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David Foster: Green energy means jobs, here at home

The benefits aren't just environmental. They're also economic and geopolitical.

By DAVID FOSTER

Last update: July 29, 2008 - 7:28 PM

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Former Vice President Al Gore recently stood before the nation with a challenge to derive all of our electricity from renewable and other carbon-free sources within 10 years. He said, "We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change."

This challenge, which mirrored the challenges of past generations to build a national highway system and send a man to the moon, is one that our nation can meet -- if we choose to -- by recognizing the economic potential of investing in global-warming solutions.

When Gore says, "Every bit of that's got to change," he is pointing the finger at a form of globalization that has driven investment in manufacturing and energy-intensive industries in China at the direct expense of American communities. By taking up his challenge, not only can we fight global warming, we can build an enormous job-creating infrastructure right here in America.

We can realize these opportunities by increasing our investment in renewable-energy sources, including wind, solar and geothermal power. Such investments would help to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs and combat the global-climate crisis.

There is no better time to call on our country to develop a new energy policy. For too long, the United States has pursued a policy that is controlled by special interests. While Americans are paying an average of $4 per gallon of gas, big oil companies are drawing down tens of billions in corporate tax breaks and are earning record-breaking profits. This week, ConocoPhillips alone reported a 51 percent increase in revenues, sending its profits skyrocketing in the second quarter of this year.

In addition, our reliance on foreign sources of oil is putting our economic, environmental and national security at stake.

There is a better way. Pursuing a new energy policy that invests in global-warming solutions gives us the opportunity to create middle-class jobs and to protect our environment, and our economy, for future generations.

We know that thousands of Minnesotans already work in jobs that could contribute to a green economy. Investments like these can create additional jobs for those who produce, assemble and operate new energy sources. For example, producing the parts to construct wind turbines, assembling the turbines and operating the windmills are all jobs that can be created with an investment in wind energy.

Additional job opportunities would exist for welders, sheet-metal workers, machinists and truck drivers. In fact, a report recently released by the National Resources Defense Council, in conjunction with Green Jobs for America, recently found that there are more than 252,000 Minnesota jobs in a representative group of job areas that could see job growth or wage increases by putting global-warming solutions to work. Even Minnesota's taconite mines will get a boost from all the steel going into producing renewable-energy equipment.

The green economy is at our fingertips. We just have to make it a reality.

David Foster is the executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, a unique partnership between the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club to realize the economic potential of global-warming solutions and fair-trade policies.

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