THE roaring flames and acrid smoke from pyres loaded with cattle carcasses is one of the most abiding memories of 2001. The UK was in the grip of foot and mouth disease and more than 3 million cattle were culled and burnt to halt the spreading virus. But what many don’t realise is that without swift action, that epidemic could have been a disaster not only for farmers but also for the environment.
“It was an emergency response for local authorities,” says Vicky Auld, air pollution expert with Westlakes Scientific Consulting based near Whitehaven in Cumbria, who modelled and monitored emissions from the fires. “The authorities had to ensure that concentrations of pollutants such as dioxins downwind of the pyres didn’t exceed safety limits. There were concerns about dioxins reaching the food chain too.”
This is just one example of the huge range of roles played by environmental professionals. They cover fields as diverse as civil engineering and forestry, policy and law. The stereotypical image of an environmentalist may be that of an ecologist studying trees, but environmental specialists are just as likely to be found in offices, factories and laboratories.
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The environment is big business too. The UK’s environmental consultancy sector is worth nearly £1 billion and is growing by 10 per cent every year, according to Environmental Data Services (ENDS), a London-based company that supplies information to the industry. In the financial year 2001/02, the largest fee-earner for consultants was investigating and cleaning up contaminated land, which accounted for 14 per cent of revenue, followed by environmental impact assessments (12 per cent) and services dealing with water quality and resources (10.6 per cent). The foot and mouth crisis created extra business, including advice on air pollution, waste disposal and clean-up.
Business might be booming but the climate is tough. “It’s highly competitive and commercially driven,” says Paul Seeley from Eden Recruitment, a firm based in the Scottish border town of Selkirk that specialises in the environmental sector. “There’s a lot of work out there but there are a lot of people chasing it, and profit margins aren’t that high.”
That means consultants need to be business-minded as well as having the right technical expertise. “People with the right experience, who can go out and get work to develop the business and relate to clients are highly sought after,” says David Hartley, managing director of ADAS environmental surveyors based in Leeds.
But getting a foot in the door of a consultancy can be difficult. For a start, it is hard to break in without an MSc specialising in the environment. People who scale this obstacle are then faced with that old problem: most job adverts are for people with a minimum of 2 years’ experience.
“There is no shortage of graduates, but people with a few years of experience in the industry are in extremely short supply,” says Liz Trew of ENDS. “It’s mad. The industry is crying out for experienced people but is not prepared to invest in the training of graduates,” she says. Persistence is key. Companies do have a limited number of openings for graduates, often on short-term contracts or sometimes in voluntary positions, and this is one way to build up experience.
The boom in consultancy has been driven largely by a swathe of environmental legislation from the EU. This is enforced at a national level by the Environment Agency (EA) in England and Wales, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland, the bodies charged with protecting and improving the environment. Like consultancies, they employ a wide range of specialists, from chemists and ecologists to hydrologists, quality-control experts and engineers.
Environment officers, or environment protection officers in Scotland, are the front-line staff of these agencies. It’s up to them to deal with pollution incidents and to enforce environmental laws (see “So what’s it like?”). The minimum qualifications for an environmental officer are A levels, while SEPA’s environmental protection officers need at least a degree.
Flood defence is also a major activity for the EA, which runs flood prevention schemes and warning systems employing around 3000 people. But there is a severe skills shortage. “There are nearly 100 vacancies in flood defence at the moment,” says Ian Hope, head of flood defence policy with the EA. To address this problem, the EA is “growing its own” river engineers and scientists, opening up the profession to those with backgrounds outside civil engineering – the traditional route in – and offering the training needed to reach chartered status.
But despite all the EA’s efforts to secure homes against flooding, the problem is likely to get worse. “Climate change is the next challenge we are facing,” says Hope. In 50 years, the risk of flooding is predicted to rise from one flood a century to one every 10 years, he says. Planning for the impact of climate change is a major aim of the EA’s R&D programme.
The UK has a strong track record in environmental science research, spearheaded by the Natural Environment Research Council. Half of the NERC’s annual budget of £200 million funds research in universities, and the rest funds a network of more than 20 research institutes around the country, including the British Geological Survey and the Southampton Oceanography Centre. The council’s remit is broad, from climate change to coral reefs, and a master’s or a PhD is essential for many positions. The government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is another big funder of environmental science, with an annual budget of £300 million for research, surveillance and monitoring.
For those wanting to play a more grass-roots environmental role, there are plenty of opportunities, especially abroad. “There are so many major environmental and conservation issues in developing countries,” says Clare Trinder, who has just returned from a 3-year stint with VSO in Cameroon, where she worked on forestry projects. Trinder had already worked as a conservation officer with English Nature for 10 years before deciding to go abroad. “I wanted to make a difference in a country where forests are disappearing fast,” she says.
VSO has about 20 positions a year for environmentalists, usually for people with experience in areas such as rural development or environmental management. But many organisations such as Frontier, which runs conservation expeditions, and BTCV, the UK’s largest practical conservation charity, will take on volunteers with less experience. It goes without saying that these jobs are taken for love not money. But other sides of the environmental profession offer greater financial rewards.
According to a survey in 2002 by ENDS, the average salary for environmental professionals across all sectors is £29,747. Hydrogeologists and environmental policy specialists earn the highest premium, whereas the pay for those working in ecology, conservation and risk assessment is lower than average (see Chart).
A green career may not be the most lucrative, but the environmental sector has fared relatively well in the present economic downturn because it is driven by legislation, rather than business. Companies must carry out work to comply with environmental laws regardless of the state of the economy. The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) directive is the latest piece of EU legislation to come into force, with the aim of radically improving the environment by minimising pollution. “IPPC will be of growing importance in the future. This includes contaminated land, due diligence and environmental auditing. A background in these fields would be very useful,” says Seeley.
So whether through choice or through regulation, government and business are giving environmental and business issues a higher priority. “Corporate social responsibility and sustainable development are no longer just buzzwords,” says Seeley. The future looks busy for environmentalists.
So what’s it like?
Samantha Morgan, 27, is an environment officer with the Environment Agency based in Powys and Shropshire.
Day to day
Environment officers are a bit like the environment police – we even have our own beat to cover. But enforcement of environmental laws is only a small part of the job. I spend most of my time in pollution prevention, liaising with farmers and industry. Every day is different. One minute I might be at my desk, the next I might be called out to a pollution incident such as an oil or chemical spill.
Way in
I took a degree in environmental pollution science at the University of Glamorgan, then worked as a monitoring assistant at the Texaco oil refinery in Pembroke, collecting samples and data to ensure that environmental standards were met. After a year, I joined the Environment Agency. I started out as a hydrometry officer, monitoring river levels, before moving to my present position.
Best bits
The variety. It’s very unpredictable and you have to be prepared to drop everything and go when needed. It’s a cliché, but I always wanted to help protect the environment. Also, I like the fact that I’m putting the things I learned on my degree course into practice.
Worst bits
The unpredictability can be exciting but it has its downside too, especially when you’re on standby and get called to an incident at 3 am.
