The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century

Compiled by the acknowledged leaders in environmental career information, The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century is a completely revised and updated edition of what has become the standard reference on the subject. Organized for ease of use and fully updated to reflect ongoing changes in environmental fields, it is the most comprehensive and reliable resource available for anyone seeking information about environmental career opportunities and how to get started in one. The book presents: a thorough consideration of environmental trends for the 21st century and the likely impact of those trends on future career opportunities an overview of environmental professions including a statistical review of the private sector environmental industry, state and local government, federal government, academia, and nonprofits valuable tips on career search strategies along with information about education, volunteering, and internships case studies of representative work and individual profiles that give readers an up-close and personal look at a variety of environmental professionals, what they really do, and how they arrived at their current positions resources for further information including more than 100 of the top web sites for the environmental career seeke.

Chapters examine the entire spectrum of career fields, with each chapter providing an "at a glance" summary of the field; discussion of history and background along with current issues and trends; examination of specific career opportunities and the educational requirements for each; salary ranges by type of employer, level of experience, and responsibility; and an extensive list of resources for further information. Fields profiled include: planning, education and communications, energy management and conservation, fisheries and wildlife management, forestry, land and water conservation, and others.

Written at a broad introductory level, The Complete Guide to Environmental Careers in the 21st Century provides an informative and inspirational starting place from which to learn more about specific fields. For recent college graduates, students, volunteers, librarians, career counselors, or anyone interested in working to protect the environment, it is an essential reference.

I know much of it has to do with me not noticing the pub. date but when you have a book with 21st century in the title I guess I kind of took it for granted.

Permaculture is above all a new way of envisioning the world and our (human) relationship to it such that we become sensitive to the vast interconnectedness of species. To live and grow food permaculturally is to work with rather than against nature. The two cardinal principles of permaculture is that work is any need not met by the eco-system in which one dwells, and pollution is any output not absorbable by the eco-system. The permaculturalist seeks to design living and food-producing systems such that both work and pollution are minimalized.

Permaculture, which flows from the deep ecology sensibility that the world's natural resources are limited and in many cases nonrenewable, encourages us to rethink what we mean by community. Community isn't exclusively human, and it isn't a gridwork suburb carved out of the natural terrain. It's instead an environment in which "useful connections between different elements in a system" are recognized and nurtured "so that as many inputs as possible are provided from within the system, and as many of the outputs as possible are used within it." (p. 53) When you think about it, this understanding of community applies to human families, urban neighborhoods, bioregional groupings, and so on. Reenvisioning community in this way leaves a lighter footprint upon the earth and improves the quality of life for all species in the process.

Whitefield's book is a good starting place for anyone who wishes to simplify their life, nurture the good earth, and improve the lot of all species. Give it a read and rediscover what our ancestors knew but we've forgotten: that humans must live in harmony with nature or cease to live.

In brief, permaculture focuses on the conscious design of efficient ecological systems.

'Work = any need not met by the system. Pollution = any output not met by the system' (p. 14)

So it is immediately apparent that by careful design both work and pollution can be minimised. Nature, of course, does this without having to think about it, which is why permaculture systems attempt to emulate natural processes.

Developed by The Environmental Careers Organization (ECO, the creators of the popular Complete Guide to Environmental Careers), this new volume is unlike any careers book you've seen before. Reaching far beyond job titles and resume tips, The ECO Guide immerses you in the strategies and tactics that leading edge professionals are using to tackle pressing problems and create innovative solutions.

To bring you definitive information from the real world of environmental problem-solving, The ECO Guide has engaged some of the nation's most respected experts to explain the issues and describe what's being done about them today. You'll explore: Global climate change with Eileen Claussen, Pew Center for Global Climate Change; Biodiversity loss with Stuart Pimm, Nicholas School for the Environment at Duke University; Green Business with Stuart Hart, Kenan-Flager Business School at University of North Carolina; Ecotourism with Martha Honey, The International Ecotourism Society; Environmental Justice with Robert Bullard, Environmental Justice Center at Clark Atlanta University; Alternative Energy with Seth Dunn, Worldwatch Institute; Water Quality with Sandra Postel, Global Water Policy Project; Green Architecture with William McDonough, McDonough + Partners; and twelve other critical issues.

To demonstrate even more clearly what eco-work feels like on the ground, The ECO Guide offers vivid "Career Snapshots" of selected employers and the professionals that work there. You'll visit government agencies, nonprofit organizations and local advocates. You'll go inside environmental businesses like Wildland Adventures and Stonyfield Farms. And you'll learn from academic institutions like the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.

ECO also describes forty specific jobs that are representative of environmental career opportunities in the twenty-first century. It provides dozens of the best Internet resources.

Contributors to this pioneering volume include many of the world's most articulate, passionate and progressive visionaries, scholars and advocates. Here they not only document the unsustainable and often devastating practices of the global electronics industry but also chronicle creative ways in which activists, government agencies, and others have attempted to reform the industry—through resistance, persuasion, and regulation.

Careers for Nature Lovers and Other Outdoor Types takes an enticing look at the possibilities and training requirements for dozens of jobs. The book provides expert advice on how readers can put their love for Mother Nature to work in the career of their dreams.