The Climate Bureau identifies emerging employment trends, lifestyle choices and business opportunities in the Republic of Ireland for a future with weather that is warmer, wetter and weirder.
Our trained professionals provide personalised consultations and advice to help you choose from a package of skills, jobs and lifestyles that may be more suitable and advantageous in a very different future.
Look through this catalog of profiles and then talk to one of our Climate Bureau counselors today, and begin your journey towards a brighter tomorrow, together.
INTRODUCTION
PROFILES
5 CARBON SINKING
7 DRONE FROM HOME
9 ECOSYSTEM ARCHIVIST
11 ECOSYSTEM SERVICE DESIGN
13 GEO HACKTIVISM
15 PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO THE GREEN ELITE
17 SHANTYTOWN SOCIAL WORKER
19 URBAN FARMING (THE GHOST ESTATES)
5
As the fossil-fuel-era transitions into an era of carbon management there will be more jobs throughout the world to actively manage environmental resources and maintain carbon sequestration sites. Examples include preventing the spread of deserts through human-planted forests or observing and managing ocean plankton blooms.
The kind of people who are attracted to work on oil derricks or deep sea fishing vessels may find the field of carbon sinking draws on a similar set of skills and experiences. You have to be willing to spend enormous amounts of time alone without standard human comforts like warm showers. Your days may be quiet and contemplative most of the time, but expect occasional bursts of activity when an emergency hits.
“Just like pastures on land where there
is little grass, few livestock can survive,
within ocean pastures where there is little
plankton few fish can survive. We’re not
alone in this work, decades of academic
research with a quarter of a billion
dollars in public funds has shown that
replenishing and restoring those ocean
pastures is possible.”
Ocean Pastures Corporation
“Giant fly-swats and freight containers
may help prevent catastrophic climate
change, say engineers. The Institution of
Mechanical Engineers has come up with
some ideas for what “artificial forests” -
technologies that absorb CO2, in a similar
way to trees - could look like in the future.
These structures would use chemical
processes or natural carbon sponges such
as algae to take in carbon and store it, or
even turn it into useful products.”
The Artificial Forests of the Future
Fiona Harvey, The Guardian (2011)
CARBON SINKING
You enjoy a challenge, living in
the wilderness and traveling to
new places.
7
Governments, individuals and industries are putting drones to work and you could be in the pilot seat! We foresee a need for drone operators with the ability to work in agriculture, environmental monitoring and even local weather modification.
In this emerging field you can purchase your own drone, or rent time on fleets of drones in various locations all over the world. Clients may request that you fly in and assess their desert-based solar arrays for damage or check in and make sure their piece of the rainforest is not being illegally logged. You can set your own flexible schedule and work right from your computer at home.
“Drones are now being used to monitor
power lines, inspect oil and gas pipelines,
check wind turbines for defects and
pinpoint malfunctioning solar panels.”
Drones Are Becoming Energy’s
New Roustabouts, Todd Woody, NYTimes (2014)
“The plan is known as the Green Great
Wall - a 2,800-mile network of forest belts
designed to stop the sands. A $1.2 billion
oversight system, consisting of mapping
and land-surveillance databases, will be
implemented. The government has also
hammered out a dust-monitoring network
with Japan and Korea.”
The Green Wall Of China
Evan Ratliff, WIRED (2003)
DRONE FROM HOME
The cost of owning a drone
is decreasingly rapidly.
9
You are passionate about preserving organisms and ecosystems for future generations to enjoy. It’s just that...things have gotten a little complicated recently. There are all kinds of new technologies to conserve old resources.
Ecosystem Archivists are willing to learn from innovations in business, technology and science, and apply them to natural systems. In order to build bridges between the environmental movement and the labs that are churning out novel environmental technologies, you will launch an NGO, a business, or even a new department in the government. But one thing is sure, we will need new institutions to deal with the new interface between conservation biology and biotechnology, and you should lead one.
