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Green Job Searching: Getting Techie
Life Cycle Assessment
Known simply as LCA in geek-talk, life cycle assessment uses complex computer programs to track many different variables which arise in the full life cycle of a product. The results can differ greatly depending upon which variables are chosen and how they are weighted, which often leads to conflicting claims (are disposable diapers really better than cloth?). Nevertheless, the objective of LCA is to obtain a scientific answer to the question: which is the best product for the environment? If you can learn how to do life cycle assessment, you can step into a field which is on the threshold of stepping out of the shadow of greenwashing and into the limelight of strategic planning. Learn more about how LCA works in your daily life in TreeHugger.
Models
LCA is just one example of computer modeling, or computer simulation, of real-life systems. As weather forecasting has improved and proven the hypothesis that complex systems can be understood based on sets of mathematical rules, models are being increasingly used for a wide array of applications, from predicting global warming to determining the fate of pollutants released into the groundwater. Learn models, and your job is waiting for you.
Triple Bottom Line
Out: bottom line. Trendy: only Scrooge and Montgomery Burns run companies just to make money. You know just how trendy this is by the proliferation of acronyms: TBL, 3BL, 3P. Every business person knows that what does not get measured does not get done. The triple bottom line is a new method for calculating a company's performance which includes "key performance indicators" in the social and environmental areas. All three of the P's (people, planet, profit) are distilled into a picture which will help investors decide which company is the most sustainable -- and put their money there. Get more definitions from the Dictionary of Sustainable Management.
Chief Sustainability Officer
If you don't know what this one means, don't worry about it: you won't be interviewed for the position. But stop by some day across from the chief technology officer's corner and introduce yourself to the new CSO. Maybe the networking will help you get ahead with your own green ambitions.
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