Growing the Green Economy

With special thanks to Legislative Assistant Micaela Hellman-Tincher for her contributions to this post.

Last week, Mayor Ron Dellums and Rep. Barbara Lee unveiled the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, a program designed to train young city residents to participate in green industry, which is rapidly expanding throughout California. While the program starts small by giving 40 young adults skills in green construction and solar panel installation, advocates hope that it will become a pilot for green jobs programs around the country.  At a time when both jobs and new energy solutions are in high demand, there is clearly fertile ground for such initiatives. Weatherization programs, like the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program, have already provided 8,000 jobs weatherizing homes in low-income communities.  These workers not only help communities reduce their carbon footprint, but they also help to lower the cost burden of heating and cooling by an average of 15% for low-income families.

Americans are ready for green jobs, and scholars and advocates already
have plans to put the green economy into action: Van Jones, a senior
fellow at the Center for American Progress and longtime environmental
activist, recently wrote The Green Collar Economy, a plan to solve the
economic and environmental crises at once by focusing on creating jobs
in the clean energy sector. A recent New York Times Magazine cover
story on the new green economy explains how entrepreneurs with millions
to invest have ideas to revolutionize our economy and our environment
with everything from plug-in hybrid cars to algae-based biofuels. The
message is simple: Green is good- not just for our planet, but for our
national bottom line.

Building the green economy fulfills two of our most important
obligations as Jews; to ’till and to tend’ our Earth, and to care for
the most vulnerable among us.  In fact, Judaism teaches that the
highest form of tzedakah is to help another person towards being
self-sufficient, and new green jobs are a big step forward for those
struggling though our economic and energy crises.  The new green
economy could cut carbon emissions drastically, putting us on the path
to 80% emissions reductions by 2050, the standard recommended by the
International Panel on Climate Change.  If we build the green economy
right, we can also ensure access to productive jobs with competitive
wages to Americans currently facing unemployment, unpaid mortgages, and
heaps of debt. 

We need a massive undertaking to rebuild our transportation
infrastructure, retrofit old buildings for greater energy efficiency
and water conservation, and build a national network of solar panels
and wind turbines to help power our electric grid.  This transition
will require massive amounts of labor, and as unemployment insurance
runs out for thousands across the country, Americans are ready to step
up and take these jobs. Finally, economists and environmentalists are
realizing that they are allies, not opponents, and that together, we
can be the innovative America we want to be.