Green jobs are mainstream jobs

The Center for American Progress and the Natural Resources Defense Council met today to discuss a new report called “Job Opportunities for the Green Economy.” The report, that was released today, shows that a great number of workers in electricity, construction, steel and many others will still be involved in green activities.

“Green jobs will not just be in one niche of the economy, these are not niche jobs, these are mainstream jobs,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club.

The report was done in conjunction with the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, tackles the issue of green jobs from the stand point that building a green economy is an necessity. The report is structured by looking at six different global warming solutions: building retrofitting, mass transit, energy-efficient automobiles, wind power, solar power, and cellulosic biomass fuels, and connect 10 jobs to each of these solutions.

Dan Lashof, climate center director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that the shifting of billions of dollars in investments into clean and secure energy sources is the future and needs to be done. This will reduce pollution and the oil imported form the middle east, as well as create more green jobs with the skills people already have.

The report shows that there are real jobs to be had through investment in a clean economy, there is a “virtuous cycle” of job growth and job retention being created by public policies that direct investment toward a green job economy, said Marco Trbovich, assistant to steelworker’s President Leo Gerard. Trbovich noted that the report demystifies the idea that a green job is a new and unique job, but that there are still a great number of other workers who are doing basically the same thing but for clean, green energy. More on the report here.