Tag: green jobs

Cross-Posted from: HERE

So I have a column out today instead of Tuesday because of some complications. This was as much as i could fit into 550 words worth of space. I like how they threw in a disclaimer at the end about my dad.

Crime: Get to the root of it – and green it up

Matt Dernoga

Issue date: 4/10/09

I’ve been hearing about safety issues ever since I arrived on the campus. The Student Government Association and the university have had plenty of ideas to address off-campus safety, but they don’t get to the root of the problem: Why is there crime? I’ve seen enough e-mails from University Police to realize most incidents involve robbery. People in the surrounding community are stealing from students because they don’t have money or jobs.

Crime is always going to be high if you don’t address poverty. The best way to reduce off-campus crime would be to revitalize the College Park community and make this area of Prince George’s County better off. Easier said than done.

I’m going to use bringing green jobs to College Park as an example. The SGA has as much authority as the Queen of England, but it does have the standing to build coalitions – and they should make a list of stakeholders to bring green jobs and less crime to College Park. We’ve got students, business leaders, the city council, the county council, our state representatives, religious leaders, non-profits, the university administration and people who live in the community.

Reach out to all these stakeholders as best you can and collaborate with them. It’s a transformative process that doesn’t happen overnight. Local groups such as Progressive Cheverly and Green DMV are already working on bringing green jobs to low-income areas and would welcome student involvement; Annapolis matters, but the state legislature isn’t the only decision-maker out there. Some Prince George’s County politicians tried to get the state to use hundreds of millions of dollars in bonds to bring a D.C. United soccer stadium to the county. Fail.

How about asking for a Maryland Clean Energy Center similar to the one Montgomery County just got? The center will provide technology commercialization, business incubation and workforce development and training. It’s there to help meet the state’s goal of creating at least 100,000 green jobs by 2015. Wouldn’t it help us if some of those were created here? Or how about pushing for the development of a low-interest energy-efficiency loan fund by the city or county? This can be used to give low-income residents the means to retrofit their home and lower the energy bill while providing jobs to others in the community.

I just got an e-mail that the university is holding an open forum Tuesday called “Moving Diversity Forward.” That’s the best you can come up with? Nothing worthwhile is easy. A way to get diverse groups to work together is give them an issue to address that everyone has a stake in. Bringing green jobs to College Park to address poverty would allow the SGA to combine the ideas, effort and ingenuity from a broad spectrum of groups on the campus. Green, social justice, cultural and religious groups would be inclined to get involved. The university would be wise to provide resources to this kind of an initiative not only to actually back up their diversity talk, but also because spending a little money to reduce crime would lessen the financial strain security costs our school every year.

The SGA and university administration should think outside the box next semester for ways to address on-campus problems such as diversity and safety. Green jobs to College Park is just one tool in the bag.

Matt Dernoga is a junior government and politics major whose father serves on the Prince George’s County Council. He can be reached at mdernoga@umd.edu.

The real question is: who doesn’t want a green job?

Right now, we have a really amazing window of opportunity to bring green jobs home. In the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ie Stimulus Package), there was a whopping $87 billion of investments in awesome green stuff, including investments in clean energy, energy efficiency, and green jobs training.

This is sort of old news, though, so why am I bringing this up now? Right now, states, cities, and counties across the nation are deciding how this money will be spent. And you can bet that corporations and the folks who are used to business-as-usual are in City Halls and State Houses across the nation lobbying to be the ones who get those investments to create “green jobs” – that help their bottom line, of course.

What do we want? We want green jobs to really be for everyone. And there’s a very small window to make sure that this happens – localities are setting up programs as I’m typing this post, and the window of opportunity will end in the next month. So Green For All is working with citizens across the nation on setting up actions so that we make sure that all voices are heard as local governments are making these important investments. Want to get involved? Sign up for an action, learn more about the green recovery, and bring those green jobs to everyone in your hometown.

By Glenn Hurowitz

Cross-posted from Democratic Courage

While the Senate is debating whether or not to give people cash in exchange for buying a Hummer, the State of Virginia could be poised to take significant action to bolster the economy and help the climate by passing an energy efficiency bill introduced by State Senator Donald McEachin.

Here’s the catch. Doing smart, easy things like energy efficiency that create jobs and prosperity isn’t so easy in Virginia, where Dominion Power runs the statehouse. Dominion Power operates several coal-fired power plants in the state and uses the proceeds to hand out campaign donations almost as fast as it hands out asthma attacks.

The biggest single recipient of Dominion’s largesse? State Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw of Springfield (in the DC suburbs), who received a whopping $85,000 in campaign contributions between 2004 and 2009, more than any other legislator. So what’s that money getting Dominion? Seemingly, a whole lot…

Saslaw could be the poster boy for the Commonwealth’s culture of coal-fired corruption. Even though Northern Virginia is one of the most polluted areas in the country, and Saslaw’s constituents are very pro-environment, it’s unknown whether or not Saslaw will support the efficiency bill or continue to carry Dominion’s toxic ash-laden water around Richmond.

Perhaps if these were normal times, this would be just another story of polluter influence. But in these extraordinary – and extraordinarily tough – times, it’s something more. Article XI, a great new Virginia blog, reports that the bill would “save Virginians approximately $15 billion on electric bills by the year 2025,” creating thousands of jobs. Investing in energy efficiency produces more than two and a half times the number of jobs as investments in coal.

Opposing energy efficiency means killing jobs – something that Saslaw will have to take home to his constituents if he opposes this bill. The good news is, however, that this bill has a chance of passing this crucial subcomittee vote on Thursday, February 5th, if another Dominion campaign cash recipient, Todday Puller of Mount Vernon finds the strength to defy Dominion and vote for a clean environment and good jobs. You can contact Puller at (804) 698-7536.

CCAN is proud to join other organizations in sending the memo below to key personnel in the Obama Administration transition team.

MEMORANDUM

To: Melody Barnes, Carol Browner, Michael Strautmanis, Dan Reicher, Greg Nelson, Joe Aldy, Brian Deese, Heather Zichal, Jason Grumet

From: The Undersigned Organizations

Subject: Principles for a Green & Equitable Stimulus and Recovery

Date: December 11, 2008

As you draft and debate proposals to stimulate the American economy, we strongly urge you to make the recovery package as green and as equitable as possible. We propose these principles as benchmarks against which all stimulus proposals Continue reading

A Green Jobs Road Show, starring CCAN’s Maryland Team

It’s 8:30 on Saturday morning, and I’m in the car with Ethan and en route to Baltimore. Continue reading