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  The Scope of Green-Collar Jobs

  Congrats to Van Jones for his positive impact on politics and activism in the US.  The work of the Ella Baker Center and the Apollo Alliance are inspirations for some of the work we'd like to do here in Green Enterprise Toronto, a BALLE affiliate.  Van's list defining "green collar jobs" is right on and quite helpful.  But, while a focus on energy is appropriate for many of us during a time of rising awareness about climate change, creating a green economy is about much more than clean energy--it's about redefining the very nature of economic activity.  It's not just about environmental protection, but about the regeneration of communities and ecosystems.
       Even back in the 70s when Lovins was first talking about the "soft energy path" he put the biggest emphasis not on efficiency, or on cleanness, but on "end use"--that is, putting the emphasis on meeting needs, and then working backwards to devise the most elegant and efficient ways of meeting those needs.  By the 90s, many industrial ecologists were calling this the "eco-service" economy--where the focus would be on access not transport, illumination not lights, nutrition not food commodities, etc.  In other words, we can get a tremendous amount of what we need without any additional energy or resources at all, simply by organizing ourselves properly.  
       A preoccupation with the energy sector can sometimes be a diversion.  Some experts have pointed out that the food system might be considered the biggest contributor to CO2 emissions if one includes food transport.  Thus a green jobs strategy should also be targeting sustainable food system alternatives.
       Similarly with waste--which by rights should really be considered simultaneously with manufacturing as part of a resource cycle, because of the implications of product design decisions.  We need to be moving extraction industry from the hinterlands to the cities--to mine the waste stream. Deconstruction services (connected with used materials depots) have great potential for massive job creation--and, as with energy retrofit work, they are easily assessable, mid-range skill jobs that can lead to higher skills and incomes.  
       These are just a couple examples of the range of "green collar jobs".  Because they rely on close connection with end-use, and with multiple overlapping functions, proximity is important--so green is in most cases synonymous with local or bioregional.   Most can be initiated with small capital investment.  
       It's too easy to get caught up in an energy-preoccupation, even when it's renewable energy.  While energy discussion should first and foremost be about end-use, or the purpose of energy use, it too often degenerates into issues of efficiency.  Our concern shouldn't be to become more efficient destroying the planet and our communities. We want to become efficient in meeting real needs and creating a qualitatively new world.  For this reason, we're talking about far more than "jobs". Especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities, the focus seems better on enterprises that can directly target need.  This is not to disparage the quest for more environmental jobs in the mainstream economy.  But for qualitative change, we need action in every area of human life, and we have a responsibility to be revealing this green work everywhere, true to the "distributed" nature of most green production.  
                                Brian Milani,  York U. Faculty of Environmental Studies
  

  Brian Milani Green Enterprise Toronto / Business & Environment, York U. FES www.greeneconomics.net

  On Green-collar jobs mean standing up for people and the planet posted 1 year, 10 months ago 3 Responses