The chosen states: Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, and Oregon.

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan notes, “Green means healthier learning environments for students and adults, plus lower energy costs and a stronger economy… green programs of study support the administration’s goal of expanding a green workforce by preparing students for high-skill, high-wage jobs in a clean energy economy.”

I wasn’t too shocked to see Oregon on the list – but it still made front page news here in Portland, OR, where I’m located. The other states I don’t follow as closely when it comes to green issues, but green career training program development is good deal no matter which state it starts in. According to the NRCCTE, the states chosen have proposed the following areas of study and development…

• Georgia – energy, construction and transportation.
• Illinois – energy, utilities and waste management.
• New Jersey – various industries. (huh)
• Ohio – energy, biotech and agriculture.
• Oregon – wind, solar and construction.

All five participating states will be participating in a 14-month process to develop “green-focused” programs. Also, each state will work with a facilitator who will provide ongoing assistance and consultation from content experts.

With all the ongoing pushing by the current administration to use green careers as a vehicle to help the country, it’s good to know that some new  training and courses of study are being developed. It makes it seem less like just talk, and more significant.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

5 States Chosen for Green Career Program

First of all – look where you like. Places like Gaiam, Origins, The Arbor Day Foundation and Whole Foods all list career pages. You can search the job boards, or go right to the source. If there’s a green company you’re interested in, odds are they have a job page at their website. However, if you do want job boards, read on…

Green job boards:

The Treehugger job boards list all sorts of green jobs. From PETA marketers, to staff accountants, to green tech, to fashion interns, this job board has a little something for everyone.

Find a job working for one of the many green non-profits – i.e. the Environmental Defense Fund, the National Audobon Society, the Rainforest Alliance, the Sierra Club and more. Part of the much larger Green Jobs Network.

Grist job boards – all kinds of green jobs. Plus, it’s been updated much more frequently as of late.

Renewable energy related green jobs.

Green Dream Jobs has many cool gigs to browse.

Excellent and frequently updated list of green job expos and conferences.

Green Gigs is a great board. They don’t post scads of jobs, but always seem to post good ones. Plus since this is ablog, not just job board, they post helpful tips, interviews with green employees, and more.

Environmental jobs – lots of mainly upper level green jobs.

If you’re into green building, urban planning, or eco-architecture, the Green Construction Guide is a must read.

Also see the previous post; California’s Green Job Guidebook

Are you searching for a green job right now? What sort?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Blisstree

Where are all the green jobs?

Naturally, this is the time where Paul decides it’s time for a career change.

Image: stock.xchng

For the first few weeks, as he started to put out feelers and quietly spread the word that he’s looking, it was easy to just ignore it. As long as we both still have jobs, I can’t exactly complain…right? So I just smiled and listened as best I could. All the time trying to hide the fact that his timing was making me nervous and uncertain about where things would land.

Finally everything came to a head when he turned to me one day and bluntly said, “You never ask.”

“I never ask…what?”

“You never ask how it’s going. If anything has come up. Who I sent my resume to.”

I paused for a few moments to carefully think about my answer. Finally I said,

“That’s because this scares me more than you will ever know. We’re doing alright, both of us know our jobs are pretty secure, and now you want to change all that. I know you don’t love your job…but the selfish part of me is completely overwhelmed at the thought of this kind of change. Right now. With everything going on in the world.”

We talked for a long while after that. About how unhappy he is in his job. Ways we can conserve and continue to build up our savings so we can make our own future instead of constantly wondering what would happen if it all fell apart. I am still nervous – and the thought of changing jobs right now still gives me tremendous anxiety. But I am making more of an effort to swallow my worries a bit (well, as best I can), so I can be the supportive partner Paul needs right now…balancing mention of my concerns with genuine support for his determination and passion for what he does.

It’s all going to work out – but the important thing is that we don’t forget to support each other as we get through it.

