Maybe you spend your afternoons as part of your school’s green team, where you’ve learned and promoted good habits like recycling, reusing newspapers, or bringing your lunch in reusable containers. Perhaps you and your friends worked on a community garden or planted trees in your community. Or maybe you had a science class that inspired you to look into the chemistry or biology behind toxics in the environment, or water quality.
Why not follow that passion to a career? There are many schools in Ontario where you can learn environmental studies or environmental sciences, either at the college or the university level.
There are two paths you can take:
1) If you’re more interested in the science of the environment, you might want to think about majoring in science. Undergraduate science degrees can be earned in programs such as earth sciences, chemical engineering, and geoscience. Check out the Ontario Universities Application Centre’s Environmental Studies page for more details.
2) Not so interested in science, but still want to work for the environment? There are many schools that offer environmental studies or environmental health programs that are not science-based. These programs will offer you a chance to work in environmental promotion or policy, working to ensure people do their part to keep the earth clean and healthy.
If you’re a high school student, you may also want to check out the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Stewardship Youth Ranger summer program that gets you out into the field and working to protect wildlife and resources.
Do you already have a post-secondary degree, and want more information on getting an environmental job? Tune in soon for more on what happens after college or university.