The Doers in the Restoration Industry

Sometimes I think there’s a huge gap between planning and doing in the environmental field.? There are so many grand plans and promises about being carbon neutral or nature positive or whatever by 2030, or 2040, and the plans are so much less impressive than actual accomplishments.? It reminds me of a moment when the California Secretary of Natural Resources, Wade Crowfoot, was being interviewed for a TV show called “Open Road” out at the Lookout Slough restoration project, and the question was: “What gives you hope, in the face of climate change and all of the challenges?”? Mr. Crowfoot answered, “I find hope in taking action.”? And right he is.

If you’re tired of the endless news coverage about how environmental problems are getting worse, and looking for a career that actually makes a difference, you could do worse than to get involved with the American restoration industry.? A?study?of the restoration economy published in the?Plos?One journal found that ecological restoration creates more jobs in the United States each year than iron and steel mills, coal mining, or logging.? The?Ecological Workforce Initiative?is developing training programs and curricula for the equipment operators and other workers who actually deliver restoration projects, many of whom live in the communities where restoration projects are taking place.?

The ecological restoration industry is represented by?ERBA, the Ecological Restoration Business Association, which has been in business since 1998, along with state associations representing restoration companies in?Kentucky,?Tennessee,?Virginia,?Florida,?South Carolina,?Georgia, and?California.? There are also groups like the?Society for Ecological Restoration?and the?Environmental Law Institute?that track and promote the science and policy that enable and empower restoration action across the country.? There is also the Environmental Policy Innovation Center,?EPIC, that exists to “build policies that deliver spectacular improvements in the speed of environmental progress”.

The mitigation banking business is part of this new and exciting field offering good employment, but so are the non-profits that operate mitigation banks, like?Ducks Unlimited?and?The Nature Conservancy, as are the public agencies that oversee, regulate, and implement ecological restoration across the country.

So, if you’re looking for a way to make a living that makes a difference, or if you’re tired of all the plans and promises that don’t seem to lead to real change, I encourage you to check out the breadth and depth of the restoration industry.? Follow the links in this article.? And find hope in taking action.