Post from: Blisstree

Lesson: How To Be Supportive

According to Trish Silver, the author of When I Remember Love, romance novels offer an emotional comfort food, which is relevant in tough economic times.

“Good romance novels can also be an encouraging force in women’s lives specifically, during economic downturns. They can show strong heroines overcoming barriers in productive ways.”

Trish says she likes to write about the power of true love and to show  that such love is a real possibility in their own lives, even when external circumstances may be more discouraging than usual.

What are your thoughts? In dreary tines, are you  more likely to escape to the world of fantasy – be it novels or soap operas, or some other form of romantic fantasy?

Image: Sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

Romance Novels: An Escape in Hard Times

According to Dr. Thom E. Lobe, MD of Beneveda Medical Group, there’s practical solutions people everywhere can incorporate into their lives to get their grin on once again.

So (not to sound corny), but what can you do to turn that frown upside down? Here are some of the doctor’s tips:

1. Get your vitamin D level checked. Most of us are vitamin D deficient yet don’t know it. Take a supplement if necessary.
2. Learn how to breathe properly. Coordinate your breath and heart rate and you will help re-set your brain waves into a more relaxing rhythm.
3. Eat healthier. When you are overloaded on fats and sweets you feel more depressed.
4. Exercise. Exercise boosts production of serotonin, the “happy hormone.”
5. Volunteer. Help kids, the elderly, the disabled, the needy. Put your focus on someone else for a change.
6. Go hunt for a bargain. Find your bargain, whatever it is, and then move in for the kill. This is another great way to experience a serotonin high.
7. Take your spouse, partner or friend somewhere fun and unexpected. Make it a date, and don’t tell the person where you are going.
8. Visit a farmers market. Buy a healthy treat, talk to farmers, shoppers and try some new organic fare.
9. Go for a walk every day no matter what, and vary your routine. Take in new sights and sounds.
10. Don’t get on the phone and gossip. It only fuels further feelings of envy or encourages ridicule of others. Neither is productive to feeling good.

Image: Sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

Finding Happiness in Tough Times

Employers report they must send jobs overseas to find an educated workforce.

This is patently inaccurate.

The truth is we have all the talent we need. Women are this country’s most underused resource. We have insight, college degrees, years of experience and yet, employers would rather go to India than give us a family-friendly workplace and equal pay?

Invite the women back with tax incentives and initiatives that reward family-friendly work environments and you will see a profoundly positive shift in every sector of this nation’s personal, private and business life.

The last thing this country needs is to replace the fired and retired CEOs who created this disastrous, short-sighted, profit-is-our-only-motive economic crash with like-minded thinkers.

Women are the resource, ingenuity and fresh thought this country needs to forge a new economy. The feminine perspective is one every Board of Trustees and Government Program needs to mine for creativity.

Hire me.

Photo Source: Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me

Post from: Blisstree

Open Cover Letter

Did you know women are opening their own businesses at rapid, never-before-seen rates? (Over The Top Aprons)

I, personally, believe it’s because women want to work, find fulfillment and validation in work, need the economic stability of work, but don’t want to pay the unnecessary price of a patriarchal workweek which ignores the existence of children and women’s need for flexible hours.

(Baby Fabulous)

I want to see these new women-owned businesses succeed.

(Quirky Dolls)

My odds are on women changing this economy with these new businesses and their new business models that put children and families first. We’ll get equal pay, probably only partially because the government insists on it, but because women will become the bosses in our new economy.

(New Song 64)

This Christmas, where ever possible, I want to shop from women-owned companies.

(Heart of Autumn)

Have you checked out the super COOL stuff on Etzy? These are magnificent examples of The Feminine Arts and all of these women are self-employed with their own little businesses. There’s even a pledge to buy only “Mom Made” stuff.

Click around the Blogosphere and you’ll find tons of women who are selling brilliant items.

Post from: Blisstree

Stimulate Women’s Economy

So, Chevy allowed my family to drive a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid across the country, from Dallas to Salt Lake City, on our way to BlogHer08. You can’t imagine my gratitude (My 1995 van broke down right before we left and we just found out it will cost $900 to fix the air conditioner.)

