I know someone who works in a sustainable/green job
The method introduces participants to the idea of sustainable/green professions and focuses on finding specific examples and people from their social circles/community who work in such jobs. It also creates space for reflection on how individual participants could work in sustainable/green jobs.
Inspiration for the tool
The method is adapted from the original method of career guidance for primary and secondary school pupils of the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Slovakia (“Networking – I know no one who…”) and is adapted for the needs of green guidance or green jobs.
Rationale: Why is this needed?
Many people are unfamiliar with the concept of sustainable/green careers and don’t know that the sustainable economy creates opportunities for them to find employment. This is the fundamental starting point for participants to become more deeply interested in the topic and to find ways they can contribute to a sustainable, inclusive, and fair economy.
Objectives
After completing the activity, participants will be:
- Familiar with the definition of sustainable/green professions.
- Familiar with various possible sustainable/green professions.
- Able to identify individuals from their wider surroundings who hold a sustainable/green profession.
- Able to identify sustainable/green professions within their city/municipality.
- Able to discuss potential sustainable/green professions that they could pursue.
Resources needed
Theoretical background of defining sustainable/green jobs:
In recent decades, we have been losing nature at a frightening rate, not only by damaging nature, but by damaging ourselves. We rely on nature to provide us with essential services such as food (e.g. pollinators), fuel (e.g. timber), materials (e.g. medicines and clothing), as well as to support our physical and mental well-being.
Sustainability means that it is possible to satisfy not only the needs of the present but also the needs of future generations. Sustainable professions encompass areas of activity whose goal is to achieve or create something that will endure into the future. Sustainable occupations tend to refer to those that have a positive impact on the environment not only directly but also indirectly.
Sustainable development focuses on eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, and promoting the sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems, as well as sustainable, inclusive, and fair economic growth. The United Nations defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by all UN member states in 2015.
Green jobs are all jobs that aim to protect the Earth and its well-being, to protect human development, but without negatively impacting the health of the environment.
These jobs are gaining momentum in the labour market as, in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather events and damage to living ecosystems, attention and sensitivity to the health of the planet grows . For this reason, green jobs are increasingly supported by business investment.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of green jobs: jobs are green when they help to reduce negative environmental impacts and ultimately lead to environmentally, economically and socially sustainable businesses and economies. More specifically, green jobs are decent jobs that:
- reduce energy and raw material consumption,
- limit greenhouse gas emissions,
- minimise waste and pollution,
- protect and restore ecosystems.
Green professions also include those that contribute to social change and education through their work.
In short, the green jobs is work that contributes directly to the management, protection and restoration of our natural world. One day we will not be talking about “green jobs” because almost all jobs, whether in construction, transport, manufacturing, retail or other areas of the economy, will be done in environmentally sustainable ways, using green technologies and with minimal negative impact (and hopefully positive impact) on the environment.
For more resources on green transition, see “Introduction to green jobs” and our Padlet.
Activities
Task 1:
Participants will try to brainstorm what sustainable/green jobs are (attempt to define green jobs). Once they have come to a conclusion as a group, the facilitator will provide different forms of definition and together they can look within the group to see how close they were to a definition.
Task 2:
The facilitator will ask the group to try to give an example of a sustainable/green jobs within these 4 categories:
- jobs that contribute to protecting the climate and the environment,
- jobs that contribute to ensuring an intact environment,
- jobs that contribute to social change and education,
- jobs that contribute to the energy transition and climate protection.
The facilitator will then submit a list of known sustainable/green jobs (Annex 1)
Task 3a:
The facilitator gives a task to the participants to identify people in their environment who are currently working in a sustainable/green job. If such a job is identified, the facilitator asks the participant to describe it more specifically, in what way it is sustainable/green, what such a person needs to be able to do, what hard and soft skills and other prerequisites they have.
Task 3b:
The counsellor assigns a task to the clients to identify people in their village/town who are currently working in a green job. If such a job is identified, the counsellor prompts the client to describe it more specifically, in what way it is green what such a person needs to be able to do, what hard and soft skills and other prerequisites they have.
Task 4:
Discussion with clients which of the green professions they recognise would suit them best, which green profession they are interested in and why.
Reflections/Consolidation of learning
The facilitator discusses selected questions from this list with the participants:
- What are you taking away from today’s meeting?
- What did you learn today? / What information interested you?
- With whom and how would you like to/could you share this information?
- What area would you like to learn more about?
- Who could you contact, and what questions would you want to ask them about their sustainable/green career?
- What skills needed in a sustainable/green profession would you like to develop?