The Climate System
The earth’s climate system is increasingly becoming unstable, mostly because of pollution that comes from burning coal, natural gas and oil. They are burned in power plants, factories, homes, cars and trucks. This pollution traps heat in the earth’s atmosphere. This extra heat is melting huge ice formations in cold parts of the world. The ice turns to water that pours into our streams and rivers. It drains into our oceans, causing sea levels to rise. The extra heat in our atmosphere is also making hurricanes, heat waves, rain storms, droughts and wildfires more intense than they were even 10 years ago. Hurricane Sandy is just one example. And all these changes effect plants, animals and the natural systems we depend on, too. For more about how we depend on the natural world, click here. These changes—to our weather and the rest of the natural world—are called “global warming” or “climate change.”
It’s very important to stop the pollution that’s changing our climate, of course. Check out the Environmental Protection and Remediation section of this website for information on jobs in that field. It’s also very important to prepare for and protect against these changes, so that we can live through them safely. Now, there’s a new field of work designed to help do just that. It’s called “climate resilience, preparedness and recovery.”
The Feild
The field is new, of course, because climate change is pretty new. Most jobs in this field are with government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and planning groups. Not-for-profit organizations are groups that have been set up to carry out a mission, instead of simply to make money. There are very few private companies that work in this field, however that might change as the needs and the field grows.
Jobs in this field help our local, state and federal governments prepare for these emergencies and recover from them when they happen. Here’s an example: New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs New York’s subways and buses, and many commuter trains, need to plan how to protect its subway stations, train tracks and cars and buses so they will not stop working after a big storm, like they did after Hurricane Sandy.
People who work in this field are helping make these kinds of plans. Once the plans are approved, they will help build out the system so that it works better during and after emergencies. Workers in this field help private companies and other important community institutions—hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and others do similar things. They are helping us plan for the long-term changes that global warming can cause.
Right now, almost all of the jobs in the field are for people with college degrees. Sometimes, graduate degrees are needed, too. Of course, organizations that do this work will need help from office workers and maintenance people, technology specialists, and people in other fields. Construction workers will be needed to help build projects like the sea wall now planned for Lower Manhattan. But it is likely that folks in these fields won’t need special skills.
Most of the jobs in this field are in government. At the federal level, these are jobs with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Parks Service, as well as other agencies and federal government departments. At the state level, New York State has jobs at the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, the Department of Environmental Conservation and other agencies.
New York City’s government is doing a lot of work in this area also. City agencies that work in this field include the Department of City Planning, the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability, the Office of Emergency Management, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the New York City Housing Authority, and other city agencies. Town and county governments in Long Island, Westchester and New Jersey sometimes also have jobs in these fields. There are regional agencies involved in this work, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
New York City is home to a growing number of not-for-profits, colleges and universities that work to help cities and towns prepare for and recover from climate change. One of the most important programs located in New York is the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program. It works with cities around the world. Another non-profit organization that works in climate preparedness and recovery in New York City is the Nature Conservancy. Columbia University’s Earth Institute and the City University of New York’s Institute for Sustainable Cities are two university centers involved in this field. But those are only some of the organizations doing this work. The job listing websites below, especially Idealist.org, can help you find listings at many non-profit organizations. (One of the great things about the Idealist website is that it allows you to search using terms that make it easy to find jobs in the fields you’re interested in.)
At the moment, there aren’t very many jobs with private companies that do this kind of work. Some companies that do are utilities, including Con Edison, National Grid and LIPA/PSE&G Long Island. Other private companies in this area include large insurance companies, architecture and design firms, and private consulting companies.
For more information about the type of training and education you might need to work in climate resilience, preparedness and recovery, check out these webpages that are part of the federal government’s CareerOneStop.org Green Careers Center: Governmental and Regulatory Administration, Environmental Protection, and Research, Design and Consulting. The federal government put CareerOneStop.org together to help people find work. CareerOneStop.org can also help you learn about different kinds of careers, about salaries and benefits, and other helpful information.
Another helpful website is the Green Job Bank. And general job-search websites, like Indeed.com and LinkedIn.com, are good places to look, too.
To begin your job search, check out the websites below.
Government, Not-For-Profit, Academic, and Private Industry Jobs
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
City University of New York Institute for Sustainable Cities
Columbia University Earth Institute
Federal Emergency Management Agency
ICLEI/Local Governments for Sustainability USA
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
New York City Department of City Planning
New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation
New York City Housing Authority
New York City Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability
New York City Office of Emergency Management
New York State Association of Regional Councils
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services
New York State Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery
The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Resilient Communities for America
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Job Boards
American Institute of Architects New York Chapter
American Public Health Association
Climate Change Policy & Practice