I was very interested in the hybrid function of this shiny status symbol SUV. Would this type of car save us money in gas?

The answer is not really. It’s an SUV that gets regular milage. Which, is an improvement only in terms of SUV gas milage.

I don’t regularly drive an SUV, I drive a mini-van, so my gas milage was the same. If you drive a small economy vehicle your gas milage would still be worse in the Tahoe.

I also came across a cost analysis on Dave Ramsey. Don’t do it unless you like losing money, is Dave’s current advice.

To get your money back at current gas prices, just going from 15 miles per gallon to 25 miles per and driving 100 miles a week, that would save you $10 a week. To get back your $15,000, it would take you almost 29 years!

My husband surprised me on the way home saying, it sure was nice to have the nicest vehicle in the parking lot instead of the worst.

Really? I hadn’t spent one second thinking about it.

However, when I first started driving it I felt an urge to go around my neighborhood explaining that it was just a loaner. Which points to my own money issues.

The bottom line, it doesn’t suck to drive a Chevy Hybrid Tahoe across the country. But, it’s really a status symbol that won’t save you money and costs $52,000.

This isn’t a very practical choice, economically or ecologically, for the middle class. Yet.

That said, can anyone remember what an iPhone cost last year? It was around $450. This year, people stood in line to pay $200 for one that was twice as fast. (I’m hoping the iPhone is in my economic stratosphere next year).

That’s how new technology works. It becomes more affordable to the middle class masses pretty quickly.

Chevy, and other car companies, will eventually lower the price of vehicles with Hybrid technology and make them even more efficient over the next few years.

If you are buying a new car Chevy makes 8 models that get 30 mpg or more (just not the Tahoe Hybrid).

They are also investing a great deal of money and talent into the Concept Chevy Volt, an electric car which plugs into a common household plug and uses no gasoline and produces no emissions for 40 miles per day.

Chevy has over 2 million E85 FlexFuel vehicles on the road today. These are vehicles that can run on ethanol or gasoline.

They are also road-testing thier Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle, a vehicle that produces zero emissions and uses zero gasoline, right now. Green Car Journal has given the Chevy Equinox Fuel Cell its Green Car Vision Award.

How cool is that?

Thanks again for your generosity Chevy! And thanks for taking gas prices seriously enough to invest in new eco-friendly, budget-friendly technology.

If you need someone to test drive your hydrogen-powered Equinox Fuel Cell SUV in the southern humidity, you’ve got my number.

Image Sources: Tahoe Hybrid, Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me; Volt by Chase Agnello-Dean, Cars.com; Equinox, Hydrogencarsnow.com
; E85 Suburban, roadfly.com.

Post from: Blisstree

Chevy Hybrid Cost Analysis

First we got Al, then we got George, then we got Al, then we got George – then we didn’t know who we got due to a bunch of hanging chads in another Bush’s state – then it went to the supreme court and we ended up with George W.

Both men went on to change the world in their own unique ways.

Gore went on to write an Inconvenient Truth and galvanized to make the world a greener place, less reliant on oil.

Bush went to war and proceeded to make $50,000 feel an awful lot like $30,000. Both with oil and the price of it. Conveniently (or Inconveniently depending who you are), also the source of his family’s fortune. Now, that’s a thing that makes me say Humm.

Now, we’re here again, as is our way in America. This time I’m a little happier.

First there’s more diversity this election: We’ve seen the first woman (Hillary Clinton), the first black man (Barack Obama), the first hispanic (Bill Richardson), and the first Mormon (Mitt Romney) candidates. Have there been other Baptist preachers (Huckabee)? I dunno. Other Ob/Gyns (Ron Paul)? I doubt it.

Happily, none of the candidates appear to have a personal financial stake in oil.

Please, no hanging chads this year.

Post from: Blisstree

Election Flashback