat cats, there are likely various small enterprises that do work to in bringing about some social justice or being socially responsible on some level.

Where I was trying to go is that there may yet be new job titles within the realm of environmental positions if companies start to focus on sustainability and being environmentally conscious, while it isn't popular yet, there is something to be said for looking at what is in one's own back yard that may be useful to consider here.


----------



## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

jbking said:


> I disagree on the idea that all corporations spend the bare minimum to give an illusion it really cares. While it would take some legwork and research, there are probably some companies that have been created that it isn't all about making money at the end of the day. While there can be the occasional pinkwash campaign and it is easy to think of big CEOs as fat cats, there are likely various small enterprises that do work to in bringing about some social justice or being socially responsible on some level.
> 
> Where I was trying to go is that there may yet be new job titles within the realm of environmental positions if companies start to focus on sustainability and being environmentally conscious, while it isn't popular yet, there is something to be said for looking at what is in one's own back yard that may be useful to consider here.


Yeah I agree on companies like Lush especially.

I just signed up for a Wildlife and Forestry Conservation class. After I take it and pass it I'll be qualified to work in a national or state park, and also in things like water and power from an environmental angle.

I can finish in a few months, because I'll probably have to wait til next year to start an associates degree, seeing as that I have to take out student loans, I just don't see how it's going to be feasible for me to start in August or September, especially "on campus" as Associates in Forestry programs are so hands on (more so than a B.S. in Forestry, which is more hard-science heavy) that there's no way to do an Associate's on-line.

There's a school in the L.A. area that offers this program, but I'll be damned if I'd leave my precious South Bay area to go live near that community college. If I move away from here, it's going to be into the redwood forest in the central or northern coast.


----------



## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

PowerShell said:


> Not sure how that would go on the ethical thing like she mentioned because in the whole scheme of things, corporations will spend the bare minimum in order to give an illusion it really cares (when it doesn't).


You're both right. Like I responded to her there are companies like Lush which are very eco-conscious.

But that's not the branch of environmental work I want to be in. I want to go outside.


----------



## Stelmaria (Sep 30, 2011)

The best advice I can give is to go and talk to as many people as you can, to get advice, perspectives and connections for future jobs. But obviously the angle is to canvass people, not the jobs themselves.

Jobs in this field are most likely highly competitive to get a shoe in, so making the right connections and letting them help you jump through the hoops would probably make a big difference.


----------



## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

Snow Leopard said:


> The best advice I can give is to go and talk to as many people as you can, to get advice, perspectives and connections for future jobs. But obviously the angle is to canvass people, not the jobs themselves.
> 
> Jobs in this field are most likely highly competitive to get a shoe in, so making the right connections and letting them help you jump through the hoops would probably make a big difference.


Apparently it's a field that's widening due to Baby Boomers retiring out of forestry for example. The course I started taking yesterday, the very first section on what jobs are available, pretty much everything I'm asking is there, what agencies hire, where opportunities are for environmental protection (including in businesses like logging or fishing where environmental protection has to monitor how these industries are handled, like the one person was saying about companies in an earlier post).

I mean an important aspect is to know what is available and what is out there and who I should even apply with.

Thanks.


----------



## PowerShell (Feb 3, 2013)

fourtines said:


> Apparently it's a field that's widening due to Baby Boomers retiring out of forestry for example. The course I started taking yesterday, the very first section on what jobs are available, pretty much everything I'm asking is there, what agencies hire, where opportunities are for environmental protection (including in businesses like logging or fishing where environmental protection has to monitor how these industries are handled, like the one person was saying about companies in an earlier post).
> 
> I mean an important aspect is to know what is available and what is out there and who I should even apply with.
> 
> Thanks.


You might want to check out the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point (it's in my neck of the woods). They have a very strong conservation program that I am told is one of the best in the nation. UWSP | Admissions - Majors & Minors

A lot of people go for Natural Resources and get jobs with the DNR: http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/Pages/default.aspx


----------



## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

I am excited to report that I found a great volunteer program that is exactly the sort of thing I want to do and I live close enough to make it a practical hands-on experience while I'm doing my on-line introductory course.

Apparently volunteer experience looks wonderful to entities which hire people in the conservation field, especially since working in parks and rec (through the government) is highly competitive; they look at volunteer experience and SPECIFIC degrees...one woman in my on-line course was actually sent there by a government entity who hired her, who told her basically that her biology degree was not specific enough, and they actually instructed her to take the course I'm taking so she can keep a full-time job in the field. LOL.

My sister is having trouble with *just* a biology degree too, and I've seen some people suggest that even Environmental Science is too non-specific.

Which is why I'm really thinking Associates in Forestry. 

It's almost like you have to specialize in Forestry (A.S. or B.S.), have a B.S. in some hard science with the course I'm taking on top of it, or have a master's degree in Enviro Science.

I'm actually pleased I made a good choice with my current course. One man got hired with just this course and a passing physical examination.


----------

