3 Changes that will lead to a Green-er economy

I have applied to Bainbridge Graduate Institute for their MBA in Sustainable Business program. Part of the application was to write an analytical essay on the following question. This is my answer. What’s your answer?

Van Jones, civil-rights lawyer and founder and Executive Director of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, made the following statement: “The chief moral obligation of the 21st century is to build a green economy that is strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Those communities that were locked out of the last century's pollution-based economy must be locked into the new, clean and renewable economy. Our youth need green-collar jobs, not jails.” What changes need to be made to the current economic system in order for business to achieve this goal?

Just as a rising tide in Puget Sound lifts all ships, a redesigned economy needs to provide for the economic development of all communities. For better or worse, our national economy has been powered by major boom and bust cycles. The last major boom was the Internet bubble. During the growth phase of that business cycle the majority of the jobs that were created were highly skilled and specialized. To join the Internet economy you had to have access to higher learning, a computer, and the Internet. The digital divide in our society, at that time, was as large as the Grand Canyon. Whole areas of our country did not even have Internet access, beyond dial up. Even more importantly many working class families were unable to afford a personal computer to learn the vital skills that would have led to a job within the tech industry. To ensure that all communities will be locked-in to the green economy we must learn from our past mistakes.

There are three things that are vital to ensure a place at the table for everyone: public policy needs to be adopted that favors green business initiatives, job training programs need to be created offering access for everyone, and we need to create a broad-based coalition that unites communities.

The first step is to adopt legislation and draft public policy to create a nurturing environment for the green businesses of the future. At the national level we need to construct transformative legislation that regulates industrial pollution and provides incentives for reducing carbon emissions. A giant leap forward will be the successful ratification and implementation of the American Clean Energy and Security Act. Which, just passed the House and is on its way to the Senate for debate.

At the state level Washington State serves as a shining example of the type of legislation that can lead to job growth. On May 7, 2009, Gov. Christine Gregoire singed into law Senate Bill 5649. The bill creates jobs for Washington State residents by providing funding to weatherize and update over 100,000 buildings in the next five years.

Locally, city governments can take a proactive approach by updating and weatherizing their own buildings. This will not only create jobs but it will reduce long-term energy costs to the city. Many of the first type of jobs that will be created in the new economy are related to updating our aging buildings and infrastructure. In Seattle, the Office of Economic Development (EOD) and Seattle City Light are already proactively involved in putting people to work performing retrofits and energy audits. Seattle City Light and Puget Sound Energy are jointly offering up to 5,000 home energy audits at only $95.00. This will lead to jobs for energy auditors and contractors. One of the missions of the OED is to, “Develop Workforce Training Resources for Underemployed and Unemployed Seattle Residents. One of their mandates is, “to place 500 low-income individuals per year in jobs that pay at minimum $9.00 per hour with benefits.”

The second action that must be taken to ensure equal opportunity for everyone is to provide access to job-training and educational programs. The easiest way to scale up training programs is to use the community college network. In two years a worker can be trained as an electrician specializing in solar energy with an associates degree and be earning a real-wage job with a career track.

For the type of person that does not do well in school we need to develop structured apprenticeship programs. In economically depressed areas with high recidivism rates an apprenticeship program combined with mentoring would be an invaluable tool. At-risk youth could begin learning the business by updating their own schools. While they continue to work on their high school diploma they could work for local contractors. Once they graduate they would have a diploma and a resume with marketable job skills.

The third action that we need to take is to develop a broad based coalition. Real lasting change is not created overnight. It will take a fundamental shift in our society for any sort of change to have a lasting impact. To wean our nation off of a pollution-based economy and grow it into a green economy it will take a broad based coalition that reaches out to every socio-economic level. In the Green Collar Economy Van Jones describes the broad based coalition that will be needed as the “Green Growth Alliance.” Jones identifies five main partners that should make up the Green Growth Alliance: Labor, Social Justice Activists, Environmentalists, Students, and Faith Organizations.
None of the policy changes made within our government will have any effect if there is not a broad base of support. It will take the: organizing force of labor organizations; the social justice activists understanding of working with marginalized groups; the lobbying power of the environmentalists; the fresh thinking, innovation, and optimism of the students; and the inner strength and community organizing experience of faith-based organizations. Van Jones mentions two such successful partnerships within his book the Apollo Alliance and the Blue Green Alliance. The Apollo alliance is an alliance of labor unions, environmentalists, community-based groups, and businesses.

In conclusion, to lead this economy forward and ensure a place at the table for all parties it will take the initiative of our elected officials to draft legislation that will incubate the new economy. The next step is to develop the programs that will allow us to retool and retrain our workforce to meet the new demands of a clean-energy economy. The last piece of the puzzle is to develop a broad-based coalition to bring everyone together. Once we are all engaged and sitting at the table we can drive our economy forward.