Energy

Millions of Jobs of a Different Collar

By Steven Greenhouse

EVERYONE knows what blue-collar and white-collar jobs are, but now a job of another hue — green — has entered the lexicon.

Presidential candidates talk about the promise of “green collar” jobs — an economy with millions of workers installing solar panels, weatherizing homes, brewing biofuels, building hybrid cars and erecting giant wind turbines. Labor unions view these new jobs as replacements for positions lost to overseas manufacturing and outsourcing. Urban groups view training in green jobs as a route out of poverty. And environmentalists say they are crucial to combating climate change.

BALCONY Supports NYS “15 in 15 Green Collar Job Initiative”

BALCONY announces today its support of Governor Spitzer’s “15 by 15 Green Collar Job Initiative” that will begin New York State’s long hard transition to renewable energy.

Read the announcement: Green Collar Job Initiative

BALCONY co-chair Alan Lubin hosts Jerome Ringo, President of the Apollo Alliance, as the keynote speaker at the February 16th Labor Lunch of the New York State Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Caucus. Joining them at the left is Paul Tonko, President and Chief Executive Office of NYSERDA.

The Green-Collar Solution

Op-Ed Columnist, THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Van Jones is a rare bird. He’s a black social activist in Oakland, Calif., and as green an environmentalist as they come. He really gets passionate, and funny, when he talks about what it’s like to be black and green:

“Try this experiment. Go knock on someone’s door in West Oakland, Watts or Newark and say: ‘We gotta really big problem!’ They say: ‘We do? We do?’ ‘Yeah, we gotta really big problem!’ ‘We do? We do?’ ‘Yeah, we gotta save the polar bears! You may not make it out of this neighborhood alive, but we gotta save the polar bears!’”