Stimulus funding boosts green employment scene

Demand is strong for specialists in wide range of occupations

The intensifying focus on environmental issues by governments at all levels, and the infusion of federal stimulus funding, is increasing the number of green jobs opening up across the country.

"With the stresses being put on governments to be more environmentally conscious and represent their constituents, they are taking the environment very seriously," says Grant Trump, president of the federally funded Environmental Careers Organization Canada.

Environmental professionals are in high demand for everything from new green remediation technologies and reclamation projects to major infrastructure construction. It will be a long-term trend as governments address serious environmental concerns, experts say.

"There is no doubt that governments -- federal, provincial, municipal and aboriginal -- are major environmental employers, whether it be on the regulatory side, bylaw enforcement officers dealing with the environment all the way through to the development of public policy," says Trump.

Soil scientists, waste management experts, geophysicists, horticulturalists and alternative power specialists are just some of the people in high demand.