As presidential candidates promote environmental jobs as a way to revive U.S. economic growth, a national survey wants to answer the question: Is the emerging "green" economy color-blind?

Conducting the assessment of the green-jobs sector is the Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative (MELDI) at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE).

The survey will look at the supply-and-demand dynamics of the environmental labor force. First, it will examine the demand for green jobs, where will they be created and which companies will create them. Then, it will study the supply of minority workers by looking at how environmental justice groups identify, train and supply that segment of the overall workforce.

When complete, the results and MELDI's analysis will be made available through a retooled web site. The site will make it easier to distribute information about the job market, environmental leadership issues and recruiting and hiring, which will be particularly helpful to companies and nonprofit organizations, said Dorceta E. Taylor, a professor at SNRE and director of MELDI.

"From a national perspective, we do not know how the emergence of the new energy economy will reshape the labor market," Professor Taylor said. "More importantly, we do not know how these employment shifts will affect traditionally underemployed populations."

The survey is being finalized this summer and will be distributed this fall. The project is funded by a $195,000 grant from the Ford Foundation. In addition to the survey and web site work, the grant will help MELDI complete its Environmental Justice Research Directory of environmental justice researchers nationwide and an environmental justice research book stemming an earlier conference.

"Certainly, the green economy needs to be more open," Professor Taylor said. "At this point in the sector's evolution, the question is: Can we make the right investments and adopt the right policies to train more minorities for those jobs?

These aren't idle questions. In the years ahead, the United States will contain more racial minorities than in the past. Meanwhile, the U.S. workforce is getting younger and comprised of more women and minorities. These trends have dramatic implications for environmental institutions, Professor Taylor said. The workers that will comprise the bulk of the pool of potential employees will look different (in terms of racial and class composition) from those working in environmental organizations today.

Congress addressed this same issue last fall, when it passed the Green Jobs Act of 2007 as part of an energy bill. The Act sets aside $25 million to train low-income workers in green-collar jobs.

"The question I have in my mind is, are they training for the right job?" Professor Taylor said.

The environmental sector has grown from $18 billion in 1970 to $300 billion in 2003. The number of jobs generated in the environmental sector has grown from about 700,000 to about 5,000,000 during the same time. In 2005 alone, $46.9 billion was earmarked in the federal budget for high-priority environmental programs. Despite the challenge that awaits environmental institutions as they try to adapt their workforce to respond to demographic trends, MELDI is the only group studying the demographic trends in the environmental workforce from a national perspective.

As the green economy emerges, two changes are taking place. New jobs are being created at environmental nonprofit organizations and in government agencies. And corporations are retrofitting and retooling themselves to become greener. Both trends are significantly broadening both the definition and number of environmental jobs available.

This environmental labor force realignment occurs as community organizations working on environmental justice and labor issues are scrambling to find solutions to the unemployment problems plaguing low-income and minority communities. Some of these organizations are identifying and training low-income and minority people to participate in the green workforce. However, the community-organizing strategies being used in various locales around the country needs to be complemented by a larger analysis, which the MELDI study will provide, Professor Taylor said.

MELDI was established in 2002 at SNRE to enhance the leadership and career development opportunities available to minority students and minority environmental professionals. The Initiative provides information to help more minority students embark on environmental careers. MELDI studies micro and macro trends in historical and contemporary demographic trends in the environmental labor force.

About the School of Natural Resources and Environment:
The School of Natural Resources and Environment's overarching objective is to contribute to the protection of the earth's resources and the achievement of a sustainable society. Through research, teaching, and outreach, faculty, staff, and students are devoted to generating knowledge and developing policies, techniques and skills to help practitioners manage and conserve natural and environmental resources to meet the full range of human needs on a sustainable basis. Today, SNRE has one of the largest clusters of environmental justice faculty and students in the world. Twelve SNRE faculty are affiliated with the program. There are several other environmental justice faculty around the University of Michigan that SNRE students can also work with.
http://www.snre.umich.edu

About MELDI:
MELDI is a project at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment. The project aims to enhance the leadership and career development opportunities available to minority students and minority environmental professionals. The project seeks to provide information that will help more minority students embark on careers in the environmental field. It is also designed to help minority students and professionals in the environmental field take advantage of networking and mentoring opportunities.
http://www.umich.edu/~meldi/

About Professor Taylor:
Professor Taylor's research interests include social movements; environmental justice; leisure and natural resource use; poverty and urban issues; and race, gender and ethnic relations. Recent research activities have included a study of racial differences in students' attitudes and perception of the environment, as well as an examination of minority environmental activism in the United States.
http://www.snre.umich.edu/profile/dorceta

About the Ford Foundation:
The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.
http://www.fordfound.org/