Will Green Jobs Save the Economy?
January 9, 2009 by Jennifer
NPR recently had a nice little piece going on, Can ‘Green Jobs’ Stimulate The Economy?.
On the side of yes: Many folks, among them, Barack Obama, think that green jobs are a key component of stimulating our sadly strangling economy. There’s tax incentives for green building projects along with, of course, the people who will be needed to install said green projects. According to NPR, green tech evangelist John Doerr says, “The green revolution has much greater potential for job creation than the Internet did.”
On the side of no: People think that green is too long a project to create sudden economy stimulus. Sure, you can plan green jobs, but when will they start and how long will it take for them to pay off?
I’m all for green jobs. I’m all for a MUCH better economic outlook. How do I think it all ties together? I’m not sure what I think. Personally, I’d guess that 85% of my personal income comes from green-minded projects – but then, I’m in this little green writer niche; my situation is not typical I wouldn’t think, not to the majority of Americans.
Not being an economy expert, I’m not feeling too qualified to say much. I do agree that green jobs have long term advantages, but then I also know that green projects take longer to get up and running. It’s a toss up. If someone held a gun to my head and made me answer, I guess I’d say, go for it. Go green jobs BUT green jobs should just be one plan on the plate, not the whole picture for solving this economy crisis, we’re currently experiencing.
What do you think – are green jobs the way to stimulate the economy, or do you agree that green jobs may be too future forward to help right now?
Let me know in the comments.
I love the idea of green jobs. But for the environment, not so much for economy. New jobs though would be a wonderful change for all of the struggling families out there. Creating green jobs does take time and I’d rather see more green jobs than others. Although, I think if people would change now to some of the already green businesses, we’d be well on our way. =)
I tend to agree with Jen. Having “green” jobs is necessary for our long-term survival ( at least at a standard of living in line with what we’ve got used to ). Economic stability is only part of that broader interest. For example, if we manage to cut down all of our trees ( like Easter Island ), this will hurt a lot of jobs, but won’t happen over night.
As for economic concerns, though, in the long run it will be cheaper not to buy gasoline than it is to buy the stuff.