Green Jobs in Geosciences

Biopower creates electric power from organic material such as manure, crops, wood resources and processing residue, food and yard waste, and municipal bio waste. Biomass can be converted to electricity, biofuels, space heating/cooling, or process heat.

Products, processes, and services that depend on renewable energy sources, minimize waste, and use natural resources judiciously.

Scientist who studies long-term climate variations by looking at past weather data and using complex computer models and datasets to project how various factors such as greenhouse gases, volcanic activity, and solar flares impact our climate.

Typically used in utility-scale projects, CSP uses a large array of mirrors to focus sunlight onto receivers. As the receivers collect the solar energy, they convert it to heat. Several designs are in use, including a mirrored dish, a power tower with mirrors encircling the tower, and linear trough systems.

Production life cycle wherein materials from outdated models become an input to the production process.

Waste that doesn’t make its way to landfill because it is reused, recycled, or composted.

Branch of hydrology industry that tackles how organisms interact with water at various stages of the water cycle.

A labeling system to assess the life cycle impact of a product or service.

Section of ecology that calls upon designers to bring ecological principles into the design projects to conserve energy, reduce toxins, and minimize waste.

Industry that integrates the two fields of ecology and engineering to design, monitor, restore, and construct aquatic and land-based ecosystems in a way that benefits humans and the environment. Applications include creating ecosystems to handle storm water in urban areas or restore community forests or wetland areas.

According to the Mohonk Agreement of 2000, ecotourism is “tourism that seeks to minimize ecological and sociocultural impacts while providing economic benefits to local communities and host countries.”

Discarded TVs, computers, monitors, printers, scanners, mice, keyboards, and cellphones.

A process aimed at developing a world population that is aware of and concerned about the total environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, attitudes, motivations, commitments, and skills to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.

Branch of geography (the study of earth, including human geography, which refers to the built environment, and physical geography, which consists of the natural environment) which looks at the interactions between humans and the environment in order to understand how the environment is created, managed, and used.

Scientist that uses his or her expertise to study and evaluate environmental problems, including climate change, air contaminants, greenhouse gas emissions, fresh water shortages, droughts, and ozone depletion. Environmental meteorologists may be called upon to conduct environmental assessments and prepare environmental impact reports on their findings.

An interdisciplinary study of the natural environment from a systems point of view.

Broad term used to refer to the management of natural forests, industrial forests, and the other natural resources found within forests.

Branch of applied mathematics that specializes in measuring the Earth to determine its shape and size.

The study of the physical properties of the solid and liquid materials that make up the Earth, their history, and the processes that create and change them.

The study of the entire Earth as a whole using quantitative instruments and the principles of physics.

An umbrella term for all the sciences that are devoted to studying the planet. Typically divided into four fields: geography, geology, geophysics, geodesy.

Clean, reliable, renewable resource that taps the heat from the core of the Earth to generate electricity and provide heating and cooling applications. Geothermal energy is divided into three categories: geothermal electricity production, geothermal direct use, geothermal heat pumps.

Branch of hydrology that focuses on glaciers.

Generally used as shorthand for something that improves the state of the environment in a discernable way. Can refer to a product, industry, company, job, process, or organization that conserves energy and resources, generates clean, renewable energy, minimizes waste, eliminates hazardous materials, or restores the environment and biodiversity.

The industries that are producing greener products, using cleaner processes, and offering more sustainable services in an effort to move us toward a new standard.

Marketing practices that emphasize a company’s corporate social responsibility initiative; the marketing story may also include a description of the social impact of the product on the communities of the suppliers, producers, and end users.

Marketing practices that lead the consumer to believe that a product or service is beneficial to the planet even though it’s not.

Managing their land holistically or sustainably, using a triple bottom line approach that balances financial results, environmental impact, and community impact.

Branch of hydrology that looks at the movement and distribution of groundwater.

Branch of hydrology that researches the distribution of water.

Branch of hydrology that investigates how to apply information technology to hydrology.

Scientific field that assesses the quantity and quality of water by studying the movement of water, the quality of water, and how water is distributed over time and space throughout the Earth. The study includes the biological, chemical, and physical properties of water and how these properties interact with the environment and living organisms during the water cycle.

Branch of hydrology that examines water as it moves from bodies of water to the atmosphere.

Branch of ecology that incorporates ecological principles into the technological world of manufacturing. The goal within this sub-discipline is to create industrial systems that function much like a natural ecosystem.

Branch of hydrology that tracks inland waters.

Source of energy that takes advantage of strong currents that occur naturally between islands, near headlands, and at the entrances of bays and harbors. Underwater turbines capture the energy created by currents that have a velocity of 5 or more knots.

Method of energy creation that relies on temperature differences between the warm water on the surface of the ocean and the cold water at deeper depths.

Unimproved lands with a high proportion of native vegetation that may be marshy, shrubby, grassy, or arid desert.

Energy that is derived from resources that are readily available all over the world. The crucial feature of renewable energy is that by tapping into its power, you don’t deplete the resource, nor do you inflict damage on the environment or the planet as a whole.

All post-sale logistics, from the support call center and field service to refurbishing, recycling, and reusing materials in a product at the end of its life cycle.

The industry that focuses on how electricity and information are handled from power generation, transmission, and distribution to energy storage and real-time energy management technology are successfully combined, including traditional and new energy sources, within a reliable, secure, efficient infrastructure.

The management of a vast network of suppliers spread throughout the world through sophisticated software that allows all the players to understand the supply and demand needs and status.

Branch of hydrology that studies how water moves on the surface of the earth.

Any sort of practice that does not take more from a source than it can regenerate in a reasonable amount of time. One way to become sustainable is the triple bottom line approach — attending to the economic and social and environmental impacts of our choices.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, “the creation of manufactured products that use processes that are non-polluting, conserve energy and natural resources, and are economically sound and safe for employees, communities, and consumers.” The goods may have green uses, such as solar panels or green building supplies, or they may be traditional goods produced sustainably, such as toothpaste and carpet tiles.

Energy captured and converted to electricity as tidal waters move into and out of a bay.

Renewable energy model that uses facilities that burn organic and manufactured waste in carefully designed boilers with modern pollution control equipment to scrub the emissions from the burn and maintain precise heat conditions to ensure that all waste matter is combusted completely.

Energy captured from the change in height and speed of ocean waves.

Energy captured from the wind created as the sun heats different parts of the earth at different rates, and hot air rises and cooler air is drawn in to replace the warmer rising air.