Community Jobs in the Green Economy (Apollo Alliance/Urban Habitat)

[pinto]

The Apollo Alliance is proud to announce the release of a new publication, Community Jobs in the Green Economy. This report, co-authored with Urban Habitat, is a reflection of our belief in the potential of the green economy to generate quality jobs in our nation’s low-income communities. Van Jones, President, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights writes in the report’s foreword, “The national effort to curb global warming and oil dependence can simultaneously create good jobs, safer streets and healthier communities. That is the chief moral obligation in the 21st century: to build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.”

http://home.apolloalliance.org/community-jobs-report/


Community Jobs in the Green Economy
A Vision for a Green Economy and Equitable Development

The emerging green economy holds great promise for America’s cities, and especially for our low-income, heavily minority urban communities. Every aspect of clean energy development, from manufacturing to construction to operating and maintenance, can create good jobs, clean up the air and water, and save saving consumers money on their energy bills. Every city and community in the United States has some potential to capitalize on this new economy, whether through good wind or solar resources or through retrofit programs to bring old, dilapidated buildings up to energy efficiency codes.

The Apollo Alliance and Urban Habitat are committed to fighting for a clean energy future that benefits not only businesses and the environment, but also workers and low-income communities. We hope this report serves as a framework for states, cities and neighborhoods invested in these same fundamental ideals.

Community Jobs in the Green Economy features:

>Descriptions of Jobs related to:
...Energy Efficiency
...Green Building
...Solar PV
...Wind Power
...Geothermal Energy
...Biofuels

>Profiles of Workers and Career Pathways

>Policy Guidance for Creating New, High-Quality Jobs

>Examples of Successful Workforce Development Partnership

http://www.apolloalliance.org/

[Peace Patriot]

1. Just think if we had spent the $500 billion Bush wasted in Iraq, killing people, on

planting trees and vegetable gardens and solar power in urban areas.

Just think.

I know it's a harsh way to put it. I cringe thinking of it. Half a million dead, according to some estimates. Chaos. Mayhem. Severe pollution (depleted uranium, just to mention one item). Severe social disruption. For what? So that war and oil profiteers can rob us blind.

It's hard to think of, but that's how it is. We could have created paradise, and saved our planet. And instead we created a hell. We still can create paradise, and save our planet. But it will be harder. The Corporate Democrats are coming in and they'll say there's no money "because of Bush's war." Got to cut everything. Got to cut back. Got to "balance the budget." It just makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time. They've already started it (the "Blue Dogs"). I heard them the other day. Cut everything but the military budget. Six years of massive waste and massive theft, and massive war crimes, and massive war pollution, and nothing left to clean the mess up with. The mess that didn't have to be.

Well, in the way of things, maybe without the Bush Junta and its evil agenda, it might have been harder to rally people to a different mode of being--the way of peace, the way of natural beauty, the way of abundance, the way of self-sufficiency. Six years of misrule, and we've had it. We are--and almost everyone is--seeking a new way of thinking and being.

I remember the great water crisis in California, some decades ago--after a long drought. The Colorado River and other water sources were dry. The governor asked the people to conserve water. And, almost overnight, swimming pools were emptied, lawns began to be replaced with drought-plants, and all sorts of doohickeys were invented and put on the market to save water in appliances, toilets, showers. People GLADLY cooperated. They were anxious to help. And, it seemed that in a matter of mere weeks (though my memory may be faulty),the problem was solved and the crisis was over. Everybody did their part. No great hardship for anybody in particular. We got it done.

People WANT to help. They feel this vast environmental crisis in their bones, in their psyches. Something's wrong. We all know it. The rich are going nuts with greed. That's their reaction. The rest of us are sometimes lost in despair, other times seeing rays of hope, like the Ella Baker Center or Al Gore out there, inspiring people with this movie.

But I know this: People want to help. And they are hungry for inspiration and positive goals. A lot of people are trying to do their part, even now, with scattered and minimal guidance, and a vacuum of leadership at the top (a veritable black hole, it seems). We saw this deep desire to help during Katrina, too--among the people (not the stupids and vacancies in the White House). Ordinary people. People with boats, trucks, food, supplies--quickly organized. People in other countries showering us with money and other assistance. The great intelligence and the generous spirit of the people, here and everywhere, is the reality. That great resource is just waiting for a little leadership, and some, of course, are not waiting. They are implementing a green economy now, in small and medium sized projects, here and in many other places in the world. Add political leadership and national goals, and many, many people--almost all people--will gladly, willingly, beautifully change the world.