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Green Encores

We're exploring ways to harness the encore opportunity to address urgent environmental issues, including but not limited to climate change. How might an army of experienced environmental actors (experts, managers, trainers, entrepreneurs, engineers, tradespeople, teachers, advocates, activists and others) help take proven approaches to scale?

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Apply to Host an International Nonprofit Leader!

Posted 01/18/2011 - 10:58:20am by atlascorps

Atlas Corps is now accepting applications from entities located in the United States interested in becoming a Host Organization. If accepted, Host Organizations receive an international Fellow for 12 to 18 months starting in September 2011. All Atlas Corps Fellows have a bachelors or masters degree, 2-10 years of experience, and are fluent in English. Host Organizations focus on a variety of issues and utilize Fellows as an innovative and cost-effective means to build capacity, diversify team, and extend international outreach of their work.

Help Solar Richmond Win $100,000

Posted 11/05/2009 - 04:45:34pm by David Bank

Michelle McGeoy writes to say that Solar Richmond, one of the first and best solar-training programs for inner-city youth, is up for a $100,000 competitive award from Levi Strauss & Co.

Some folks from Solar Richmond will be participating in the Green Encore training at Ohlone college in January.

Michelle has asked us to drum up supporters to vote for them here. It's easy, but you do have to sign up with Levi's first (naturally).

Green Encore Fellowships -- Bay Area pilot program

Posted 10/08/2009 - 01:26:07pm by David Bank

Here's a practical example of the intersection between the emerging green economy and encore careers. As part of Civic Ventures Community College Encore Career program, Ohlone College in Newark, Calif. is providing green training to seasoned tradesmen and women - electricians, plumbers, HVAC and other building maintenance specialists, shop teachers, etc.

The intention is that these experienced adults will give back in the form of training and mentoring for entry-level green-collar workers, particularly people from disadvantaged communities who often have a hard time getting into other training and and apprenticeship programs.

The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act

Posted 09/30/2009 - 01:06:11pm by David Bank

On September 30th, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and John Kerry (D-MA) introduced The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. The draft legislation includes access and opportunity in the clean energy-economy, and strong climate standards.

Triple win: New legislation would improve education, create jobs, & fight global warming

Posted 06/11/2009 - 08:54:49am by MichelleHynes

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act (H.R. 2187). This legislation, supported by an impressive array of education associations along with unions and green-building groups, would make federal funds available to states and school districts to modernize out-of-date, disintegrating school facilities. Research shows a clear link between student achievement and high-quality school facilities.

'Green' Federal Stimulus Funding and Jobs

Posted 04/15/2009 - 01:53:24pm by Terry Nagel

Apollo Alliance has put together a Recovery Act Information Center page listing deadlines, requirements and resources regarding the clean energy and good jobs provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. One helpful section lists where green jobs are being created.

American Planning Association conference

Posted 02/13/2009 - 10:52:23am by Cal Halvorsen

Dear Green Encore members,

While perusing the Environmental Protection Agency/Aging Initiative Listserver (which I highly recommend), I came across a listing for the American Planning Association's annual conference, this year to be held in Minneapolis from April 25-29. If any of you work in the community planning field, or would like to in your encore careers, you may be interested in this conference.

Will Labor Unions Embrace Encore Careers?

Posted 02/05/2009 - 04:25:58pm by Laura Chambers

Today's GoodJobs, GreenJobs National Conference was 2,700 participants strong and brimming with people who are all excited about the Obama administration, the potential stimulus package, job creation, and protecting the environment.

When I walked into the conference lobby I thought I was in the wrong place. The conference was well represented by labor and the union logos were everywhere. Conference sponsors included the United Steelworkers, Communication Workers of America, Change to Win, SEIU, and Laborers' International Union of North America. Labor is ready and willing to push a green agenda. And to prove this - over 600 United Steelworkers marched off to lobby on Capital Hill yesterday.

It brought up the question for me - as we approach the year 2010, America's population of adults between 50-80 years of age will exceed 80 million in number – what is labor's expectation of this group? Fewer adults will be able to retire and many will want to contribute to society with public purpose work. Don't we need the labor unions to embrace the concept of the encore career?

Green-collar jobs

Posted 01/05/2009 - 01:52:20pm by David Bank

We have a post up under Find Your Encore Career on "How to Find a Green Encore Career" at http://encore.org/green-encores.

And there's a comment from Laura Chambers about an appearance by Van Jones of Green For All, who has a new book, "The Green Collar Economy," at http://www.encore.org/how-find-green-collar-en#comment-384.

I'm reading the book now and will post a note on it soon.

Rachel Carson Contest Winners

Posted 01/05/2009 - 10:05:56am by Cal Halvorsen

Dear Green Encores members,

I ran across this link the other day and wanted to pass it along. The Environmental Protection Agency has an Aging Initiative, which, along with Generations United and the Rachel Carson Council, held the 2008 Rachel Carson "A Sense of Wonder" Intergenerational Essay, Photography, and Poetry Contest.

