Imagine you are working beside a busy highway interchange, carefully collecting, and replacing air quality sampling tubes from a small monitoring station. You are an environmental technologist/technician working for a small environmental consulting firm that has been recruited by the city to coordinate its new air quality monitoring program.
The program is designed to measure levels of air pollutants in different areas of the city and compare them to national air quality standards.
Months ago, you and your team mapped and built several monitoring stations to effectively test problem areas. Now it is your responsibility to collect samples from these stations each week and make certain they are functioning properly.
As an environmental technologist/technician, you are often responsible for collecting and processing a variety of air, water, and soil samples.
For this project, you collect air quality samples using diffusion tubes placed at each monitoring station: air enters the tubes, and a chemical absorbent traps any pollutants present. Each week, you collect the old tubes for analysis and replace them with new ones.
Some monitoring stations are also outfitted with more advanced sampling equipment that uses filters to collect pollutants.
Regulated volumes of air are pumped through specialized filters that trap pollutants for detection and analysis. As with the diffusion tubes, you must regularly collect the old filters and replace them with new ones.
Once you have collected the samples, you take them to the lab for analysis. You and your team of environmental professionals will evaluate the results and compare them to national standards, which will tell you if you the city’s air quality levels are above or below legal limits.
Finally, you will contribute to the preparation of a report summarizing your firm’s findings that will be presented to the City.
Duties vary significantly from job to job, but the following list includes typical job duties that an environmental technologist/technician might perform:
If you are a high school student considering a career as an environmental geophysicist, you should have a keen interest in:
If you are a post-secondary student considering a career as an environmental geophysicist, the following programs are most applicable.
In most cases, the minimum education requirement to work as an environmental geophysicist is a graduate degree. Pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree in fields related to environmental geophysics can enhance your expertise, career prospects, and ability to contribute to the field. These advanced degrees offer specialized knowledge and skills highly valued in both the professional and academic worlds.
In many provinces, geophysicists must obtain registration and licensure with their provincial association as a Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo.). The certification process for geophysicists is similar to that of engineering professions and is typically overseen by the same regulatory body.
Our Environmental Professional (EP) designation can also help you progress in your chosen environmental career.
Technical Skills
Personal and Professional Skills
Environmental employers look for professionals who can combine technical knowledge with soft skills. Watch our free webinar “Essential Not Optional: Skills Needed to Succeed in Canada’s Environmental Industry” or take our Essential Skills courses.
As key executive leaders who shape their company’s sustainability policy, CSOs work in many different types of organizations. Common employers of CSOs include:
Search for jobs on the ECO Canada Job Board.
If you are a post-secondary student seeking a CSO role in the future, consider pursuing a university degree related to:
In addition to the educational fields mentioned above, you will also need extensive management experience to become a CSO, with well-developed human resources management and leadership skills. Consider educational seminars or post-graduate studies that will hone your analytical thinking, such as:
Our Environmental Professional (EP) designation can also help you progress in your chosen environmental career.
Technical Skills
Personal and Professional Skills
Environmental employers seek professionals who combine technical knowledge with personal and professional skills. Watch our free webinar “Essential Not Optional: Skills Needed to Succeed in Canada’s Environmental Industry” or take our Essential Skills courses.
Both environmental technologists and technicians require broad scientific knowledge and technical skills.
The difference between an environmental technologist and an environmental technician is that an environmental technologist typically has an engineering degree whereas an environmental technician has either a diploma or a certificate. In terms of organizational hierarchy, a technologist is usually placed above a technician.
Environmental technologists research, analyze, design, conduct studies, and resolve problems. Technicians are involved in the supporting duties including maintenance, design drafting and implementation, repairs, and troubleshooting.
Environmental technologists/technicians can be responsible for collecting and analyzing air, water, and soil samples; conducting field inspections and investigations of contamination; operating and monitoring pollution control or treatment equipment; monitoring compliance with federal and provincial regulations, or participating in environmental assessments and cleanup efforts.
Environmental technologists/technicians often work as part of a team of professionals and play a key role in conservation and protection efforts. They may also be tasked with penalizing or shutting down operations or organizations for violation of health or environmental regulations.
Without the efforts of environmental technologists/technicians, the work of other environmental workers may be stalled or never even put into action.
If, for example, an environmental scientist discovered an innovative way to combat water contamination in a rural area, an environmental technologist would take on more work including designing a filtration system, figuring out where to place it without disrupting ecosystems and animal habitats, and ensuring that as the project progresses, there is consideration for potential environmental impacts.
After the blueprint is set in place, an environmental technician would be brought in. The environmental technician’s role would be to install the filtration device, ensure that things are working as they should, and verify that it is serving its purpose to combat water contamination in a sustainable and efficient way.
The technician would also perform follow-up assessments, collect data, and draft feedback reports on the operations, to circulate back to the environmental scientist. This last step is very important as it is key to measuring the success of the project.
Environmental technologists/technicians produce tangible results that help bring the workforce closer to a more sustainable and efficient environment.
Marine geologists are classified into the following occupational grouping:
NOC Code: 21102 – Geoscientists and oceanographers
The National Occupational Classification (NOC) provides a standardized language for describing the work performed by Canadians in the labour market. It gives statisticians, labour market analysts, career counsellors, employers, and individual job seekers a consistent way to collect data and describe and understand the nature of work within different occupations.
See ECO’s Blue National Occupational Standard for a career competency profile for a marine geologist that outlines the specific skills, knowledge, and behaviours required for individuals to perform effectively in this particular role. This profile is a benchmark for training and development, ensuring consistency and quality across professions within the blue economy.
Dans un esprit de respect, de réciprocité et de vérité, nous honorons et reconnaissons Moh’kinsstis, le territoire traditionnel du Traité 7 et les pratiques orales de la confédération des Pieds-Noirs : Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, ainsi que les nations Îyâxe Nakoda et Tsuut’ina. Nous reconnaissons que ce territoire abrite la Nation métisse de l’Alberta, la région 3 au sein de la patrie historique des Métis du Nord-Ouest. Enfin, nous reconnaissons toutes les nations qui vivent, travaillent et se divertissent sur ce territoire, et qui l’honorent et le célèbrent.
In the spirit of respect, reciprocity, and truth, we acknowledge that we live, work, and gather on the traditional territories of the peoples of Treaty 7, including the Blackfoot Confederacy—comprising the Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani Nations—as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina Nations.
This land, known as Moh’kinsstis in the Blackfoot language and encompassing what is now Districts 5 and 6, is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3, within the historical Northwest Métis homeland.
We recognize and honour the deep connection these Nations have to the land, and we are grateful for the opportunity to share in its stewardship.
As we continue our work, we commit to learning from Indigenous knowledge systems, uplifting Indigenous voices, and fostering relationships rooted in equity, understanding, and reconciliation.
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