{"id":13405,"date":"2011-09-05T11:26:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T17:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=13405"},"modified":"2011-09-05T11:26:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T17:26:00","slug":"green-collar-jobs-labor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/green-collar-jobs-labor\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Labor&#039;s Embrace of Green Collar Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wind-turbine-worker.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13407\" title=\"wind turbine worker\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wind-turbine-worker.jpg\" alt=\"a green collar job: wind turbine technician\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wind-turbine-worker.jpg 500w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/wind-turbine-worker-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s Labor Day, and we wouldn&#8217;t be on our game if we didn&#8217;t go out and find at least one good story dealing with the intersection between jobs and the environment. After some quick digging around, I did come across <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boston.com\/business\/articles\/2011\/09\/05\/environmental_council_and_union_forge_alliance\/\">encouraging news from Massachusetts<\/a>: &#8220;&#8230;the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.environmentalleague.org\/\">Environmental League of Massachusetts<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.massaflcio.org\/\">AFL-CIO of Massachusetts<\/a> plan to unveil today a new group called the ELM Labor Council. It is designed to meet regularly and hammer out policy strategies to promote both economic growth and environmental protection.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Yep, got to like that &#8211; after all, sustainablog was born out of my recognition that &#8220;economic growth and environmental protection&#8221; can work hand-in-hand. I was a bit disconcerted, though, when I read Professor\u00a0James Green&#8217;s statement that he didn&#8217;t think there was a precedent for this kind of cooperation in the United States. I don&#8217;t want to gripe at Professor Green &#8211; I have no idea what his are of research is &#8211; but would rather point out that there are some well-established organizations bringing together labor and environmentalists. The most well-known:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Apollo Alliance:<\/strong> A group I&#8217;ve been watching for years, the <a href=\"http:\/\/apolloalliance.org\">Apollo Alliance<\/a> is &#8220;a coalition of labor, business, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs.&#8221; Born in response to 9\/11, and premised on the notion that Americans, working together, can do amazing things quickly (like the Apollo space project), this organization believes that it speaks directly to core American values: &#8220;our can-do spirit, our inherent optimism, and the pride we feel (or want to feel) about our country\u2019s place in the world.&#8221; To get a taste of the work they&#8217;re doing around the country, check out their comprehensive list of &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/apolloalliance.org\/programs\/apollo-14\/signature-stories\/\">signature stories<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>The BlueGreen Alliance:<\/strong> Founded in 2006 by the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bluegreenalliance.org\">BlueGreen Alliance<\/a> now has multiple member organizations from the labor and environmental communities. Their mission involves economic transformation: &#8220;Transforming our economy through renewable energy, energy efficiency, mass transit and rail, a new smart grid and other solutions to global warming, has the potential to create millions of jobs, while reducing global warming emissions and moving America toward energy independence.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Two other organizations\/institutions deserve mention here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenforall.org\">Green for All<\/a>, which is focused on building &#8220;an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty,&#8221; and the AFL-CIO&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.workingforamerica.org\/documents\/greenjobs.asp\">Center for Green Jobs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>So, are these initiatives working at putting people back to work? Or is it all just a lot of theorizing? Take a look at Steelworker Troy Galloway&#8217;s story:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"American Wind Energy Is Made In America\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GgIGH7QH0js?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As you might imagine, I hear plenty about how both environmentalists and labor advocates are out to &#8220;destroy our way of life,&#8221; or, at least, &#8220;undermine the economy&#8221; (or capitalism, or corporations, etc.). I think these organizations demonstrate amply that this just isn&#8217;t the case; rather, both movements (or, at least, the mainstream of both movements) recognize opportunities to create a stronger, move viable economy for everyone up and down the socioeconomic ladder.<\/p>\n<p>Know of other groups working to bridge historic divides between labor and environmentalism, and harness the potential of a green collar economy? Let us know about them&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credit:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/gallery-321631p1.html\">danymages<\/a>\/<a href=\"http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\">Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s Labor Day, and we wouldn&#8217;t be on our game if we didn&#8217;t go out and find at least one good story dealing with the intersection between jobs and the&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":16828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,9],"tags":[3357,5330,1357,3358,482,5331],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Green Collar Jobs: Labor &amp; Environmentalism Work Together<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Labor and the environmental movement continue to work together 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