Green encore policy and advocacy:

Posted 12/19/2008 - 03:05:08pm by David Bank

(notes from initial Green Encore working group brainstorming)

One suggestion was regional trainings on how to engage city councils on building code changes  green =energy savings. (Hal Harvey, ex- of the Hewlett Foundation and now head of ClimateWorks is very keen on this idea and has lots of experience with code change work).

Jock Brandis suggested Solar H2O heating as “low-hanging fruit” along with retrofitting.

Local and net organizing and community building

Posted 12/19/2008 - 03:04:05pm by David Bank

(notes from initial Green Encore working group brainstorming)

Eric Utne is working on a network of Earth Councils to create a context for meaningful community building efforts. The effort could benefit from assigned business and IT geeks for each council

Kay Kohl suggests webinars on the variety of opportunities, and regional recruitment efforts.

Encore.org may be a good place to plan/ pilot/promote such activities. It’s easy to create specific action groups and pages.

Green Encore Skill-sharing and networking

Posted 12/19/2008 - 03:02:31pm by David Bank

(notes from the initial Green Encore working group brainstorming session)

Spencer Jourdain suggested the need for an “intake” mechanism and an ability to match skills with needs. John Armstrong, who’s one of the initial Encore Fellows in the Silicon Valley pilot, suggested an analagous “Green Encore Fellowship” program to place transitioning encores with green orgs.

Green jobs and training

Posted 12/19/2008 - 02:59:58pm by David Bank

(notes from the initial Green Encore working group brainstorming session)

There’s an opportunity to involve encore careerists of various backgrounds (i.e. trades, professional, business) in training and mentoring younger people in entry-level green-collar jobs. This would increase the capacity of existing organizations that are already working on creating green opportunities for youth and disadvantaged communities (Green for All, Apollo Alliance, etc.), and counter perception of generational competition (a concern expressed by several people in our group).

Green Encore working group -- report on initial brainstorming ideas

Posted 12/19/2008 - 02:53:18pm by David Bank

Greetings,

The brainstormed ideas from our recent Green Encore working group seemed to break down in four main areas (with obvious overlaps between the categories):

  • Green transitions and training.
  • Management skill-sharing and networking
  • Local organizing and community building
  • Policy issues

I’ll start separate discussion threads on each topic at http://encore.org/green-encores, but so you have it all in one place, here’s what I took away from our meeting:

Green jobs and training:

Group description

Posted 12/04/2008 - 01:55:17pm by David Bank

I took a stab at drafting a description for this group:

We’re exploring ways to harness the encore opportunity to urgent environmental issues, including but not limited to climate change. How might an army of experienced environmental actors (experts, managers, trainers, entrepreneurs, engineers, tradespeople, teachers, advocates, activists and others) help take proven approaches to scale?

Changes? Additions? Other comments?

--David

Welcome and Introductions

Posted 12/04/2008 - 01:47:04pm by David Bank

Greetings....Jim and Alex asked me to help facilitate the Encore for Environment working group on Sunday, so I took the opportunity to form this group on Encore.org.

I'm a longtime journalist and, among other things at Civic Ventures, I'm the editor of Encore.org. You can see my profile at http://www.encore.org/user/David_Bank. (On a green note, I recently had a piece in Ode magazine on "green banking" -- see http://ode1.deasil.com/doc/59/making-money-a-renewable-resource/).

Please introduce yourself when you get a chance. I look forward to seeing you soon.

David

As a veteran journalist, Lynne Curry knows how to spot trends. Newspapers and magazines are slashing their budgets, cutting into her income. But the new category of “green-collar jobs” is growing fast, despite the economic slowdown. So Curry earned a credential as a green building specialist.

Politicians and entrepreneurs alike herald green jobs as the next big thing to boost the ailing economy and fight climate change. And the new green economy is creating a host of encore career opportunities as well.

Resources: 

The Green Building Certification Institute (gbci.org) provides information on LEED Certification and the accreditation process. Its parent organization, the U.S. Green Building Council (usgbc.org) provides background on the LEED system.

Treehugger.com’s job board (jobs.treehugger.com)lets you plug in your city and type of job you’re looking for to see what kinds of green jobs are available.

Greenjobsforamerica.org, a coalition of labor unions and environmental groups, is campaigning in 12 states on the East Coast and Midwest to promote green-collar jobs and training programs.

On Linkedin.com, you can search with terms like "green" and "nonprofit" in the Jobs section.

Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution - and How It Can Renew America is a compelling call to arms to save America and the planet by developing clean power and energy-efficient technologies.

Van Jones, founder and president of GreenforAll.org, lays out his vision for combatting climate change and poverty at the same time in The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems (HarperOne). A resource list includes tips for training and jobs.

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