Online Degree Programs Allow Those Who Earn Online Technology Management Degrees To Use Their Skills In Unique Way
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011You can’t turn on any media without hearing about the state of the environment. No one denies the world must find alternates to non-replenishable energy, clean up pollution and produce more food without depleting land. At the same time, there is a cost to doing all this, and not just the financial costs. That person is the environmental economist.
Like many new professions these days, the environmental economist is a cross between two different occupational tracts. Like STEM personnel, they conduct research on economic and environmental topics, such as alternative fuel use, public and private land use, soil conservation, air and water pollution control, and endangered species protection. Like those in the business profession, they conduct research to study the relationships among environmental problems and patterns of economic production and consumption.
In plain English, they apply classic economic principles of costs versus benefits with the goal of a much greener earth on one side of the ledger and what it would cost to get there on the other side. Yes, one no one in their right mind disagrees about the concept of Obama’s creating a green economy platform. It’s another thing to create a cost-effective way of getting there.
Quite frankly, there are those who argue that the world should be environmentally conscious no matter what the costs. On the other side of the equation are those who don’t care about the long term costs of a toxic waste dump unless it’s built in their back yard. While economists don’t overtly cover the health aspects (except the cost factor), what the economist must do is show all sides how to logically achieve green agenda objectives at the least cost to the everyday citizen.
One interested in becoming an environmental economist should have strong math grades before considering their post-secondary education. From there, the most common path is to enroll in a Bachelor’s program in one of the main business disciplines, with emphasis on macro-economic subjects. Some courses in environmental sciences would also make good electives. After this, it’s pretty much a strong MBA path with online colleges, including passing the GMAT, and then taking more specialized courses in one’s Masters program.
As the MBA process involves holding down a job, those interested in the field should start employment in a government agency, a private environmental company or something similar. This is one a key arenas to pick up more scientific knowledge, as well as provide a proper internship for when one does get their MBA.
After all this training, the payoff certainly is worth it. The average environmental economist earns $87,000 a year, with full benefits. Until 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated growth in this STEM occupation was going to be slow. That’s just changed. Their new occupation report published this year just rated growth in the field as above average, no doubt due to the current federal administration’s push towards a green economy.
This makes environmental economics the new buzz industry along the Beltway, one that no doubt has a long and prosperous future ahead of it and those with Online Database Technology Degrees may be on the forefront of dealing with it. The environment has to be addressed. These new economists, many who start via online degrees programs, will be the one’s who have to weigh what it will cost to improve it.