{"id":11959,"date":"2021-08-29T15:11:51","date_gmt":"2021-08-29T19:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/?p=11959"},"modified":"2021-09-05T16:34:35","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T20:34:35","slug":"green-jobs-for-all-coping-with-two-crises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/2021\/08\/29\/green-jobs-for-all-coping-with-two-crises\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Jobs for All: Coping with Two Crises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By TRUDY GOLDBERG<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11989 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1-300x218.png\" alt=\"Activists March for Green Jobs For All at Climate March\" width=\"300\" height=\"218\" srcset=\"https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1-300x218.png 300w, https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1-1024x745.png 1024w, https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1-768x559.png 768w, https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1-1536x1118.png 1536w, https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1-412x300.png 412w, https:\/\/njfac.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Screen-Shot-2021-08-31-at-4.24.08-PM-1.png 1778w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong>Addressing the jobs and environmental crises are two parts of a common struggle to create an equitable and sustainable economy. A federal jobs guarantee copes with both.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Environmental Crisis<\/strong><br \/>\nDevastating environmental changes\u2014largely resulting from the burning of fossil fuels\u2014occur everywhere on earth.<\/p>\n<p>Water grows scarcer in dry regions; torrential rains increase in wet regions; heat waves are more common and severe; hurricanes are more frequent and more deadly; wildfires worsen; forests are dying, and melting ice caps portend coastal flooding, threatening human habitation. Communities of color are hit harder by climate change. Hotter climates reduce food supplies, causing hunger and social conflict, particularly in poorer countries. The warming earth is already threatening millions worldwide. Scientists warn that without significant fossil fuel reduction, the earth will be unlivable.<\/p>\n<p>The recently released report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is \u201ca code-red for humanity.\u201d\u00a0\u201cNowhere to run, nowhere to hide,\u201d according to one climate scientist.\u00a0The IPCC report confirms that the climate crisis is here and is going to get worse.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Jobs Crisis<\/strong><br \/>\nHigh unemployment is a chronic problem, higher when the economy crashes, but always with us. The fear of more unemployment hinders efforts to solve the environmental crisis.<\/p>\n<p>The Job Picture, July 2021:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>19.7 million people are either officially unemployed, jobless but not looking for work (discouraged, unable to obtain child care or transportation, etc.), or forced to work part-time.<\/li>\n<li>16.7 million more work year-round, full-time for less than the 4-person poverty line<\/li>\n<li>36.4 million people are unemployed, underemployed, or working poor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Black workers usually have nearly twice the unemployment rate of white workers.\u00a0Yet, unemployment is not just a minority issue. Officially unemployed whites are nearly 40% higher than the combined number of officially unemployed black and Latinx workers.\u00a0The quality of work has greatly deteriorated and become more precarious for most workers. Too many people of all races and ethnicities face a future without decent, living-wage work.<\/p>\n<p>One of the challenges of solving the environmental crisis is to address the fear of job loss that public policy proposals may prompt.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Creating Green Jobs for All<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the 1930s, the Roosevelt Administration showed we could put millions to work doing useful jobs that made a lasting contribution to our country\u2014roads, bridges, schools, libraries, housing, parks and environmental conservation, arts, culture, and much more\u2014and literally change the face of this nation.<\/p>\n<p>Creating green jobs would address the devastating environmental and unemployment crises.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Are Green Jobs?