The University of Iowa is offering a new major: environmental planning and policy.
This major is an interdisciplinary effort between the Departments of Geography, Political Science and Anthropology. It teaches students to analyze environmental issues from a social perspective.
Only a few other universities offer this field of study.
Graduates of the major will have job opportunities with companies looking to increase their sustainability.
Read more form The Daily Iowan here.
The Iowa Green Veterans AmeriCorps (IGVA) program is having great success connecting veterans to environmental employment across the state.
Currently, there are 10 full-time veterans in the program. They are working with Habitat for Humanity in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids to improve energy efficiency in residents’ homes.
IGVA will add an additional 20 veterans to work part-time starting this spring. The group will concentrate on improving Iowa’s state parks.
Read the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ press release on IGVA here.
A University of Tennessee study offers support for the 25×25’ plan – an initiative calling for 25 percent renewable energy by 2025 in the U.S. The study, conducted by the Bio-Based Energy Analysis Group, estimates that this effort could create 4.7 million jobs by 2025.
This study predicts that Iowa, and other rural states, will see the most significant job increases. It is estimate that the pursuit of the 25×25’ plan could create nearly 200,000 new jobs in Iowa. Continue reading
The Midwest currently holds 23 percent of the “clean jobs” in the country as the nation created about a half million of the positions from 2003 to 2010.
Read the Midwest Energy News report here:
When President Obama promised green jobs, he probably had bigger ideas in mind; ideas that relied on regulations, new standards, and policy initiatives that would lead to innovation. Still, despite the serious political roadblocks to feeding a green economy, a new report by the Brookings Institution, in collaboration with development company Battelle, reveals that green jobs grew at an annual rate of 3.4 percent (or by half a million jobs) between 2003 and 2010. Continue reading
Iowa Environmental Focus 