Great green careers

Earth friendly jobs aren't just about organic farming and installing solar panels. Meet the carbon traders, eco-bankers and corporate climate strategists shaping the new green economy.
By Michael V. Copeland, senior writer


Sunny days: As many as five million green jobs could be created in the United States over the next decade.

(Fortune) -- Steve Vassallo spends his days looking for the next Steve Jobs. Not for the computer industry, it has its already, but for the clean-tech world in which Vassallo, a venture capitalist, invests. "I haven't found him or her yet," says Vassallo, a principal with Silicon Valley-based Foundation Capital. "They are probably still in their cubicles some place doing their IT job, or in a garage with an idea."

Vassallo, and VCs like him have been pouring money into clean-tech companies in recent years -- $2.2 billion in 2007 -- in the hopes of finding the next leader and the next technology that can transform the biggest industries on the planet, from energy to finance to manufacturing. The opportunity is huge, not just for investors but for those who want to be a part of the green economy vanguard. click here for more info