A Green Economy Means Job Opportunities
Who will benefit from the transition to clean, sustainable energy?
A report published a few months ago by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Amherst Massachusetts answers this question. By looking at green industries like building retrofitting, mass transit and fuel-efficient automobiles, the report shows that the skills required by a green economy will benefit millions of U.S. workers already employed across a range of occupations, states and income levels. We’re talking about carpenters, electricians, machinists and truck drivers. Industries like solar and wind are only one slice of this story. Much of the transition will happen in occupations already familiar to Americans.
This means that solving global warming won’t benefit only the technically advanced. Instead, it means more jobs, and more job security, for more Americans. As the economy slumps, this kind of economic stimulus is precisely what the American economy needs.
This means that the fight requires action by the individual, by businesses, by government, cities and states. It’s the fight of a generation.
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
OV Social
This entire argument is based upon the premise that these new "green" jobs will be profitable and effective in the long run. They will not.
Who is to pay all these new employees for their work in green jobs? Certainly not the businesses, companies, or corporations that employ them. These types of ventures will be so expensive to maintain, so ineffective, and so unprofitable that the only conceivable way to maintain them would be via government subsidies.
Who pays for these subsidies? THE EMPLOYEES. Taxes would need to be increased to a much higher level to pay for unproductive ventures such as massive-scale green energy production. Thus in the end, citizens of the United States would not be better off with "green" jobs.