A weekly series, in which I tackle a Q from a reader looking for green advice.

Question: I live in Washington DC now and I am looking to move back to Los Angeles. I know of some environmental job focused list serves for work here but I’m having trouble finding things for Los Angeles. Are you aware of any?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Peggy

Answer: Hey Peggy — You’re sort of asking at a good time, because I’m sort of looking for a job myself, and have gotten some great suggestions. I say sort of because I haven’t been looking v. hard, and because I’m only looking for a summer job, but anyway –

So — Finding an environmental job in LA: I don’t know about listservs, but try these job websites. They have listings nationwide, but include many specific to Los Angeles:

Idealist. Nonprofit job listings. You can search by city — and have relevant results emailed to you as they come up.

Opportunity Knocks. More nonprofit job listings.

Treehugger’s job board. This enviro-oriented site’s job board’s not v. robust yet — I’m getting 16 listings for all of California — but worth a look.

Less specific, but still useful, are the Craigslist job listings. Craigslist will make your move easier in general, from finding an apartment to pre-loved furniture.

I’d also suggest contact enviro-organizations in the LA area that share your values to see if they have any appropriate openings. It seems to me that the nonprofits around me are always hiring — so direct investigation’s definitely worth a try.

Lastly — I’m not sure how familiar you are with the LA area, but what we generally consider a single city here actually includes a number of different cities, including Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica, and West Hollywood. Your best bet might be to plug in a central zip code, like 90036, in the search box (if that option’s avaliable), and search within a 10 mile radius –

Hope that gets you started :) Readers — If you know of additional resources for Peggy, pls weigh in –

Update, 10/5/07: MonsterTRAK’s intro’d green careers.

Update, 2/17/08: I wrote an updated version of this solution on Emerald City.

Update, 6/2/09:  The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Careers

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