7 Fulfilling Jobs that Help the Environment

Sustainability or Environmental Engineer

There are ways to practice sustainability in every sector of the workforce. Sustainability is certainly a buzzword right now, but sustainability engineers put the work in. They design new ways to use less energy by analyzing environmental impact studies. And environmental engineers work to improve landscapes for plants and animals. 

If you want to focus on improving life for people, you should go the sustainability route, and you can test this by improving sustainability at your school. If you’d rather help animals, you should try the environmental engineer route.

Geologist

Geologists take on a unique role in our society. They don’t just study rocks. They study the impact of natural disasters and try to find ways to decrease that impact in the future—because we’ll always have to deal with natural disasters. 

As climate change continues to progress, geologists must study patterns to predict the future impact and plan safety precautions. They need to know history, too. In fact, we should all study history to improve the future.

Park Ranger

There are 425 National Park sites (although only about 70 have “national park” in their actual title). According to the National Park Service, about 20,000 people are employed as park rangers in the United States. 

This is an important career path because rangers educate the public about the importance of preserving nature. This can have a lasting impact, empowering the future generation of conservationists. 

If you enjoy spending your time outside rather than in an office, this could be a good option for you. Try out this career now by hiking (or snowshoeing!) around parks with a ski and hike bag and diving into the history of the place you hike.

Upcycler

Reduce, reuse, and upcycle! If you’re interested in fashion or interior design, this could be the job for you. Fast fashion has made a terrible impact on the environment; we have made enough clothing to last for generations. Upcyclers take this clothing and make it into something new. They also refresh old furniture. 

The goal here is to get more time out of an object: Upcyclers find a way to make old items feel new, so that instead of buying new, you can buy reused. 

Every dollar that we spend is a vote for something. When we buy new items, we are voting for factories to continue making fast fashion. Factories are a large contributor to environmental harm. Creating a small business of upcycling would decrease the use of factories and add a handcrafted touch. 

This is also a great option if you want to be your own boss. In fact, you could start this lifestyle now by practicing proper recycling techniques. 

Environmental Lawyer

Environmental lawyers work to regulate large corporations. Corporations have previously been found to cross this threshold by damaging air, water, and soil. Now, we have laws that prescribe emissions thresholds, which were put in place to regulate the amount of harm that corporations can do. 

If a corporation is found to be breaking the law and grossly harming the environment, then an environmental lawyer will help ensure that the corporation is punished, stopping the harmful practices and dissuading them from using the same practices in the future. 

Environmental lawyers can also work within the legislative system to create new laws to further protect the environment. 

Nonprofit Public Relations

If you’re interested in media, you could work as a public relations specialist for a nonprofit committed to bettering the environment. There are two major ways of finding out information in today's society: 

1.     The education system. 

2.     Through the media. 

Public relations specialists work to ensure that knowledge is successfully transmitted to the public. Many people are simply unaware of the harm we have already done to the planet. A public relations specialist would informs the public about changes we can make on a small scale to better the environment. 

When working with a nonprofit, a public relations specialist will also be tasked with communicating a specific message from the nonprofit organization. Oftentimes, the nonprofit will fund relevant research to back these findings, and it would be your job to help communicate that information. 

Corporate Social Responsibility Officer

Undeniably, large corporations have negative impacts on the environment. Corporate social responsibility is a way for a corporation to lessen its negative impact on society. One way might be a vow to restrict certain practices that may harm the environment. 

Corporate social responsibility officers make sure that corporations follow through on their promises to the public. They can also suggest new practices that will make the corporation more socially responsible. 

Corporations will often take measures in hot-button sectors—this means they encompass social issues, too. As a corporate social responsibility officer, you would have to advocate for the need to be more environmentally conscious. This is a job for an environmentalist who wants to advocate for broader changes, beyond the environment.