Seattle Tilth has an opening for Farm Coordinator

Farm Coordinator – Seattle Youth Garden Works

Job Summary

Seattle Youth Garden Works, a program of Seattle Tilth, is a market farm-based youth employment program that empowers, employs and educates homeless and underserved youth. The farm coordinator is responsible for developing and coordinating all aspects of the operation of a 1-acre organic market farm, including planning, growing, and selling produce, engaging youth in greenhouse and farm work, recruiting and coordinating volunteers, and developing and teaching farm and employment-related lessons to youth.

The Farm Coordinator is responsible for sustainable organic farm management, environmental education, and the supervision of youth garden crew members, staff and volunteers. S/he develops plans for maintaining farm and greenhouse in optimal production, producing for farmers market and other markets; ensures a successful implementation of farm related business including sales, marketing, product planning and development; implements youth business training; and collaborates with community partners. The Farm Coordinator keeps detailed and accurate logs of farm activities, works closely with youth to ensure that youth crews understand farm cycles and perform needed work in the garden, secures markets for farm produce, and coordinates all farm logistics.

Qualifications

1. Education

§ Required AA degree in a related field

§ Desired Bachelors or Masters degree in a related field

2. Experience

§ Two years experience managing a market farm for optimal production, including greenhouse and farm planning, maintenance, and marketing

§ Experience working with youth from diverse backgrounds, ages 16-21, facing an array of challenges that include poverty, racism, homelessness, academic challenges, and involvement with the juvenile justice system.

3. Other required knowledge, skills, and abilities:

• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills
• Ability to work independently and on a team
• Knowledge of and commitment to organic and sustainable agricultural practices
• Demonstrated ability and success working with people from a variety of racial, cultural and economic backgrounds, with various lifestyles and sexual orientations
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Must be able to operate small farm equipment including a rotary tiller, gas powered lawn mower, and weed whacker
• Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds
• Must be able to crouch, lean, and kneel for extended periods of time
• Proficient in Microsoft applications
• Ability and willingness to work evenings and weekends for farmers markets and other program events.
• This position requires working extended amounts of time within office, farm, greenhouse, and farmers’ market environments.

Location

The farm is located in Seattle’s University District. Time will be split between the farm and Seattle Tilth’s office in Wallingford.

Compensation

Low to mid $30K plus benefits.

To apply:

Please submit a resume and letter of interest outlining 1) your experience managing an organic market farm and greenhouse 2) your experience working with homeless or at-risk youth and 3) why you are interested in this position.

Send all materials to carrievogelzang@seattletilth.org or mail to:

4649 Sunnyside Ave N, suite 100

Seattle, WA 98103

Attn: SYGW Search Committee

Applications will be reviewed as received. Position is open until filled.

Seattle Tilth is an equal opportunity employer. People of color encouraged to apply.

(Sustainable Seattle offers up this space for non profits or social entrepreneurs who have missions aligned with our own to advertise, inform and educate. For more information please contact info(at)sustainableseattle.org or nathan(at)sustainableseattle.org.)

Sustainable Seattle Job Opening

PALS Coordinator

Position Type: Part Time

Sustainable Seattle is a nonprofit organization that advances individual, neighborhood, city, and regional sustainability through strategic partnerships, shared learning, and multi-stakeholder actions. Founded in 1991 in the spirit of the Rio Convention on Development and the Environment, Sustainable Seattle is thought to be the first “Sustainable Community” organization, where today there are hundreds of sustainable state, county, city, and community organizations. We issued our first set of community indicators for sustainability in 1993, and won an award in 1996 from the United Nations for “Excellence in Indicators Best Performance” for our second indicators report. Sustainable Seattle has given rise to leaders in the sustainability field, including major consultants, policy makers and business leaders.

