MSNBC is reporting that an army of 19,000 contract workers (and some 5,000 volunteers) have swarmed the Gulf Coast to help with clean-up efforts from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

It would seem that pitching in to help clean up America’s worst disaster is on the minds and hearts of many of us.

Our post last month about volunteering for the Gulf Oil clean-up has definitely caught the attention of many of you, including some very magnanimous people looking to offer their voluntary services. If you want to contribute to the clean-up efforts, please note that the JobMonkey cannot directly hook you up with a volunteer organizations. Rather, start your search with our list of organizations that are accepting Gulf clean-up volunteers.

Also, we just posted oil spill response training information in our Oil Industry Jobs section. Go there to learn about HAZWOPER 40-Hour Training and OSHA 30-Hour classes.

You might also want to check out this blog post from Mother Nature Network, which features a great list of Do’s and Don’ts for people interested in volunteering, including these “do’s”:

• Report oil sightings – They suggest you call (866) 448-5816 if you spot oil slicks from the shore, or (866) 557-1401 if you see oiled wildlife.
• Donate funds — Be sure to look for reputable environmental organizations, such as the Environmental Defense Fund or the National Wildlife Federation. Any of the organizations accepting volunteers are also good candidates for your contributions.
• Spread the word — Make your voice heard by attending demonstrations or turning to your social network. Talk about the Gulf oil cleanup on Facebook or Twitter, or blog about it (if you do, be sure to spam us with the link — we’d love to help you spread the word.)
• Write your Members of Congress — Whether you think offshore drilling should be halted — or redoubled — now is the time to make your voice heard with your Senators and Congressmen. Another federal agency that might be useful to contact is the Environmental Protection Agency. And don’t forget to send your thoughts to President Obama, too!

Have you contributed your services, either as a volunteer or as a contract worker, to the Gulf clean up efforts? Share your experiences and offer your advice to other would-be volunteers!

You can’t turn on the news these days without hearing about the clean up efforts from the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Disasters such as these sure to wreak havoc on our ecosystem and give all of us pause for thought about finding alternative fuel sources.

If you have spent any time on the JobMonkey home page, you know that we have tons of information about working in the oil and gas industry, from laying pipelines to working on offshore drilling stations. Today I have some information to offer up about this lucrative and dangerous field that focuses on clean-up efforts. If you live in the Gulf Coast region, or just find yourself wanting to do something to help the people, fish or fowl being impacted by the spill, here’s a list of nine ways you can volunteer for the clean up effort.

1. Own Vessel Cleanup with training from British Petroleum, including use of safety equipment on your boat and a Hazmat course

2. Oil Bird Recovery in Pascagoula, through a one-day training sponsored by Audubon Action Society

3. Volunteering with Sierra Club — sign up online and they will contact you to match you up with a volunteer mobilization effort

4. Bird rescue with Save Our Seabirds in Sarasota, FL — fill  out their online form or call 941-388-3010

5. Readiness volunteers with Alabama Coastal Foundation — sign up online or call 251-990-6002

6. Readiness volunteers in Biloxi, Mississippi — sign up online and the volunteer coordinator will contact you

7. Coast line clean up in New Orleans and Gulf of Mexico area — sign up online and the volunteer coordinator will contact you

8. Protect and restore coastal Louisiana with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana  – sign up online

9. Volunteers to assist with a  variety of needs — from wildlife recovery to photographing oil movement — with Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program  — sign up online

Have you volunteered to help with the clean up efforts in the Gulf? Tell us about your experiences in the comments section! We would love to hear from you.

We still do not know if — and when — the Alaska natural gas pipeline will get built, but it seems that some political progress has at least been made.

According to the Fairbanks Daily News Miner, the project is now a top priority for President Obama, who is considering making the initiative a public works project.

Until the economic recession, there were two companies vying for the right to construct the 2,000-mile natural gas pipelines: TransCanada and Producers BP and ConocoPhillips, together with Denali. But the collapsing world financial market has led many in Alaska to worry that financing would not be able to be secured for the project, estimated at around $40 billion.

The news that President Obama may make the pipeline a public works project has some in Alaska breathing a sigh of relief. Others are less enthusiastic, preferring the private model — even if it takes a bit longer to find the funding.

Either way, construction of the pipeline would create a trove of jobs for Americans. To learn more about this massive employment possibility, check out JobMonkey’s section on the Alaska Highway Pipeline.

According to Scotland’s The Herald newspaper, green jobs aren’t just on the rise in the U.S., but in the U.K. as well. The British company Centrica recently announced plans to create 1,500 new green jobs, from engineering positions to green collar assignments. Jobs will include energy efficiency advisers and wind farm installers.

On Monday, I posted about four recession-proof careers and working for green industries definitely made the list. According to economic experts, as many as three to five million new green jobs will be created in the U.S. over the next decade.

If you are interested in learning more about going green to make green, check out JobMonkey’s extensive section on Green Collar Jobs. And if you think you might want to pursue your environmentalism on foreign soil, start your search with a look at JobMonkey’s section on Work Abroad Jobs.

I’ll be back next week with the final segment in my series on Online Learning Programs. 

This week, however, we’re taking a short break to look at the educational requirements of a career in the gas and oil industry.  The field offers a number of high paying opportunities, and even with the current economic crisis, these jobs are still in high demand.  That’s the good news.

The less good news (well, only if you’re not the perpetual student type) is that most of these positions require an advanced degree — at least a Master’s Degree, and preferably a PhD.  A 2006 survey by the Society for Petroleum Engineers shows that engineers with advanced degrees earn an average of 30 percent more than those with just an undergraduate degree.

Good disciplines to consider include Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, as well as Geology and Earth Sciences.  See Job Monkey’s extensive list of schools with top rated graduate programs in gas and oil industry fields.

Apropos to our ongoing conversation here about online degrees, there are a growing number of distance learning options for the gas and oil industry as well. Like your course of study at a brick and mortar school, online classes will cover the managerial and technical aspects of oil engineering.  Other academic subjects may include geology, geophysics, drilling methodology and seismology.

What will happen to the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline now that its major proponent, Governor Sara Palin, has become the VP choice of McCain?

Find out on JobMonkey.