“Conservation biologists, intent in recent
years on restoring the health of whole
ecosystems, have been focusing ever less
on individual species and ever more
on ecological function. In studying the
prospect of reviving certain extinct species
they get to do both.”
The Conservation Perspective on
‘De-extinction’, Stewart Brand in The Huffington Post (2013)
“Let’s not make this a story all about CO2
and Carbon… it’s really about whether the
ocean pastures come back to the abundance
of life that they and we enjoyed 100 years
ago. My hypothesis is that if we can help
replenish and restore the ocean pastures
we will see the results in the one thing that
mankind is most connected to the ocean
by, its FISH!”
Did Russ George’s Geoengineering
experiment actually work?
John Laumer (2013)
ECOSYSTEM ARCHIVIST
You are a leader.
People listen to you and
you know how to manage
large organizations.
11
Have you always wanted a fast moving career in the field of marketing and communication, but were afraid you’d be stuck indoors all day, selling products that don’t really make a difference?
Ecosystem Service Design is a field where you employ strategies from marketing to encourage people to pay attention to and pay for the ecosystem services that keep us alive. Many people vaguely understand the natural processes of water purification, pollination and climate control, but have no idea who pays for these services. That is because up until the 21st century, no one has!
Using the latest trends in social media and micropayment systems you will create environmental interface designs that allow human users to witness, communicate and pay for ecosystem services.
Ecosystem Services: Humankind
benefits in a multitude of ways from
ecosystems. Collectively, these benefits are
known as ecosystem services. Ecosystem
services are regularly involved in the
provisioning of clean drinking water and
the decomposition of wastes. Ecosystem
services are sometimes grouped into
four broad categories: provisioning, such
as the production of food and water;
regulating, such as the control of climate
and disease; supporting, such as nutrient
cycles and crop pollination; and cultural,
such as spiritual and recreational benefits.
Wikipedia
Service design is the activity of planning
and organizing people, infrastructure,
communication and material components
of a service in order to improve its quality
and the interaction between service
provider and customers. The purpose of
service design methodologies is to design
according to the needs of customers or
participants, so that the service is user-
friendly, competitive and relevant to
the customers. Service designers draw
on the methodologies of fields such as
ethnography and journalism to gather
customer insights through interviews and
by shadowing service users.
Wikipedia
ECOSYSTEM SERVICE DESIGN
Do you like talking
to people AND plants?
13
Each year new geohacking technologies are developed that make it easier for individuals to manipulate the environment. What society needs is organized and dedicated people like you to drive debates about these technologies. Whether you are an advocate or a watchdog, as a Geohacktivist, you will coordinate direct actions or communicate your message through the media.
For a few million dollars, a university, company or government anywhere in the world can currently deploy untested but powerful geohacking techniques such as:
- Ocean nourishment through iron fertilisation
- Spraying sea water into the troposphere to
increase cloud reflectivity
- Releasing aerosols into the atmosphere
Should these technologies be tested or deployed? Who gets to decide and regulate this process? It could be YOU that leads this conversation.
“Only a couple of years ago,
geoengineering seemed like science fiction.
Some scientists talked about cooling the
planet using massive shields to reflect
sunlight back into space or by loading
the atmosphere with aerosols, but few
thought of these planetary-scale projects
as real contenders for averting climate
catastrophe. But — perhaps because the
challenge of mitigation is now fully
recognized — geoengineering has gone
mainstream.”
The Geoengineering Genie
Mason Inman in Nature (2010)
“You don’t need a Ph.D. in physics to
understand the basic insanity of this
undertaking,” [Jeff] Goodell writes, while
emphasizing that the outlook for the
planet is so bad that we have to think
about these options anyway.”
The Geoengineering Genie
Mason Inman in Nature (2010)
GEO HACTIVISM
If you believe strongly in a
cause, can you get others to
join in and get things done?
15
Ireland has rich agricultural land and offers relative environmental stability compared to the European continent and the rest of the world. The global elite who are currently purchasing multi-million dollar apartments in New York, Hong Kong and London will transform into the Green Elite, investing their wealth in Irish businesses and property.
