Green-collar worker
A green-collar worker is an individual engaged in professions that focus on improving environmental quality through sustainable practices. This concept distinguishes green-collar jobs from traditional blue-collar and white-collar positions, emphasizing the environmental contribution these workers make rather than their educational or salary status. The term gained traction as awareness of environmental issues grew, particularly from the late 20th century onward, driven by factors such as climate change, energy shortages, and the push for sustainable industries.
Green-collar workers are found across various sectors, particularly in renewable energy, waste management, and conservation efforts. Their roles can range from manual labor in fields like solar and wind energy installation to professional positions in environmental research and policy-making. The growth of green-collar jobs has been supported by government incentives and a shift in investment toward sustainable technologies. This transition has resulted in significant job creation, with projections indicating that millions of new green-collar positions could emerge in response to global trends aimed at reducing carbon emissions and fostering a circular economy. As both political and economic landscapes shift, green-collar workers increasingly play a pivotal role in shaping a sustainable future.
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Green-collar worker
A green-collar worker is a person employed in a profession relating to or concerned with products and services designed to improve environmental quality. The green designation refers to restoration or maintenance of nature and balance, alluding to chlorophyll, a range of green pigments found in plants and algae. The term collar in reference to jobs was coined in the 1920s and 1930s to denote differences between white-collar workers—salaried, higher-educated professional workers in administrative or managerial roles—and blue-collar workers—tradespeople performing manual work and often paid hourly rates. In contrast, green-collar workers are defined not by their level of employment, education, salary, or profession, but rather by their perceived role in helping the environment.
Green-collar workers can help employers produce in more environmentally sustainable ways. They often work for public entities, private companies, or organizations that deal specifically in environmental products and services.
Background
The modern environmental movement in general evolved gradually across the twentieth century, with economic and labor impacts following. As early as 1945, the US Office of Naval Research began significantly funding many fields of scientific research, including climate studies. With the advent of satellite technology in the late 1950s, further studies revealed that the oceans do not easily absorb the volume of carbon dioxide produced by human activities. These findings, along with the work of activists drawing attention to various examples of environmental degradation, helped spur both volunteer and professional efforts to protect the environment and develop sustainable industry.
The rise of green-collar industries was advanced by the 1973–74 oil embargo against the United States by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Severe gasoline shortages led to the drive to develop alternative fuels and energy sources in the 1970s. This push included solar cell technology advanced by the formation of the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (formerly the Solar Energy Research Institute) as well as federally funded wind turbine development.
Increasing scientific awareness of climate change coupled with significant oil shortages led to increasing inquiry regarding energy sources and exploration into the development of a more circular economy, or one that aims to reduce waste, avoid pollution, and allow products to re-enter the biosphere, or global ecological system. The quest for a circular economy has led to green-collar job creation for workers spanning the spectrum, offering a wide array of skills from manual labor to research, design, and construction.
Investing in green-collar jobs and green-collar workers was initially pitched as a socially and environmentally responsible way to invest funds, but was often viewed as risky, with results that failed to match more lucrative traditional energy industries such as coal or gas. This is no longer necessarily the case. Green-collar job opportunities have grown due in part to government incentives and the declining cost of green technologies.
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Early definitions of "green-collar" often considered it to mean specifically blue-collar positions that were adapted to environmental causes. However, as the phenomenon became better known, it grew to encompass jobs that would otherwise be considered white-collar as well, with the environmental focus becoming the key factor. In the twenty-first century, green-collar workers are employed in a wide array of businesses that produce goods and services that conserve natural resources or benefit the environment. Additionally, green-collar workers may be hired to help employers in a variety of other industries produce in more environmentally friendly ways while reducing the use and expenditure of natural resources.
Many green-collar workers are employed in the energy industry, working with renewable sources such as biomass, solar, ocean, hydropower, wind, landfill gas, and solid waste. The field of energy efficiency additionally creates jobs that produce equipment, appliances, buildings, vehicles, and products and services that improve the efficiency of energy usage.
Companies and initiatives that work toward pollution reduction and removal, carbon dioxide reduction, recycling, and reuse increased in the early twenty-first century. Natural resources conservation was also a growing field, providing job opportunities related to agriculture; sustainable forestry; land, soil, water, and storm water management; and wildlife conservation. Jobs in the fields of teaching, training, increasing public awareness, and environmental regulation enforcement further add to the green-collar work force.
Once regarded as unviable, the green economy eventually earned the attention of Wall Street. According to the MSCI World Index, which measures global stock market performance, by the close of 2015, environmental activist and former vice president Al Gore's company, Generation Investment Management, had made investors more money through the application of environmentally sustainable investing practices than all but one other leading global equity management firm. This success demonstrated that investors could make more money by investing in green technologies that reduce environmental costs through clean technology innovation. Increasing investment in environmentally minded companies boosted the market for green-collar workers.
National and worldwide trends to limit fossil fuel energy imports and lower carbon emissions have led to measures to integrate more renewable technologies into energy power markets, in turn leading to more green-collar jobs. In November 2016, the European Union forecasted the potential to create almost a million new jobs for green-collar workers that would additionally lead to increases in gross domestic product (GDP), or a country's yearly value of goods produced and services provided.
The clean energy industry is also a growing political constituency. By 2015, green-collar workers made up five times more workers than the number of workers employed by the US coal industry, a traditionally powerful lobbying force. Similarly, by 2023, nearly three hundred thousand workers were employed by US wind and solar industries. Some states offered financial incentives for companies in renewable technology fields, and even some states that historically favored traditional energy sources such as coal and gas embraced renewable energy technologies. Iowa, Kansas, and Texas, for example, developed growing wind energy industries, making more green-collar jobs available for residents. According to Deloitte Development, from 2015 to 2021, the number of green jobs increased by 38.5 percent, and many of these jobs were in the renewable energy sector. By 2021, the percentage of America's workforce made up of green-collar workers had reached 13.3. This growth provided momentum for green energy and green-collar workers to have bipartisan political support moving forward.
While politically liberal regions of the US often led the way in the green economy, legislators from conservative regions also embraced renewable technology in some cases. Clean energy political action committees (PACs) have donated to both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. In December 2015, the Republican-controlled Congress voted to extend the renewable energy production tax credit (PTC) to 2021, with the aim of creating more jobs for green-collar workers. The act was eventually extended through 2032 as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (2022). When Democrats took control of the House of Representatives following the 2018 midterm elections, they proposed a so-called Green New Deal, a major economic reform plan focused on sustainability that sought to greatly increase the number of green-collar positions. However, the Democrats failed to secure the necessary votes to pass the legislation.
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