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What is necessarily to becoming a environmental specialist?
I know that I volunteer that enough but i always wanted to help our planet and protect.
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Kalyani’s Answer
There are several things that an Environmental Engineer do in any organization. When the purpose is to save Environment, it becomes very interesting to work.. because every thing is complicated..
Now, let’s make a list of things Environmental Engineers do in an organization.
1. Compliance to law: Any government has certain rules and regulations in place for permitting the organization to carryout its operations. They usually depend on the governments to make it stringent or relaxed (as per the nature / type of the operations that is being carried out)
2. Implementation of management system: The most common and popular Environment management system here in India is ISO 14001. This will help any organization to ensure compliance and helps manage the pollution or impact on Environment from its operation.
3. Reducing the Environmental impact of operations: This is where the real work is. Unlike any other Engineer (Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics or even computer science) an Environmental Engineer should know the basics of all these fields and will spend a lot of time understanding the operation’s in and out in all angles possible. Because any decision of the organization will either reduce or increase the impact on Environment, it is very important to understand the risk associated with it while making the decision. For example, Most of the business operations keeps expanding based on its growth, many a times during the expansion the impact on environment while setting up a new office building is completely forgotten or neglected as it is very insignificant or cost intensive. But, imagine a thousand companies doing the same thing. will that be insignificant? It is our job to evaluate and convince the management on how the balance on cost and Environment can be established (most of the time environmental initiatives will also be cost saving) through various analytics and data collection
4. Innovation: Now, saving Environment requires technological support. Many times it will be readily available, but there will be certain special cases where innovation will be required to make it feasible. Due to this an Environmental Engineer will need a thorough know-how on the subject he needs to work on.
Almost a few decades ago, Environmental Engineers were working majorly on water and wastewater treatment, air pollution control, waste management and disposal, etc.. (at least in India) as most of the Environmental Engineering courses taught only that in their courses. Since sustainability became a hot topic and corporate’s started being concerned on their brand image, the expectation from Environmental Engineers have changed. They have been given more priority their voices are heard and they are being consulted before making any major decisions.
This is an enormous positive change. But the fact is unequivocally even today Environmental Engineers are responsible for Environmental damage from their organization, just because they let it happen when they could have raised their voice to prevent it.
Now coming back to career as Environment Specialist.. To pursue any field, one should have strong passion only then you can achieve great heights in it. From what you say looks like you have passion to save the world! When it comes to Environmental Engineering a bit more passion to pursue is required because there are many challenges.
If you are that determined and passionate about Environmental Engineering, then definitely this field is worth pursuing. Listed here are some incentives.
1. You will literally be savings the world - irrespective of the scale of your work. You will be exposed to concepts and ideas where your decision will always be towards protecting the earth. So, you can proudly say you are saving the world.
2. You will need literally basic working knowledge of all fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, biology and most of all management. So get ready to know the whole world.
3. If you are lucky you will eventually end up travelling the world.. It happens with all the fields if you are good at it. but in the field of Environmental Engineering you will see wonders of nature from extremely hot regions to extremely cold regions. (it won't happen overnight though, as it requires a lot of learning and experience)
4. Most of all you will be interacting with many people, which in itself will teach you a lot that you need to learn in various fields..
All said and done, one thing is the that you need to ensure that the college that you are studying in, should be recognized.. If you pursue in a non-recognized college you might end up disappointed and demotivated.
Hope this gives enough details to make an informed decision..
Now, let’s make a list of things Environmental Engineers do in an organization.
1. Compliance to law: Any government has certain rules and regulations in place for permitting the organization to carryout its operations. They usually depend on the governments to make it stringent or relaxed (as per the nature / type of the operations that is being carried out)
2. Implementation of management system: The most common and popular Environment management system here in India is ISO 14001. This will help any organization to ensure compliance and helps manage the pollution or impact on Environment from its operation.
3. Reducing the Environmental impact of operations: This is where the real work is. Unlike any other Engineer (Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics or even computer science) an Environmental Engineer should know the basics of all these fields and will spend a lot of time understanding the operation’s in and out in all angles possible. Because any decision of the organization will either reduce or increase the impact on Environment, it is very important to understand the risk associated with it while making the decision. For example, Most of the business operations keeps expanding based on its growth, many a times during the expansion the impact on environment while setting up a new office building is completely forgotten or neglected as it is very insignificant or cost intensive. But, imagine a thousand companies doing the same thing. will that be insignificant? It is our job to evaluate and convince the management on how the balance on cost and Environment can be established (most of the time environmental initiatives will also be cost saving) through various analytics and data collection
4. Innovation: Now, saving Environment requires technological support. Many times it will be readily available, but there will be certain special cases where innovation will be required to make it feasible. Due to this an Environmental Engineer will need a thorough know-how on the subject he needs to work on.