If you are looking to pick up part time work, there will be many members of the Green Elite who will need help cleaning, nannying, cooking, and organizing their lives. Familiarise yourself with the needs and obsessions of the super wealthy to ensure that you will stay in their good graces, and hopefully, receive substantial holiday bonuses.
“My £1m buy: “For pure lifestyle, stick to
prime traditional locations but consider
markets where values have fallen the most
and prices may take longer to recover –
Mallorca in Spain, southwest France or
Ireland.”
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank head of global research (2014)
“It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful. It’s
artistic, from my standpoint, and I just
love real estate.”
Donald Trump
PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO THE
GREEN ELITE
Ireland is well positioned to
profit from Climate Chaos.
17
Many of us will be disgusted by the squalid conditions in the climate refugee camps that are predicted to sprout up all along the Irish coast... But only some of us will be ready to do something about it.
Our country and economy will adapt to climate change better than most in the world. Is it any surprise that people desperate for stability and opportunity will begin arriving by the boatload over the next decade?
As a social worker for environmental migrants, you will help recently-arrived immigrants get situated and apply for refugee status. While migrants wait months for their cases to be heard and it can take years to clear the courts, many of them will want to do productive work. But the precarious economic position of many refugees means that they are easily exploited by unscrupulous employers. This position requires a large amount of empathy for cultural difference, but also a willingness to firmly enforce the rules and maintain order.
‘Amid predictions that by 2010 the world
will need to cope with as many as 50
million people escaping the effects of
creeping environmental deterioration,
United Nations University experts say the
international community urgently needs
to define, recognize and extend support
to this new category of “refugee.”’
United Nations University (2005)
“The phenomenon of ‘climate refugees’ will
grow, and – with our temperate climate
– Ireland is likely to be viewed as a safe
haven. So, in addition to the impact on
our economy of climate change disruption
in other parts of the world, we could
also be looking at unprecedented levels
of migration, and at supporting a larger
population here.”
What does the climate change report
mean for Ireland? John Sweeney, TheJournal.ie (2013)
SHANTYTOWN SOCIAL WORKER
You’re the kind of person
who thinks of others and
makes service a central
aspect of your life.
19
Our research shows an emerging trend in the agricultural sector of informal squatting or legal rehabilitation of abandoned structures built during the Celtic Tiger years. Urban farming is a wise career path whether boom or bust.
You are certain to have customers if the Irish economy continues to prosper as an international hub of technology and innovation. Wealthy consumers and foodies are willing to pay a premium for locally grown fruits and vegetables. Alternatively, if the global economy falls into a tailspin and Ireland can not afford food imports, urban farming will act as an additional layer of food security. Ghost estates and empty buildings are calling for people who want to downshift from a white collar office job and get their hands dirty.
“Nobody seems to have started growing
food on ghost estates or Nama property
yet. But plenty of groups have proposed
it, including the South Dublin Allotments
Association, which suggested the idea in
a submission to Nama.
“We did a submission on the idea of using
the land on an interim basis as allotments
on smaller sites, and where there are
larger sites we figured they could be used
for… commercial growers, for people who
are market gardeners,” says the SDAA’s
Michael Fox.”
Growing Food on Ghost Estates,
Lenny Antonelli, Organic Matters magazine (2010)
“The Trees on the Quays project, proposes
to radically transform the shell of the
abandoned Anglo Irish Bank Head
Quarters into an innovative Public
Park. Central to the project will be a
Vertical Park, where nature, rather than
commerce, will colonise the concrete
structure creating a new landmark on the
Liffey Quays. The existing floor plates
of the concrete shell will be punched out
to create a honeycombed lattice. The
resulting voids will be filled with banks
of earth to create a stepped landscape,
forming terraces in which trees and other
plants will grow.”
Trees on The Quays. North Wall
Quay, Dublin, Mahoney Architecture
URBAN FARMING (THE GHOST ESTATES)
Do you like to work with
your hands and nature?