What the Economy Needs Now Are Good, Green Jobs

If a coalition of clean energy and social justice groups has its way, renewable energy will be something of a modern day gold rush, providing both clean energy and scores of stable living-wage jobs for urban and rural Americans. Climate change and declining fossil fuel deposits are igniting interest in renewable energy, and many see the possibility of an economic boom in the building and installation of wind turbines, solar panels and geothermal energy systems along with a blossoming industry in green buildings and retrofits.

Leaders of this new vision are calling for a "green economy" and are sponsoring a national day of action on Sept. 27 called "Green Jobs Now: A Day to Build the New Economy," which will feature events and grassroots actions in more than 500 cities in 48 states. Events range from community gardening and a "green and sexy extravaganza" in Chicago to "fruit gleaning" in Mount Shasta, Calif., and a sunflower harvest on former brownfields in Pittsburgh. Petitions collected at the events calling for federal investment in green jobs will be presented to legislators and both presidential candidates.

"Green jobs" are typically defined as "well-paid, career-track jobs that contribute directly to preserving or enhancing environmental quality," as Green For All's Web site says. "Like traditional blue-collar jobs, green-collar jobs range from low-skill, entry-level positions to high-skill, higher-paid jobs, and include opportunities for advancement in both skills and wages."

Movement leaders have great reason to be optimistic. One of the best things about green jobs is that they're domestic: Green jobs like installing solar panels, assembling wind turbines, cleaning up brownfields and weatherizing buildings can't be outsourced overseas or to Latin America. And rising fuel prices could make the manufacturing of solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable energy technology even more attractive in the United States.

"Right now we are importing wind turbines, which doesn't make sense," said Jeremy Hays, field director of the group Green For All, one of the organizers of the day of action. "They'd be cheaper and higher-quality if they were made in the U.S. With concentrated solar facilities, where you have lots of concrete and steel mirrors out in the desert, the cost-efficient strategy is actually building the manufacturing facility right next to where the plant will be because of the difficulty of transporting these huge half-pipe mirrors."

Hays noted that advocates lobby for labor provisions to be included in renewable energy and other "green" legislation on state and federal levels. In this way, green jobs could potentially strengthen the United States' ailing organized labor movement and bring together union laborers and environmentalists -- historically often at odds in debates about logging, mining, power plants, heavy industry and the like.

This movement also provides an avenue for environmental justice tied with job creation in the nation's poorest and often most environmentally beleaguered communities. Green For All was co-founded in 2007 by Majora Carter of Sustainable South Bronx and celebrated Oakland activist and author Van Jones for just this purpose. The national group aims to replicate state-level efforts for green job training programs on the federal level, focusing on youth in minority and low-income communities. For example, in a Pittsburgh program run by the company Green Tech, low-income youth work clearing and cleaning brownfields and planting them with sunflowers, which are then harvested for biodiesel production.

Brownfield cleanup has also created many green jobs in Wisconsin, where an innovative nationally recognized initiative under the state Department of Natural Resources helps communities identify, test and clean up brownfields, in many cases building environmentally friendly structures, soccer fields, trails or community centers on the sites. About 13,000 sites have been cleaned up.