Almost a few decades ago, Environmental Engineers were working majorly on water and wastewater treatment, air pollution control, waste management and disposal, etc.. (at least in India) as most of the Environmental Engineering courses taught only that in their courses. Since sustainability became a hot topic and corporate’s started being concerned on their brand image, the expectation from Environmental Engineers have changed. They have been given more priority their voices are heard and they are being consulted before making any major decisions.
This is an enormous positive change. But the fact is unequivocally even today Environmental Engineers are responsible for Environmental damage from their organization, just because they let it happen when they could have raised their voice to prevent it.
Now coming back to career as Environment Specialist.. To pursue any field, one should have strong passion only then you can achieve great heights in it. From what you say looks like you have passion to save the world! When it comes to Environmental Engineering a bit more passion to pursue is required because there are many challenges.
If you are that determined and passionate about Environmental Engineering, then definitely this field is worth pursuing. Listed here are some incentives.
1. You will literally be savings the world - irrespective of the scale of your work. You will be exposed to concepts and ideas where your decision will always be towards protecting the earth. So, you can proudly say you are saving the world.
2. You will need literally basic working knowledge of all fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, biology and most of all management. So get ready to know the whole world.
3. If you are lucky you will eventually end up travelling the world.. It happens with all the fields if you are good at it. but in the field of Environmental Engineering you will see wonders of nature from extremely hot regions to extremely cold regions. (it won't happen overnight though, as it requires a lot of learning and experience)
4. Most of all you will be interacting with many people, which in itself will teach you a lot that you need to learn in various fields..
All said and done, one thing is the that you need to ensure that the college that you are studying in, should be recognized.. If you pursue in a non-recognized college you might end up disappointed and demotivated.
Hope this gives enough details to make an informed decision..
Thank you for giving me advice.
Jose
Updated
Katie’s Answer
Hi Jose, it's great that you have a passion to protect our planet! This is really important work, and we definitely need more people in the world who care about this. There are many career paths you can take. As Kalyani mentioned, you can study to become an environmental engineer or environmental lawyer. In addition, you can work for a company or charitable organization to support sustainability initiatives or to protect green spaces (ex. working for national/state/local parks services). Or, you may become an activist or politician who writes and supports legislation to protect our world.
My advice is to focus less on the type of career or job that you want, and just learn as much as you can about the environment (and other subjects that interest you). One way to start is by learning about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): https://sdgs.un.org/goals. You can also read books, documentaries, and even follow social media influencers to learn more about this topic (https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/sustainability-influencers).
Another thing you can do is start a club or social group with friends from school and recommend ways that the school and other students can better protect the environment (ex. "Meatless Mondays" at the cafeteria, proper recycling and composting, etc.). This will demonstrate your leadership skills and passion when applying to jobs and/or colleges.
As you mentioned, volunteering is another great way to get involved in this work and to gain experience. Keep doing that.
Lastly, I would recommend getting out into nature as much as you can. It'll inspire you to do what you can to protect the world, and it just makes life more enjoyable.
Here are a few other sites that you may find helpful:
https://www.voicesofyouth.org/topic/environment
https://www.un.org/en/actnow
Wishing you all the best!
Katie
My advice is to focus less on the type of career or job that you want, and just learn as much as you can about the environment (and other subjects that interest you). One way to start is by learning about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): https://sdgs.un.org/goals. You can also read books, documentaries, and even follow social media influencers to learn more about this topic (https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/sustainability-influencers).
Another thing you can do is start a club or social group with friends from school and recommend ways that the school and other students can better protect the environment (ex. "Meatless Mondays" at the cafeteria, proper recycling and composting, etc.). This will demonstrate your leadership skills and passion when applying to jobs and/or colleges.
As you mentioned, volunteering is another great way to get involved in this work and to gain experience. Keep doing that.
Lastly, I would recommend getting out into nature as much as you can. It'll inspire you to do what you can to protect the world, and it just makes life more enjoyable.
Here are a few other sites that you may find helpful:
https://www.voicesofyouth.org/topic/environment
https://www.un.org/en/actnow
Wishing you all the best!
Katie
Thanks, can't wait to put this advice into action!
Jose