Rally supports green jobs to boost economy
Union T-shirts and baseball caps mingled with organic sweatshirts and dreadlocks Saturday afternoon as leaders from local environmental and labor groups met in a rally for promoting jobs in renewable energy.
Speakers at the rally argued that by the federal and state governments investing in projects that would promote cleaner energy and more energy efficiency, more than 2 million jobs would be created in the country, including 37,000 in Dane County.
"We've heard that for a long time, that that's why we can't have more renewable energy jobs, we can't solve global warming without losing jobs. We're kind of saying, 'No, it's exactly the opposite of that,' " said United Steelworkers member Chuck Geiger.
The numbers listed at the rally came from a report by the Blue Green Alliance -- a combination of United Steelworkers and Sierra Club members -- that was released earlier this week with research from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Researchers found that the jobs could be created by putting $100 billion into a green investment program, equal to the amount returned to U.S. residents in the April 2008 federal stimulus package.
From getting roofers and carpenters to retrofit buildings to be more energy efficient to getting steelworkers and machinists to build wind turbines for renewable energy, Geiger said that the technology is there for creating more union jobs.
"These aren't like these futuristic jobs that are so far out there -- these are jobs that people are already doing right now," he said. "It's just a matter of applying them to a green purpose."
Investing in green energy is more than just helping the environment and creating jobs, however, said Satya Rhodes-Conway of the Center of Wisconsin Strategy's Apollo Alliance. It's about creating good jobs, making enlisting unions in the movement important.
"We don't want solar sweatshops or Wal-Mart wind farms," she said. "We want good, green family-supporting jobs."
Jerry Knapp of the Laborers' International Union of North America added that the potential for increased jobs in green industry would also have the benefit of revitalizing trades, which have suffered from losses of jobs.
"I have met more people in my time in the trades, young people who are incredibly talented and enthused and are attracted now to the trades because there's an incredible feeling of opportunity for us to bring something incredible and lasting," he said. "I truly believe in 50 years, trades and union members and manufacturers will look back and say, 'This is when it all happened. This is when a corner was turned.' "
Rolfe Lehman, a retired American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers member, said he came to the rally because of a longstanding concern about the enviroment dating back to the 1970s. After being disappointed by enviromental efforts from President Jimmy Carter's administration, he said the movement to unite labor and environmentalists is "a glimmer of hope at the end of a long tunnel.
"With the current wars and the price of gas and everything, this just seems like such a no-brainer to link good, solid jobs with reducing the carbon footprint," he said. "The whole movement seems like cause for optimism and excitement."
Lehman added that forces that have derailed environmental efforts in the past, such as corporations and government, also seemed more willing to investigate environmental alteratives.
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk attended the rally to talk about efforts at a local government level to promote environmental jobs, including catching methane from the county's landfill to convert to electricity, installing solar panels at the Henry Vilas Zoo and county parks and an effort that will take place next year to use manure digesters to create clean energy and prevent manure from local farms from going into lakes.
"There's nothing like doing it to convince people it can be done," she said, adding that the money saved from ventures such as the methane catching has prevented the county from having any layoffs in her 12 years as executive.
Rhodes-Conway praised the level of innovation from local governments such as Dane County, but said leadership from the federal and state government was also needed in the forms of more tax credits to businesses and homeowners to outfit their buildings for renewable energy and increased effiency as well as investing directly in public building retrofits and public transportation.
"We need each and every one of you to tell your elected representatives -- from Madison's city hall to the White House -- that we're ready for the green economy. We're ready for green jobs now."
Kristin Czubkowski/The Capital Times
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A wide range of speakers addressed a rally for green jobs here Saturday.
