As environmental issues grow increasingly widespread around the world, Berkeley High School\u2019s Green Career Fair introduces students to job options that work toward sustaining and improving the environment locally and globally.<\/p>\n
The event took place on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in the BHS Community Theater. It consisted of 18 organizations and roughly 20 speakers, experienced in fields including clean transportation, climate science, city planning, environmental law, renewable energy, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not every student attending the fair had a specific career path in mind. \u201cI just wanted to know more,\u201d Rubi Cruse, a BHS junior, said, adding that she developed an interest in animal preservation after attending the fair.<\/p>\n
Cruse explained that exploring green careers can be important to students who are still navigating their interests. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019re young and you\u2019re just looking for jobs to do, I think it\u2019s interesting to find something that you\u2019re passionate about even if it\u2019s unpaid, and just get experience and do something cool while you can,\u201d Cruse said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zehma Bianchi-McElwee, a BHS junior, attended the fair due to her passion for environmental science and justice and her desire to learn more about environmental work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s (environmental jobs) something that\u2019s not that many people know about, and it\u2019s so important to literally everyone,\u201d Bianchi-McElwee commented, adding that she felt more people should make an effort to care for and understand the environment.<\/p>\n
One display that stood out to Bianchi-McElwee focused on watershed restoration, including a job planting native species to help support local ecosystems. For Bianchi-McElwee, the fair highlighted the idea that environmental careers go further than traditional expectations, and she felt that students should look past financial incentives when choosing a career. \u201cTrying to find something that you\u2019re really passionate about, it\u2019s definitely more important,\u201d Bianchi-McElwee said.<\/p>\n
Annie Fryman, a representative who attended the fair, hoped to show students that environmental work isn\u2019t limited to one job and that there is a wide range of opportunities available.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s landscaping and there\u2019s food waste, you can start a new company, you can be a scientist, you can even be into marketing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Fryman noted that environmental fields will play an important role in future jobs, as society will have to face and resist ecological challenges, explaining that this will be \u201cwhere there\u2019s going to be opportunities for students in the future.\u201d Fryman added that there will be a demand for people who know how to address, analyze, and manage various environmental issues to ensure that societies can adapt in face of them.<\/p>\n
Karuna Jaggar is a representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, an organization that works to secure a future for endangered species through science, law, and creative media. Jaggar motivates students to focus on their strengths and apply them to work that would make a positive impact in their communities and the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, we need to make a living, but our work can be more than just making money; it can also be a way of making a difference,\u201d Jaggar said.<\/p>\n
Jaggar focuses on fighting the fossil fuel industry, stressing the need for society to transition off of fossil fuels to build a better future. However, she emphasized that this is only possible with collective creativity, collaboration, wisdom, and hard work from people across many different fields.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Overall, the Green Career Fair introduced students to jobs that are focused on maintaining and improving the systems that cities, countries, and the world rely on, as well as preparing for and responding to ongoing and future environmental issues. Attendees connected with professionals, learned about organizations, and were able to consider how their own interests intersect with sustainability-focused careers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As environmental issues grow increasingly widespread around the world, Berkeley High School\u2019s Green Career Fair introduces students to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":{"0":"post-196910","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-oakland","9":"tag-oakland-headlines","10":"tag-oakland-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}