Unit 2: The Employer Change

While Portsmouth City Council does have a big role to play in making Portsmouth  NetZero, there are also many other people who contribute towards that goal. In this section of the course, we will explore the different ways that people contribute towards making the world more sustainable.

Part 1: What Are Green Jobs?

Watch the video below and discuss what your understanding of ‘green jobs’ is, and which ones you might have already heard of.

As can be seen in the video, green jobs can be any job that has a focus on positively contributing to the environment and decreasing carbon emissions. The UK government is actively working towards creating more green jobs by 2050, as this will not only help the environment, but also help reduce the unemployment rate. 

A common misconception with green jobs is that people think it needs to be directly related to helping the environment and only associate it with careers in wildlife conservation, recycling, etc. However, as was mentioned in the video, any job can be a green job! Whether you decide to be a lawyer, teacher, nurse, or construction worker, you can come up with ways to make your job sustainable. This could simply be by talking to your colleagues about NetZero, or creating small changes at your workplace!

Part 2: Challenges In The Field

Meet entrepreneur Anjali Devadasan, and listen to her talk about her company Treeva (previously called Synergy) and the work they do to build more green energy.

The work that Anjali does is very important and contributes towards the 2030 NetZero goal, though it does come with its own set of challenges. As she mentioned, many times wind turbines end up in landfills and create a lot of waste which isn’t very beneficial to the environment. Additionally, wind energy is often overlooked as compared to other renewable forms of energy such as solar power which is considered more cost-effective. 

In your groups, discuss possible solutions for the challenges that people working in the field of wind energy face. What are some ways that they can increase the usage of this form of renewable energy?