An alliance of environmental and labor groups today launched a national campaign to promote the creation of green jobs in the U.S.
The United Steelworkers (USW), the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of the USW and Sierra Club, kicked off the Green Jobs for America campaign, which they hope will lead to a serious commitment to clean, renewable energy and the creation of more than 820,000 new renewable energy jobs nationwide.
"The time for a national push for renewable energy is now," said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. "What is really exciting about this campaign is the opportunity to create jobs, help fix our broken economy and contribute to solving the biggest environmental challenge of our generation at the same time."
The public education campaign will take place in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Virginia, Tennessee, Florida, Oregon, and Nebraska.
An independent study conducted last year for the Blue Green Alliance by the Renewable Energy Policy Project found that these twelve states in particular stand to gain nearly 170,000 new manufacturing jobs in wind turbine manufacturing and almost 93,000 new manufacturing jobs making the parts for solar power equipment.
Teams of organizers from the USW, Sierra Club, NRDC and Blue Green Alliance will undertake grassroots organizing activities, conduct a series of public events, release independent studies highlighting the potential for tens of thousands of new green jobs in each state and generate thousands of signatures on a petition calling for green jobs, clean energy solutions and fair trade agreements.
In addition to encouraging the right investments from the private sector, the campaign will focus on the kinds of policies that are needed to fight global warming, expand clean energy production and reform unfair trade agreements, organizers said.
The campaign, which will run through September 15, 2008, builds on the momentum of the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference held in Pittsburgh last month, which brought together over 1,000 participants, over 80 organizations, elected officials, and leaders from industry, community groups, environmental organizations, and labor unions.
Founded in 2006, the Blue Green Alliance is a strategic partnership of the United Steelworkers, North Americas largest manufacturing union, and the 1.3 million members and supporters of the Sierra Club, the nations oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.
Loading...