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>retrofitting or making houses, office buildings, schools, and factories more energy efficient<\/li>\n<li>manufacturing and installing solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal and other forms of renewable energy, along with employing researchers to develop more efficient alternatives to fossil fuels<\/li>\n<li>redirecting agribusiness subsidies to local, environmentally sustainable farming<\/li>\n<li>building a railroad system that provides affordable, fuel-efficient public transportation<\/li>\n<li>making our infrastructure more efficient by repairing roads, bridges, and water systems<\/li>\n<li>adding millions of needed teachers, child care, and health care workers to our workforce<\/li>\n<li>producing easily recyclable and repairable goods and reducing planned obsolescence<\/li>\n<li>providing education about green technologies and increasing awareness of climate change<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>More leisure-like paid vacations for all workers would reduce environmental and unemployment crises and economic inequality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Job Guarantee, Green Jobs, and a Sustainable Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the founders of the National Jobs for All Network,* environmental sustainability was a key component of their proposal to guarantee living-wage jobs for all Americans. And it remains a key component of our goals.<\/p>\n<p>In the opening paragraph of \u201cJobs for All,\u201d a book published in 1994\u00a0that served as a <a href=\"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/jobs-for-all-a-plan-for-the-revitalization-of-america-1994\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">manifesto<\/a> for the new organization, the authors wrote that their plan is \u201cbased on the philosophy that work and production, exchange and distribution should be designed in ways that are conducive to the full employment\u00a0of the innate potential of all people and\u00a0the sustainability of the ecosystem.\u201d Significantly, one of the chapters in \u201cJobs for All\u201d is \u201cEnvironmental Preservation and Sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Taking issue with zero-growth environmentalists, the Jobs for All environmentalists held that\u00a0sustainability\u2014the ability of the earth\u2019s systems to regenerate themselves for the use of future generations\u2014is compatible with economic growth. Sustainability is a way of avoiding both stagnation and environmental destruction.\u00a0Compared to growth\u00a0that eats up non-renewable resources and causes the destruction of critical ecosystems,\u00a0sustainable\u00a0growth\u00a0means growth in products and services that do not pollute, that reduce levels of degradation, and help to regenerate the ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>Examples of sustainable growth are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>converting military production to highly efficient, non-polluting mass transit systems<\/li>\n<li>converting high tech, invasive health care to preventive health care and education for a more healthful life<\/li>\n<li>educating people to move from a high beef diet to a largely vegetarian diet<\/li>\n<li>\u201cgreening\u201d inner cities to provide more space for parks and gardens<\/li>\n<li>expanding human services that improve the quality of life such as child care and elder care<\/li>\n<li>enhancing the lives of people through the expansion of the visual, written, and dramatic arts and<\/li>\n<li>increasing the efficiency of nonrenewable fuels, and turning to renewable biological and solar energy sources<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jobs related to nonrenewable energy such as oil and coal would be lost in converting to a sustainable economy. But government job creation to achieve both sustainability and a job guarantee could make up for these losses. Nonetheless, the shifts in power relationships required to combat the climate change crisis and develop a green economy are politically challenging and require the widest possible mobilization of the forces for economic and environmental justice. Needed as well are careful\u00a0study and planning of the necessary transitions to a sustainable economy.<\/p>\n<p>That a job guarantee would remove a major barrier to reversing climate change was the theme of NJFAN\u2019S participation in The People\u2019s Climate March in New York City in 2014. The theme of a \u201cGREEN JOBS FOR ALL\u201d\u00a0leaflet that we passed out has been updated and used for subsequent events. Now, more than ever, we must push harder for a\u00a0GUARANTEE OF GREEN JOBS that attacks both the climate and job crises.<\/p>\n<p><em>Trudy Goldberg\u00a0<\/em>is the c<em>hair of the National Jobs for All Network<\/em><\/p>\n<p>*The name of NJFAN was originally National Jobs for All Coalition but was changed to reflect our networking effort\u2014of which the Jobs for All Newsletter is a prime example.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By TRUDY GOLDBERG Addressing the jobs and environmental crises are two parts of a common struggle to create an equitable and sustainable economy. A federal jobs guarantee copes with both. The Environmental Crisis Devastating environmental changes\u2014largely resulting from the burning of fossil fuels\u2014occur everywhere on earth. Water grows scarcer in dry regions; torrential rains increase&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/2021\/08\/29\/green-jobs-for-all-coping-with-two-crises\/\">Read More <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Green Jobs for All: Coping with Two Crises<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/njfac.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}