This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 24, 2011 - As an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Saint Louis University, Trey Goede recalls a senior-level class he taught just as the economy hit hard times. Only two of his 38 students had jobs waiting for them at graduation.
"I see all of these open positions, and I guess no one has the qualifications or the proper training to fill them," said Goede. "We need to educate the workforce to fill these jobs, because these jobs are there."
Goede is CEO and founder of Affinity Wind LLC, a Clayton-based developer of utility-scale wind power projects. He's also part of the employer panel at the upcoming St. Louis Green Confluence, Jan. 26-27.
The two-day event will feature a symposium with area business and community leaders. It will be capped off with a Green Career Opportunity Showcase that will include at least 35 exhibition booths from groups and companies dealing with sustainability work in fields from agriculture to energy to construction. Participants will have a chance to learn what university classes are available on green topics and participate in various green educational activities.
The showcase may be a networking event, but Craig Jung, executive director of St. Louis Green, the nonprofit coordinating the proceedings, said bringing a resume isn't necessary.
"There may be people looking for jobs but also those who are looking for what's out there to see what industries exist," he said. "This isn't really considered a job fair."
Jung said one purpose of the confluence is to help define green and try to determine its present status in St. Louis. He said about 1,000 people are expected to attend.
The Green Profile
Among those groups is the St. Louis Regional Commerce and Growth Association, one of the event's co-presenters, which will unveil a green jobs report that examines the sustainability employment market.
"We think there's definitely an advantage for the St. Louis region and the Midwest as a rust belt region to transition to a green economy," said Eric Schneider, the organization's senior director for energy and environment. "That's a good economic opportunity for us."
It's also not the first opportunity the RCGA has had to deal with the topic. In July, the group issued a 28-page St. Louis Green Economy Profile for the region. The report noted:
- St. Louis had developed more than 8,500 "core green" jobs between 1995 and 2008 with the green economy growing by 54 percent in that period. (That's a rate comparable to that in high-tech hub Silicon Valley of northern California.)
- Green businesses grew to more than 700 from roughly 500 in the same time period.
- In 2007 and 2008 alone, green establishments increased by 6 percent and employment by 11 percent. By contrast, during the 13-year period, the local economy expanded by 4 percent overall.
The RCGA profile divides the green economy into 15 segments covering areas from advanced materials and business services to green building and transportation. Some saw huge percentage boosts during the study period. The number of agriculture jobs increased more than four-and-a-half times. Energy infrastructure positions nearly tripled and transportation more than doubled.
Still, the numbers are still small. Green jobs represented three-fifths of 1 percent of the St. Louis area's employment picture.
Affinity's Goede said he believes the area is headed in the right direction. He's seeing companies start to move toward addressing sustainability issues.
"They have started to put their toe in the water or roll out complete divisions that cater to solar or wind installation," he said.
But his optimism is tinged with a note of urgency. He said St. Louis isn't moving as fast as Chicago or other "early adopter" cities on the East and West coasts.
"We're definitely on the right track, albeit a little bit slower than some neighboring states, including Illinois," he said.
Growing green construction
The larger environment also affects the overall outlook, muddying any green jobs assessment.
"Because of the economy, all ships are kind of down," said George Fujii, senior project manager at Tarlton Corporation. "We're a construction company and we build green buildings when owners want to build green buildings."
"Right now," he added, "very few owners are building anything."
Still, Fujii said, government projects from the stimulus have helped the hard-hit construction industry and the federal government has shown an interest in sustainable buildings. Locally, he is impressed by the region's awareness of green issues and the number of LEED-certified buildings compared to other areas. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building certification system, was developed by the United States Green Building Council.
Fujii also said that he's seeing union electricians starting to team up with solar panel companies on installation and growing the industry. Energy-related retrofits to existing buildings have also been popular.
"A lot of people are looking at energy audits and improvements... through insulation or additions of solar panels or solar thermal panels for hot water," he said.
Tarlton's president Tracy Hart will be a part of the confluence's employment panel.
Emily Andrews, executive director of theMissouri Gateway chapter of the Green Building Council, said she thinks there are more LEED-certified projects underway than in the past. She said more than 80 commercial and 60 residential structures have been completed.
Some non-LEED buildings shouldn't be ignored either.
"Even if they are not pursuing certification," she said, "they are implementing different green components and practices either in day-to-day operations or on a new construction project. They may be doing construction waste recycling where they weren't doing that two or three years ago."
It's difficult to say exactly how that equates to new jobs however. Fujii said that the present staff in his organization are trained to deal with LEED issues instead of hiring new people. Still, energy audits or installing solar panels might require special knowledge.
"That would create new jobs that are not there on a typical building," he said.
'A Lot of Momentum'
At Monsanto, executives are very optimistic about the future of green employment. The company will also have a representative as part of the confluence panel.
Melissa Harper, vice president of global talent acquisition and diversity at the St. Louis-based enterprise, said she thinks the region is committed to a sustainability economy.
"I do think there's a lot of momentum given that we are a very aggressive scientific, manufacturing and academia hub," she said.
She also said that it could be difficult to identify what constitutes green employment. Monsanto deals with everything from biofuels to research on drought tolerant corn. In a larger sense, all of Monsanto's jobs could be considered green, she said.
Harper also said she thought that the green economy hadn't been hit as hard as other sectors and acted as a natural shelter against recession.
"I really do feel that niche roles in general are still in high demand," she said. "When we talk about what green jobs contribute to a growing world population that will still have to figure out how we do more with less -- those will still be roles that companies will pay attention to and have a need for."
David Baugher is a free-lance writer in St. Louis.