Help deciding on a major? Chemistry and green jobs?

If you want to get into farming- go into ag-econ, or buy a farm and work it.  Biochem/Chem only have a place at Monsanto/Syngenta and other GMO slingers.  If you value your food supply, GMO is a total waste regardless of it's hype.  

With most jobs you work in either the lab, behind a desk or in the natural world, most of what Bichem/chem does is get you behind a desk or in a lab.  Field work is for the interns.  

I would not say Biochem/chem could not get you a green job- the reality is you are more likely to be needing to make your own green job because most of what is out there in that general field is not going to be green.  Far from it.

Sustainable farming is achievable- but you would be better off buying a small farm now and applying what is currently known about organic amd sustainable methods- things that are anethema to Monsanto/Syngenta.  

I suggest you locate the video "The World According to Monsanto," Monsanto:Patent for a Pig,"  The books "Seeds of Destruction,""Seeds of Deception" and view what Oregon Tilth has to say as good practices, and Acres USA.
http://tilth.org/
http://www.acresusa.com/magazines/magazine.htm
Then look at the Monsanto website, and ask yourself why their Syngenta subsidiary is so secretive about what plants they have manipulated- orange cauliflower is one of the more recent ones.  The reason is people do not want GMO, they need to be tricked into consuming it.  There are many health risks involved with GMO as well.  

IMHO- forget college and get to work on your own farm.  Biochem and Chem have no place in the sustainable marketplace.  The sooner you realize that, the more money ahead you will be, and the healtheir you will be too.

There is a big chance of getting a job in the green sector. Chemists are going to be need to develop sustainable chemicals and methods for producing them. The alternative energy sector is booming my Brother is a chemical engineer and is currently working in a team to build a biodiesel production plant which uses algae as a feedstock. My brother has been a chemical engineer for 10 years and has worked in green related jobs the whole time. You were thinking of majoring in biochemistry the next generation of bio fuels are expected to be made directly from bacteria and other living organisms. Biochemistry or chemistry will also get you into jobs in pharmaceuticals and numerous other industries.

You will have no problem getting a green job and from my research the largest market will be production of bio fuels.

I'm sure you can get something like testing municipal water supply with a biochem degree.  

If you want to do more though, I suggest and environmental engineering degree.  You can do things like water treatment, water reclamation, stream restoration, soil remediation, air quality improvement, etc.