green economy

The Trap of Green Consumerism

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:49:35 -0500

by Raj Patel

I often get asked whether I think fair trade is a bad idea, and my response is usually "it's much better to buy fair trade than to buy unfair trade - but if you care about farmers, ask them what they want." In general, I'm not favorably inclined toward green consumerism.

Real Recovery Is Easy to Spell: J-O-B-S

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:22:56 -0500

by Jim Hightower

The recession is over! The economy is growing! The Dow Jones is above 10,000! Bankers are pocketing profits and fat bonuses! Happy days are here again!

Unless, of course, you're just a regular working stiff struggling with falling income and rising unemployment - and sensing that your family's grip on middle-class life is steadily slipping away. Welcome to America's tinkle-down economy.

Green Workers Need a Voice in the Climate Change Debate

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:49:46 -0400

by Brendan Smith

Working out on my oyster boat this week, I've been slurping my catch and wondering what sort of future lies ahead for those of us who work in industries already being impacted by climate change.

Some like me will be the first to experience the negative effects: I run a small organic oyster farm that faces extinction within the next 40 years because my oysters will not survive rising carbon emissions. Friends of mine are firefighters already facing hotter and more frequent wildfires.

Will America Lose the Clean-Energy Race?

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:35:00 -0400

by Teryn Norris & Jesse Jenkins

As Congress debates climate and energy legislation, Asian challengers are moving rapidly to win the clean-energy race. China alone is reportedly investing $440 billion to $660 billion in its clean-energy industries over 10 years. South Korea is investing a full 2 percent of its gross domestic product in a Green New Deal. And Japan is redoubling incentives for solar, aiming for a 20-fold expansion in installed solar energy by 2020.

We Need an Energy Revolution

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:54:39 -0400

by Bernie Sanders

The United States today spends some $400 billion a year importing oil from countries like Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Mexico, Russia, and Venezuela. Think for a moment what an incredible impact that same $400 billion a year could have on our country if that money were invested here and not abroad, in such areas as weatherization, energy efficiency, sustainable energies like wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, public transportation and automobiles that are energy efficient or don't use fossil

Lessons from Hard Times Past

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 09:08:22 -0400

by Tim Costello, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith

We’re all struggling with how to think -- and what to do -- in the face of the “great recession.” An initial progressive response was to advocate better regulation; then Keynesian economic stimulus; now nationalization; perhaps in the future some kind of socialism.

One theme that has reverberated through periods of “hard times” in the past is the idea of “production for use.” It has appeared in the form of public works job creation; worker run enterprises; self-help mutual aid; and efforts to push the envelope on property rights tha

The Green Shoots are Dead

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:12:45 -0400

by Dean Baker

The June US employment report should convince even the determinedly ignorant that the time has come for another round of stimulus for the American economy. The economy is continuing to shed jobs and work hours at a very rapid pace. The unemployment rate is virtually certain to cross 10% by the end of the summer and will likely hit 11% before we are very far into 2010.

The New Economy Won't Be Like the Last One

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:26:48 -0400

by Sarah van Gelder

Despite the best efforts of the Obama administration, the economy is a long ways from recovery. The speculative system that created the mess remains intact, and foreclosures and unemployment continue to rise. But at the same time, a new economy is taking form. It’s built on a recognition that the only thing too big to fail is the Earth itself.

Clean-Energy Investment Provides Economic Boost, More Jobs, and Expanded Opportunities

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:06:48 -0400

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2009

Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

As clean energy and climate legislation moves through Congress, new data show that a $150 billion investment in clean energy could create a net increase of 1.7 million American jobs and significantly lower the national unemployment rate. According to the analysis, shifting to a clean-energy economy will help millions of low-income Americans by creating more accessible job opportunities -- with the potential for advancement -- and by lowering utility bills and transportation costs.

Out of the Ashes of GM: the Phoenix of Renewable Energy

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:59:02 -0400

by Ellen Brown

It may be prophetic that among the brands GM chose to kill was the Pontiac Firebird, a classic hot car of the 1960s sporting the fabled Phoenix on its hood. In mythology, the Phoenix was a colorful bird that incinerated itself in its nest, then rose from the ashes as its own offspring. GM too, says Michael Moore, could be reborn as something else. In a June 1 eulogy of sorts, he wrote: