Green Justice Coalition Has a Credible Strategy to Help the Environment While Helping the Economy

The recently launched Green Justice Coalition - spearheaded by Community Labor United - has just issued a refreshing report called "The Green Solution: A Win-Win Plan to Address Climate Crisis and Jumpstart an Equitable and Sustainable Economic Recovery." We say refreshing because unlike the majority of reports on potential solutions to our looming environmental crisis, The Green Solution links environmental issues to the economic crisis and proposes a strategy that can help grapple with both related problems.

This is evident from the report's opening statement onward: "Today’s fluctuating energy prices and declining economy are highlighting green investments as an opportunity as well as a challenge. The challenge is to conserve energy, switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, and lower greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to keep flood waters from swamping Boston. The opportunity is even greater. The green wave can lower energy costs, put people back to work, and jumpstart our sinking economy."

The authors suggest that given the need for an 80% global decrease in carbon emissions by 2050 (which, we fear, is a conservative figure compared to the figures proffered by numerous climate activists like well-known British journalist George Monbiot - who recently stated unequivocally that we must achieve total decarbonization by that date just to have an even chance of holding warming to 2 degrees worldwide this century) if human civilization is to stave off the worst of global warming, and given the simultaneous downward spiral in the global economy, that there is a way to help the former by dealing with the latter - that is, put people to work helping the environment.

Their specific prescription for the Boston area is that we leverage money - from Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auctions, the billion dollar "Massachusetts Energy Empowerment Revolution Fund" proposed by the Green Justice Coalition, President-elect Obama's proposed Economic Recovery Plan to create 2.5 million jobs including clean energy jobs, and the plan by labor and environmental advocates like the Apollo Alliance to invest $100 billion in federal money (1/7 the main part of the recent bailout of the financial industry) - and use it to create tens of thousands of jobs retrofitting Boston area buildings to be extremely energy efficient. These jobs would take advantage of skills held by many Boston tradespeople - including expertise with work refitting insulation, electrical, HVAC/plumbing and windows, doors and air sealing. While it's worth keeping UMass Boston Professor Randy Albelda's recent critique ("The Macho Stimulus Plan") of creating these kinds of building trades jobs, which many women have difficulty accessing due to entrenched sexism, these jobs do have to be done, and hard diversity targets could be built into any job program that may result the efforts of groups like the Green Justice Coalition.

So, here's the Coalition's 3 point plan:

1. Expand public and private investment in energy efficiency to protect the planet, to make our communities healthier and to keep residents in their homes;

2. Jumpstart an economic recovery by targeting the resulting green jobs to un- and underemployed residents in our communities, and by targeting a fair share of the energy efficiency programs and resources to the communities that have born the largest environmental and economic burdens;

3. Repair our increasingly unequal regional economy with an equity agenda by enacting standards to make new and existing green jobs into ‘good’ jobs that can sustain families and communities, with livable wages, union opportunities, and career pathways that begin with accessible and effective green training.

The language of the last point is echoed throughout the entire document - particularly the section entitled "Why Must Equity Be At the Core of Any Climate Change Agenda." The authors' answers to this question are especially strong in terms of demonstrating their commitment to ending rampant economic inequality in Massachusetts.

"Because we're all in this together. Because the 'green transition' will fix structural flaws in our regional economy. Because we're not all equally responsible for the current climate crisis [our favorite - Ed.] Because low income communities and communities of color have been paying a higher price. Because inequality is at its highest level in decades and growing. Because our communities haven't always benefited from growth and development, poor people and people of color must lead the Green Wave. Because we will have to work to make new green jobs 'good jobs.'"

So while we have some disagreements with particulars, and have a number of concerns about some of the questionable policy directions of coalitions like the Apollo Alliance, we have no fundamental disagreement with the overall strategy of pushing hard to use public money to help the public good - slowing global warming and the severity of the economic crisis at the same time.

We think it's a great start by the Green Justice Coalition, and encourage Open Media Boston viewers offer the effort your support. Check out the report athttp://massclu.org/system/files/TheGreenSolution.pdf and get involved with the Green Justice Coalition via the Community Labor United website.