Perfect Timing!
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The Green Collar Economy, How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, by Van Jones, could not be more timely. As our economy (and perhaps the world economy) enters a period called stagflation--meaning, a stagnant economy coupled with inflation--Jones offers a sound solution.
Van Jones gets right to the point in the first sentence of the introduction: "The pain at the gas pump is just the beginning...This weakness can and will send the entire country into a particular kind of a tailspin." Jones writes that oil can't keep up with the demand and that it is running out. This is a fact--we cannot keep on living as we have, sucking up finite resources as if there is no end.
"Clean coal", (an oxymoron, he explains, and part of a clever marketing campaign,) nuclear power plants, and off shore drilling are not the answer to our problems. We need to invest in sustainable resources--like the sun and moon--for the future of the planet and people.
Using corn for fuel was also a huge mistake. I love what he wrote: "Government-mandated and subsidized ethenal from corn will go down in history as the 'Iraq war' of environmental solution."
The solution to the problem lies within our people. Jones believes we need workers--and lots of them--trained to green our economy. Most of the jobs would be considered blue-collar, and little more than a high school education and some training would be necessary. The new green collar workers have jobs "preserving and enhancing environmental quality." Jobs run the gamut of installing solar panels to energy auditors.
Yesterday on the radio, I heard a plumber complain that he hasn't had so little work in over 20 years. That he considered a good day when he could work until 1pm. These people are who Jones writes about and are the workers who would most benefit from the new green economy.
Let us hope that The Green Collar Economy becomes the reality.
Highly recommended.
By the author of the award winning book, HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENERGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME & YOUR PLANET.
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