I'm starting to get a little afraid that everyone has really let the whole "Green" momentum slow down in their mind to a slow crawl. Gas prices are going up, but they are nowhere near the price they were last summer/year. It reminds me alot of how I felt in middle school learning about Jimmy Carter's initiative on energy in the 70's and how that completely was brushed under the rug. I remember feeling like "Wait...but those problems are still here...actually they are way more dire ...and we just forgot about them?"
Here's just some things that have been on my mind lately:
- I heard something NPR yesterday about a California town that was forced to conserve water because they literally almost dried completely up. Their government forced them to use 150 gallons of water a day. I thought to myself that that sounded pretty reasonable...that's alot of water! only to hear next that the average American household uses approx. 400 gallons a day! Worse yet, many American homes do not even have a water meter to see how much they use. Even if they do, they rarely read it. I can relate; who wants to see how much they consume? But just like checking the nutritional facts of what you eat, it's not always comfortable but it's necessary. You can find that story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104445257
- My mom (and whole family) is always reminding me that not everyone can be a fancy white collar worker. This is usually after I yell at her for saying something like "I ain't gonna take that shit ya know?" in public. Her response is invariably "I WORK IN A FACTORY THAT'S HOW WE ARE!!" Anyway, getting back on topic...it's really scary watching so many blue collar jobs disappearing. I always say that GM failed because of its own ineffectiveness because, as I've learned in my mind-numbing business courses, they were not able to innovate enough to keep up with the competition. However, this is cold comfort for the millions are now unemployed.
I heard a bit about "green collar" jobs awhile ago but just kind of forgot about it for awhile. I've been reading a little about it though and it is really interesting stuff. Many community colleges nationwide are apparently offering classes on green training. This has always sounded so vague and theoretical to me, so it's really cool to see the logistics being worked out. The courses include how to "install solar panels, repair wind turbines, produce biofuels and do other work related to renewable energy". You know, all the stuff us crisp white collared liberals can't get our hands dirty with. Many of the layed off auto workers are taking these courses, sometimes even getting money for the training from state programs. This all sounds great! oh but...there actually aren't that many green jobs out there right now and some people aren't even sure there will be that many in the future (at least in the U.S.). Pretty much this all hinges on this administration's commitment to the creation of these jobs. All of these people wishing to change their blue collars to green are placing a huge bet on Obama that he will pull us out of this recession and put us on the right track. In other words, they are relying on alot of HOPE. And that's what Obama's supposed to be all about right? You can read more about this here:http://www.truthout.org/052709EDA
- Oh my ancestors, why did you leave Denmark to come to the United States? You should have just stuck it out and were be living in the happiest land in the world. This article from the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/opinion/10friedman1.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=denmark&st=cse) confirms my suspicions. The author describes being in Denmark during rush hour and 50% of people being on bicycles. In the rain. Rain won't hurt you. When it is raining here and I have to walk around (I sold my car...my feet work pretty well) my mother acts like my skin is going to fall off more and more with each venomous drop. Of water. Anyway... this is the one of the best quotes of the op-ed:
"Unlike America, Denmark, which was so badly hammered by the 1973 Arab oilembargo that it banned all Sunday driving for a while, responded to thatcrisis in such a sustained, focused and systematic way that today it is energy independent. (And it didn’t happen by Danish politicians making their people stupid by telling them the solution was simply more offshore drilling.)"
Some of the decisions the Danish government had to make were hard. Gas is $10 a gallon there due to self-imposed taxes. All of this, however, has forced them to innovate more and now green efficiency product such as wind turbines are one of it's fastest-growing export areas. Oh! and unemployment is 1.6% compared to the projected 9% unemployment we are to experience next year. Look forward to that! I'm looking at you, class of '10.
Why am I mentioning all this (besides the fact I do anything to talk about Denmark)? The US isn't even trying to compete with the Dane's fast growing greenness. China is! We are not. The point is...Obama: take a page from Denmark and forget everyone who will tout "socialist!!!" If it is socialist to compete in a fast growing business with side effects that include a greener planet and low unemployment, then take that label!
figure 2.
figure 3.
