The career phone is ringing for your students. High School STEM and STEAM educators please share this with your students.

We are at a global crossroads with the amount of excess energy used in construction.  Something must change as many think this is the greatest challenge humanity is yet to face.  Building construction and demolition are accountable for over 1/3 of our carbon dioxide emissions and almost 75% of our energy consumption. Irreparable damage is being done and climate change is drastically being affected.  Per The Building Sector: A Historic Opportunity, 75% of the buildings 20 years from now will either be new or renovated, suggesting an incredible opportunity to reduce energy in construction by using sustainable methods.

STEM educators are on the frontlines!  Teaching sustainable building methods in high school is the only way to ensure our kids are Future Ready.   The numbers don’t lie! Employment opportunities in the sustainability sector are rapidly increasing. Educators have an incredible opportunity to help secondary students learn a better way.  Teaching sustainable building to the youth of today can reverse the trend of generation after generation inheriting less environmental wealth as its predecessor.  Anthony Cortese, lifelong sustainability activist and graduate of both Tufts University and Harvard University School of Public Health announced 25% of the world’s population is currently using 70-80% of the worlds resources.   STEAM and STEM programs hold the answer!

Future architects, homebuilders and contractors are in your classroom right now! The surest way for a better future for all of us is to educate these young minds on Green/Sustainable Construction.  Showing them the practice of using recycled/renewable materials in effort to maximize the efficiency of resources is a is rapidly growing and with your efforts we can tip the scales and inspire an entire generation to understand our desperate need for eco-friendly building practices!

Here’s some more good news about future job opportunities for Future Ready kids enrolled in STEP programs!

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics webpage, green construction rose from $3 billion to an estimated $43 to $54 billion in the 60 months between 2005 and 2010 and as of 2015 the green construction market is upwards of $120 billion.

The increase in these STEM jobs has followed the same trend with a U.S. Green Building Council indicating the industry employed approximately 3.3 million workers as of 2013 not counting suppliers of green building materials which should grow as demand increases.  The green construction workforce is already half the general construction workforce and this is expected to keep growing in the foreseeable future. .

With the world becoming more and more aware of the overwhelming benefits of sustainable building it becomes imperative we teach students of tomorrow how to be leaders in this movement.  CTE learning’s Building Green and Residential Architecture Design Course ensures students are Future Ready by teaching middle and high schools to learn by action.  High School learners in this STEM program will design homes using 3D CAD, space layout, using choice sustainable materials.

**Note to California STEM educators – the Building Green and Residential Architecture Course is a UC a-g approval by the University of California.

Sources  www.usgbc.org