Jon Rynn’s Posts

• Every job can be green, part three 1

  Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago

  This is the third and last installment of my chapter, "Green jobs in a sustainable economy," published recently in the book "Mandate for Change." You can read part one and part two, in which I discuss the first six out of eight ways in which to create an environmentally sustainable economy.

• Cap-and-dividend, not cap-and-offset

  Fast action on climate change 0

  Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago

  This is a guest post from Ted Glick, a long-time progressive and climate activist. More information and contact information can be found at tedglick.com

  Tomorrow, April 20th, I and over 200 other people around the country and from several countries will be fasting. We'll be doing so to make a statement that it is long overdue that this country gets on the right side, gives concrete leadership, to the wide and deep clean energy revolution that is absolutely essential, and soon, if we're to have a chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change. 

  We're doing this tomorrow because this… Read More

• Every job can be green, part two 4

  Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago

  Part two of my chapter, "Green jobs in a sustainable economy," published recently in the book "Mandate for Change."

• Thank you, Van Jones, for being busy

  Every job can be green, part one 1

  Posted 7 months, 1 week ago

  A green-collar jobs program can help create an environmentally and economically sustainable society that: drastically reduces its greenhouse gas emissions; encourages energy independence from oil; eliminates the worry of heating and cooling one's home; and increases food security, all while providing millions of high-quality, well-paying, long-term jobs, thus bringing millions of people into a stable middle class.

• The 'Big Fix' is in

  The economy needs to be green to be 'fixed' 9

  Posted 9 months, 1 week ago

  As is often the case, The New York Times serves as a good example of the mistaken assumptions underlying conventional wisdom. In his Sunday Magazine cover story, "The Big Fix," Times economic columnist David Leonhardt combines many of the misconceptions surrounding the idea of "green jobs." As I fretted in a previous post, some writers, including Leonhardt, seem to be setting up some sort of cosmic battle between green jobs, cap-and-trade, and economic growth:

  Of the $700 billion we spend each year on energy, more than half stays inside this country. It goes to coal companies or utilities… Read More

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Jon Rynn’s Recent Comments

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  Great links, amazin'...Daniel, I'm afraid most bankers wouldn't care where any chips were made...which is why they shouldn't be in chargeOn American stimulus funds benefiting foreign wind energy firms posted 4 days, 22 hours ago 8 Responses

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  My take on this is that we need to create and/or support American companies to get to the point where they can actually produce wind turbines. We need to have institutions of higher learning that can train engineers to design turbines, and that know how to manufacture them. And if we look at how other countries develop competence in manufacturing, it turns out that the foreign manufacturers can actually help in this process, by being paid to train the locals. In some countries, such as China and South Korea the foreign manufacturers are actually required to train local engineers. Or we can simply hire people from abroad to come here and train Americans, or send Americans abroad to learn from the more advanced -- yes, more advanced -- nations, just as the Japanese sent people abroad over the first decades of the 20th century in order to build up a competent manufacturing base. We have this same problem, of some jobs in the U.S. but most of the work going abroad, in the transit industry. There are no American subway manufacturers, although there are some assembly plants, and assembly is usually the lowest skilled part of the process. So we need a comprehensive green industrial policy.On American stimulus funds benefiting foreign wind energy firms posted 6 days, 9 hours ago 8 Responses

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  That is sick that when a scientist actually stands up and Does The Right Thing, he's considered "not serious", just like someone advocating single-payer health care is "not serious". There should be dozens of scientists doing what he's doing.On James Hansen on Obama, climate legislation, and the scourge of coal posted 1 month, 1 week ago 8 Responses

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  China is simply following the path of all nations over the centuries, including the U.S., that have encouraged manufacturing and high-value activities. For profuse evidence, check out Erik Reinert's book, "How Rich Countries Got Rich and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor". China doesn't worry about the mythical "market"'s ability to direct the economy, rather, the government directs the market into more profitable industries. The United States is shackled by its ideology of free markets, which is also having the perverse effect of preventing us from decreasing global greenhouse gas emissions with any kind of speed.On China is leaving the U.S. in the dust as it surges ahead on clean energy posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago 14 Responses

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  This reminds me of when a right-wing magazine tried to compare the German Greens to the Nazis, because they rely on grassroots support!  Anybody can twist anything into "fascist" or "Nazi", which is why the words should be used with precision (and doubly for "socialism", which doesn't have a clear definition).

  Joe Klein, like much of the punditocracy that does a good to decent job of beating up on conservatives, go absolutely ape@&! over anybody to the left of them, as you can see from those quotes.

  On Joe Klein compares Van Jones to ‘white supremacist,' 'Nazi' posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago 14 Responses