Samantha Mahon is preparing to PCS next year.

With two little boys, two large dogs, and a husband who has dragged her up and down the East Coast during his Navy career, she’s got a lot to juggle.

Toys. Furniture. Family records. Bees.

Three whole hives of them, to be exact.

Because, though Mahon may be a mom and a military spouse, she is also a beekeeper.

“I have always wanted to keep bees since I was a little girl,” Mahon, 32, said. “I always admired it from afar and started heavily looking into it about three years ago. It took some convincing of my husband, and I was finally able to warm him up to the idea. Low and behold, two weeks later, there was a local ad from a hobbyist beekeeper that wanted to sell his hives. I jumped on the idea.”

Mahon, who formerly served in the Air Force, is one of many military spouses and veterans pursuing a different career path, with a “green” twist to it.

While the U.S. Labor Department defines a “green job” quite narrowly, according to experts, anything that has a “positive impact on our planet” is considered a green job, said Carol McClelland, executive director for Green Career Central, an organization she founded that helps clients transition into a green career path.

When you look at the big picture, the possibilities for a career in environmental sustainability are almost endless, McClelland said.

There are jobs in natural resource management, like people who work in water treatment plants. There are jobs in manufacturing, producing raw materials in an environmentally friendly way or creating green products. There are jobs in green construction.

You can be a consultant for companies wanting to become more green, and you can work in media and public relations, educating parties and the public about environmental sustainability. 

There are economists, attorneys, teachers, and journalists – all whom can work in some capacity in a green field, especially since it has become so popular, McClelland said.

Back in 2010, about 50 industries identified themselves as green, and now, just four years later, at least 75 to 100 do. The amount has almost doubled, she said.

In 2007, there were only four green career counselors in the nation, McClelland added. 

Now there are many more.

But, because it’s such a hot, growing trend, all industries are included in the green branch, or should be, she said.

“The names and job titles may not be green, but that’s semantics,” she said. “This is a new world and a new terrain. There are cutting edge fields in each industry.”

Mahon, for instance, by keeping bees and selling honey, beeswax and pollen in her local markets, is improving natural pollination and her local environment. She has a green job, according to McClelland’s definition.

“It's no secret that our society is in trouble due to the bees’ decline,” Mahon said. “Citrus prices have tripled due to the loss of our greatest pollinators. Keeping bees gives me the push to spread the word in my local area on how important it is to not use pesticides.”

Mahon frequently takes her bees in a traveling hive to local schools to educate students about pollination – another facet of her job that makes it “green,” McClelland said.

Still, anyone interested in seeking a job that will affect the environment positively will need to do some research first, whether you’re a military spouse or not, McClelland said.

Before deciding what industry you are interested in, she recommends looking at your “career story,” or what your volunteer and work experience has been.

Then “figure out what is the best use of your talent and expertise. Look at your past history and your skills and figure out how you can best contribute to the planet,” she said.

“You focus, then prepare,” she added.

Sometimes, some people will need further education; a few do have to go back to school and some need to earn certain certificates, she said.

Then you look at the climate of the region.

“Florida and California are going to be vastly different, for instance,” she said.

Some issues are more extreme in certain areas; pollution is different in certain areas.

Military spouses can struggle here, as they move often and to vastly different parts of the country, at times.

So sometimes, you may need to look into doing an internship or volunteer work for a bit to make you more attractive to an employer in the region and “demonstrate your expertise.”

Then you can look for a job opening.

When you are new to an area, McClelland recommends tapping into a site called greendrinks.org, where like-minded green professionals post gatherings and can help you become aware of an area’s opportunities. Using LinkedIn and reading the newspaper and business journal should also become part of your preparation repertoire, she said.

If you are really new to green careers, you may want to take a general sustainability course so you can familiarize yourself with terms and other logistics specifically involved with the job, but very rarely do you need to re-do all your training just because of a move, she said.

A few jobs may require something different – people working in green construction, for example, will need to learn new building codes, or an environmental lawyer will need to take the bar exam if they move to a different state – but largely, the skill set and previous education is transferrable, even if the region’s issues are not, she said.

“This can be like the wild, wild west of careers because it’s so new and unusual,” she added.

But the increased popularity and the drive within industries to become more green is good, she said.

“We can do this gracefully or less gracefully, but we have to do something if we want to make this a planet worth saving.”