President Obama Made the Case For Jobs: We'll Make Sure They're Green

I'm not fazed by the President not explicitly identifying green jobs in his announcement of the American Jobs Act. It's politically touchy, to be sure -- but it's also a tacit recognition of something else: green jobs are an integral, inextricable part of the American economy. They need to be called out no more than do jobs in auto sales or real estate.

2.7 million Americans have green jobs, according to the Brookings Institute. Those jobs are not just in solar and wind -- they're in transportation, education, manufacturing, recycling. Green jobs are often diverse and subtle, sharing one thing in common: they are part of an effort to make our country cleaner and more sustainable.

The president's proposals are sound and will support and encourage growth in green jobs. His defense of standards limiting pollution would ensure that America evolves towards cleaner, smarter energy and resource use. His proposal that we upgrade our schools and transportation infrastructure means using the best available technology and thinking -- which means buildings and transit that use less energy and create less pollution.

What the president demanded last night wasn't green jobs, it was jobs. Period. And not a moment too soon, of course -- too many of our friends, family members, and neighbors are looking for work.

It's Green For All's role, not the president's, to work with our partners and make the case for a green economy. The president's jobs plan will make that case easier -- even though he didn't say the words.

 

Follow Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins on Twitter: www.twitter.com/phaedraEL

Comments

[Genders]

08:24 PM on 09/12/2011

I wish I could say Obama is for green energy, but he is not. Obama has already sold out to the fossil and nukes companies to get elected. Rahm and Axelrod lobbied for the nukes power companies, Obama's admin sold nuke power tech to s America the week after the Japan nuke disaster, and Chu's official energy plan uses 1993 green energy cost versus 2016 industry PR numbers for fossil and nukes.

panels lasting longer and better than predicted http://solar.gwu.edu/Research/EnergyPolicy_Zweibel2010.pdf Great article about price of solar now 3$/W installed. last 100 years, 1-2 cents pwer KWH after the first 20 years and the loan is paid off.

http://cleantechnica.com/2011/06/10/solar-power-graphs-to-make-you-smile/

Great chart of energy source amounts: http://cleantechnica.com/2011/08/23/solar-power-intro-3-key-solar-power-points-top-solar-power-news/

http://www.sunelec.com/ 75 cents per Wp.

Obama and the DLC charmed us. They are bought and sold.

Vote for the Kucinich, Grayson, Dean CPC progressives in the Dems primaries if you want green energy, Obama and the DLC won't do it. Obviously the GOP/Tea wont' either.

It's doubly tragic, because rooftop Solar, offshore wind and waste bio char bio fuels can supply all the world energy and fuels: Cheaper, faster, forever, 24/7, clean, safe, land, carbon and fresh water negative.

[Gregg-O]

12:04 AM on 09/13/2011

There power sources rely on what? Mother Nature, I would think by now we all know how unpredictable she can be, How is solar going to work with 3-4- day's of overcast skys? Have you ever seen the windmill farm off I-10 from AZ to Cali? They cover acres of land, and power less than half of a small city. Never going to come close to powering cities with 1-2 mil population. Initail cost is prohibitive for both, maintenence on windmill's is so NOT cost effective. I don't think you green folk's have any idea as to the power this country uses.

[Genders]

12:59 AM on 09/13/2011

New tech is pretty scary to you isn't it? I mean the big numbers of panels needed, the many turbines needs, the mass of waste bio char need to back it all up using existing fossil generators, it all seem to complicated to you, doesn't it?

Why not just stick in a few old comfortable nukes instead, they have always been cheaper. Used to be almost true, if you didn't count accidents, waste, proliferation and terrorism.

But now rooftop solar is cheaper 1 cents per KWH, and there is enough rooftop for ALL the electricity we need, enough offshore wind to many times our total energy needs on the coasts, and enough waste bio char fuels to back it all up for months and years if necessary using existing fossil storage and generators.

Read up, the above are interesting entertaining informative links. It's a whole new energy world

[snowballinhell]

01:17 PM on 09/10/2011

We have to have an EARTH SHOT along the lines of NASA's MOON SHOT. We are way behind getting our alternative energy sources on a par with the need for efficient harmless power production . We can do it. But I am not sure we can do it - in fact, I know we cannot - under the present cast of elected officials and assorted characters (ones without character, actually)! EARTH SHOT! Spread the word!

[mineguy]

02:18 AM on 09/10/2011

What we need are jobs that help produce cheap energy to fuel our economy. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the shovel ready jobs are not considered 'green' by Obama or his supporters. They are the jobs to build the Keystone Pipeline and to drill and build the infrastucture for all the shale-gas and shale-oil plays across the nation: North Dakota, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Ohio.

We still need crude oil for liquid fuels for aircraft, trains, trucks, ships, and autos unless public policy incentivizes a switch to natural gas for over the road vehicles. As for power generation, natural gas, coal, and nuclear are the big ones and solar and wind don't have much potential in the short term for solving the conundrum of cheap energy.

[ILoveFiction]

06:30 AM on 09/10/2011

Invest in the past!

It's a novel idea.

[Genders]

08:25 PM on 09/12/2011

No, Waste bio char bio fuels can supply all the liquid fuels we need for chemicals, transport and backup of solar and wind.

[Overtone]

06:11 PM on 09/09/2011

AN UNRECOGNIZED THREAT FROM A SOLAR SUPERSTORM THREATENS MULTIPLE MELTDOWNS AT NUCLEAR PLANTS - WISE ACTION IN TIME CAN REBOOT THE ECONOMY, UNIFY THE NATION AND GENERATE GREEN JOBS!

Millions of us are needlessly at risk from extreme solar storms. NOAA points out four of them are possible during this decade, with the next 3 to 5 years having the greatest peril.

NASA warns a solar superstorm can collapse the power grid for months.

A nuclear plant without grid power for a month is a meltdown candidate.

See the Aesop Institute website for maps that tell the story of this potential nightmare faster than words.

Preventing the worst may unify the nation - and generate more jobs than might be imagined, as cheap green decentralized energy is being born. See Moving Beyond Oil on the Aesop website for a few examples.

[Genders]

08:26 PM on 09/12/2011

Good post.

With 30% of our reactor emergency core cooling systems failing in tests, a global EMP like solar flare would be a nuclear disaster beyond imagining.

[Gregg-O]

12:07 AM on 09/13/2011

Doesn't matter, green just isn't up to the tsk of taking over the power production this country run's on. Solar Flare, most of you would panic without your Iphones before you noticed the power outage.