Sustainable Seattle has three program areas: Emerging People, Projects and Ideas, Community Connections and Indicators into Actions. Peer Alliance for Leadership in Sustainability (PAL) is a network of professionals that are actively integrating sustainability into their work and organizations. Sustainable Seattle provides facilitators who are practiced in sustainability to coordinate these meetings. Organized by industry. PALS participants meet two or three times a year for an informal meeting hosted by a member of PALS and facilitated by Sustainable Seattle. The lessons learned and best practices from the meetings are posted on this website

Position Type: Part Time

Position Overview:

Sustainable Seattle is seeking an well-networked, respected and enthusiastic professional to help with our PALS program starting immediately and ending December 31. As PALS coordinator, you are a self-starter, highly motivated and with facilitation experience. Pay is $15 pr hour.

Responsibilities:

· Network within your circle of contacts and those of Sustainable Seattle via email, phone, in-person meetings, presentations at key meetings and events,

· Coordinate PALS meeting,

· Facilitate Meetings

· Produce reports of weekly progress, and meeting content

· Prepare presentations and marketing materials

Qualifications:

Professional experience in facilitation and coordination, Well networked in the Seattle and Greater Seattle business community. Solid project management, prioritizing, and organizational skills. Works well on a team and independently.

To Apply:

Please send an email expressing interest, and resume to Laura Musikanski, executive director.

When you apply for this position, please say you saw this job on our blog.

Contact Information:
Laura Musikanski, ed@sustainableseattle.org

Green Jobs

Green Jobs Crossroads
Image from treehugger.com

The following is an excerpt from Sightline.org about the importance of green jobs and the opportunities they present. For the original article please follow the link below.

Sightline PDF

Paychecks with a Purpose: Patriotism, duty, pride

Green jobs help families in our communities: Cut energy costs in our homes and buildings, raise property values in our neighborhoods, and keep energy dollars at home. Green jobs give local economies a competitive edge: Clean energy is happening now. Those who dawdle may be left behind. Green jobs make our families and economy more secure: Green jobs help cushion the economy from volatile energy prices and reduce our dependence on dirty fossil fuels. Green jobs protect our climate: A green workforce contributes to an economy, environment, and future we can be proud to pass on to our children.

New State Commisioner Biomass Initiatives

Commissioner Goldmark announces pilot projects in Biomass Initiative

Four firms selected to turn woody biomass into clean energy and jobs

OLYMPIA – Commissioner of Public Lands Peter Goldmark announced the first four companies selected to partner with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in renewable energy projects using biomass from state forestlands.

“These four partners will put their technologies to work using forest products they purchase from state trust lands to produce clean, sustainable energy and rural jobs,” said Goldmark. “These projects have a huge potential to help encourage rural economic development and improve the health of fire-prone forests. This will hopefully be the beginning of a new green industry on state lands.”

The pilot projects will use woody biomass­—the residual waste (slash)—that the companies purchase in part from state trust lands managed by DNR. The biomass can come from timber harvests or be removed during forest health treatments such as thinning over-crowded and fire-prone tree stands.

The pilot projects and their locations are:

Parametrix will launch a pilot to convert woody biomass into liquid fuels at SDS Lumber in Bingen (Klickitat County) using fast pyrolysis technology.

Borgford BioEnergy, LLC in Valley and Springdale (Stevens County) will utilize wood waste to generate electricity, bio-oil, syngas, and bio-char.

Atlas Products in Omak (Okanogan County) will use forest biomass to produce wood pellets for heating.

Nippon Paper Industries USA, Ltd. in Port Angeles (Clallam County) will utilize wood waste for the cogeneration of heat and electricity at its paper mill, as well as selling excess energy.

Commenting today on the projects were representatives from the four companies:

“The partnership with DNR helps show that this is a very viable operation that will help us as we seek funding from private investors,” said Ken Fellows of Parametrix. “This partnership will help us advance to the next level by highlighting the credibility of our team and our project.”

“Jobs have to be sustainable and we have to use good stewardship in the forestland. We’re really excited about being a partner with DNR because this project does both,” said Dale Borford, Borford BioEnergy, LLC.

