Two of the nation’s most active green jobs advocacy groups – the BlueGreen Alliance and Apollo Alliance – are merging.
The newly unified organization will continue to call on Washington to focus on creating good jobs, secure America’s clean energy future and preserve the environment for future generations, according to a joint release.
Beginning July 1, the combined organization will be known as the BlueGreen Alliance.
The BlueGreen Alliance has brought labor unions and environmental organizations together in a national partnership to expand the number and quality of green economy jobs.
Launched in 2006 by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club, the BlueGreen Alliance now unites 10 U.S. labor unions and four of America’s most influential environmental organizations – and their 14 million members and supporters.
The Apollo Alliance is a national coalition of environmental, labor, business and community leaders committed to building a clean energy, good jobs economy. Launched in 2003, Apollo’s diverse coalition has worked to catalyze a clean energy economy to spur job growth by harkening back to President Kennedy’s visionary call to restore America’s technological leadership by landing the first man on the moon within the decade of the 1960’s.
Earlier this year, the BlueGreen Alliance launched Jobs21!, which, spearheaded by National Co-Chairs former Michigan Congressman Mark Schauer and former Minnesota Assistant Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, is a nine-state grassroots campaign calling for a national jobs plan to put America back to work, building the industries of the 21st century in the United States.
The initiative calls for investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency, transportation infrastructure and fuel-efficient vehicles, a smarter electrical grid, broadband Internet, recycling and green chemistry – industries that will create sustainable jobs and markets in manufacturing, construction, education and many other sectors.
This initiative now will be strengthened through coordination with the Apollo Alliance’s network of state and local affiliates -now called BlueGreen Apollo Alliances – and by Apollo’s recently-launched Clean Transportation Manufacturing Action Plan (TMAP) project that calls for federal investment in clean transportation to create 3.7 million direct and indirect jobs over six years and save Americans up to $5,000 per family each year in commuting costs.
In their first official act together, the merged organization joined U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) for a telepress conference to announce their support for his new legislation – the Strengthening Manufacturing and Rebuilding Transit (SMART) Act. The legislation introduced by Senator Brown today incorporates key provisions from the TMAP project.
"With gas prices close to $4.00 a gallon in many parts of Ohio and across the country, reinvesting in transit is more important than ever. And at the same time, manufacturing is responsible for creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying, middle class jobs," Brown said. "The buses, trolleys and trains that take Americans to every corner of our country should be ‘Made in America’ as well. By strengthening the domestic supply chain for public transit, the SMART Act will strengthen our public transit options and revitalize our manufacturing heritage."
"Today, with this collaboration and our support for Senator Brown’s SMART Act, we are sending a powerful message that our highest priority must be to build an economy of good jobs and broadly shared prosperity in place of the financial speculation and recklessness that brought our economy to its knees," says Phil Angelides, Chairman of the Apollo Alliance. "Together, we are committed to building a new green economy for America’s future that will meet the convergent threats of climate change, dependence on foreign oil, and unacceptable joblessness."
A few months ago, two other prominent organizations which focus on preventing climate change: 350.org and OneSky.
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