Tuesday, October 28, 2008

All Politics, All the Time: A Green Economy

Two of the most significant political issues in the last few years have seemingly nothing in common: the changing climate for industrial-production jobs and concerns about the world's environment and the need for alternative energy.

The situation in a nutshell: in the last 40 years, as the American economy has shifted from industrial production to a service-based economy, a lot of good-paying factory jobs have disappeared. Much of our former industrial production has shifted to the global south economies, a factor that is well-worth exploring, though that is not my focus today. For now, let's just stipulate that factory workers all over the United States, but especially in the Rust Belt, are finding themselves unemployed with very few decent-paying job options on the horizon. For lack of opportunity, a lot of small towns and cities in middle America are struggling to keep their populations.

At the same time, the rising price of oil means that it costs us a lot more to drive our cars and heat our homes. We have suddenly become aware of the myriad ways that energy costs influence our lives. Add to that our increasing fears of the very real problem of global warming, and you can see that we need to make some changes. Soon.

I propose that we solve problem one (the loss of industrial jobs) with programs to address problem two (climate change and the need for sustainable energy and responsible environmental habits). To whit: the government should structure programs and incentives for industry to develop these technologies. From production of alternate fuel transportation (cars; public transport and more and NOT simply bio-fuels) to wind, solar, and other alternative energy technologies and water-renewal technologies, American innovation should be unleashed to develop the new technologies that will save the world's environment. And then we should produce the products here, providing good jobs for American workers.

In the same way that the Silicon Valley tech boom of the 1990s fueled the economic surge that got us out of our 1980s-era debt, and helped to grow our economy, we can use a Green Industry movement to make our world better, get our labor force back to work, and fuel the economic growth we will need to get ourselves and the world out of the current recession. The new president and Congress should set the stage for the growth of a new Green Economy. It's the kind of forward-thinking innovation that will enable us to do good by doing right.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I will not only vote for, but campaign heavily for, a candidate who calls publicly and loudly for Americans to conserve, conserve, conserve. I'm sick of McCain and Palin suggesting we can drill our way out of trouble, but I'm almost as troubled by Obama and Biden suggesting wind, solar, nuclear, "clean" coal, and drilling will get us anywhere.

When politicians trot out the "We use 25% of the world's oil but only have 3% of the reserves" line, their point seems to be finding new ways to supplement the 3%. How about a top-down call for scaling the 25% waaaaay back? During WWII, there was a huge government campaign encouraging folks to use less, reuse what they had, and failing that, just do without.

In a way, it reminds me of one of the things I really like about Obama's health care speeches (and Huckabee's for that matter). There's a strong undercurrent of prevention - a recognition that the problem lies within us, and it's not always a question of finding the right way to accommodate the electorate's whims.

Nichole said...

j. bro you are so right. Americans feel so entitled to use, use, use. We still lack the capacity to take responsibility for what that means. I am no different. I love my airconditioning and my minivan. I would be much more willing to change my ways if I could see other, more influential people doing the same -that is, taking responsibilty.