“This project is not only creating new jobs, but actually saving the jobs and infrastructure that already exist. It represents the very best of what can happen with forest restoration and bio-mass energy production,” said Eric Hanson of Atlas Products.

“The relationship with DNR will help us secure volume, quality of supply of biomass to our plant in Port Angeles and help preserve the 220 jobs there now,” said Harold Norlund, Nippon Paper Industries USA.

New Biomass Legislation

Today’s announcement came in the same week that House and Senate committees in the Washington Legislature were conducting hearings on the Forest Biomass Supply Agreements Bill requested by Goldmark.

“The selection of these projects is an important step in moving forward with a new, green energy industry, and I’m thrilled that Port Angeles’ own Nippon was chosen to participate,” said state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D–Sequim. “One way to create stable, family-wage jobs in this emerging industry is to allow the state to enter into long-term biomass supply contracts with businesses. A bill I’m sponsoring in the House would do this, paving the way for energy-related timber jobs in our rural communities.”

The bill (SB 6236 / HB 2481) would allow DNR to enter into long-term biomass supply agreements with the emerging biomass energy economy. The ability to secure reliable and predictably priced biomass feedstock supply is central to triggering private investment in the emerging biomass energy economy.

Neither the requested legislation nor the projects announced today would have any cost to the State’s General Fund, and they may lead to new markets and revenue for forest products.

Washington State Department of Natural Resources

A growing market for green executives

As more companies are starting to see the profitability and public relations dividends of going green, one position is starting to become more common; Eco officers.

Eco Officers are the sustainability executives in charge of a company's environmental and money saving "greening." The officers are in charge of shaving off the environmentally damaging practices in all areas of the organizations as well as finding ways to make the changes profitable.

Some of the organizations that have employed these executives are supportive of the efforts and follow the advice of the Eco Officers while other organizations are simply posing for the community. Many of the executives do not have any experience in the field of sustainability and some are simply going through the motions.

Sustainability is a fast growing field as technology, public awareness and attitudes start to expect the greening of organizations. The field is bringing together idealists with pragmatist and in the meantime increasing profitability and efficiency. When organizations reuse, recycle and rethink their products they can stretch their investment dollar further and reap the benefits of being a forward thinking organization.

Many organizations are seeing an entirely new revenue stream as they take waste product and reconstitute it for bio fuels or energy. The Johnson and Johnson company uses the waste from one of its factories to power it. This type of rethinking is essential to any organization who is serious about sustainability and that type of rethinking is going to take strong leadership.

Companies are starting to see the gold at the end of the green tunnel and it is a good path for us all when we combine ideas and actions.

Who's Who | EOS Alliance

Green jobs are becoming more abundant, and working people such as myself would love to have them. The problem is that most of us have the wrong kind of experience or education to actually get hired. The Environmental Outreach and Stewardship Alliance (EOS Alliance), founded by Erick McWayne, solves this problem by providing the technical training for everything environmental, from chemical contamination cleanup to policy issues to home weatherization. Their environmental training course calendar can be found here.

If you're not interested in advanced technical training, EOS hosts many programs for the average citizen, like how to raise chickens in your backyard. The public events calendar is here.

Meanwhile, The EOS Alliance is doing green work now. They provide residential energy audits and weatherization (see the Green Blocks Pilot Project), and organize volunteer work parties to restore the local ecology by replacing invasive species with native ones. Go here to find out more about volunteering.

Entry by Alyssa Ballinger Johnson

Event | Rally for green jobs and clean energy | May 21

From Climate Solutions...On May 21 at noon, the EPA held a day-long hearing in Seattle – one of only two in the nation – on their recent proposed finding that global warming pollution is a threat to public health and the environment. Thousands joined a rally outside the hearing urging real action to stop global warming, a clean-energy economy, and protection for public health. More information here.

Date | May 21
Time | 12:00 noon
Location | Pier 66