Union Ironworkers Provide Training for Green Energy Job Corps
International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
The skilled tradesmen who do more than you can imagine - Union Ironworkers - in response to Vice-President Biden’s recent comments regarding green jobs training, are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to install and maintain green energy projects in a safe and productive manner throughout the United States and Canada.
“Vice-President Biden is correct in stating that a well-trained workforce is required to successfully erect, install and maintain the promising green energy category. Our members are not only capable of successfully achieving this goal, but also in a position to immediately begin work on green and renewable energy projects as soon as the economic stimulus package is appropriated,” said Joseph Hunt, general president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
Van Jones and the Green Jobs Revolution (Video)
January 17, 2009 by editor
Filed under Featured, Green Collar
Van Jones, President of Green for All and a Nation contributor, came to DC on Thursday to talk to the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming about a Green (and fair) New Deal. Testifying along with Jones were Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer.
Jones spoke of the “new tools…new training…and new technology” that would “begin to put some green rungs on America’s ladder of opportunity.” He took on the “falsehoods and confusion” spread by “vocal opponents and naysayers” who oppose investing in a new green economy and breaking our dependence on fossil fuels.
Jones set the record straight on the notion that green jobs are a fantasy–”Buck Rogers jobs, or science fiction jobs, or George Jetson jobs”–and pointed to the section of the Green Jobs Act (passed in 2007, but not funded–evidence he said of the need to “move aggressively from inspiration to implementation”) that spells out the exact kinds of job-training programs and industries eligible for support, some of which are: energy efficient and retro-fitting construction jobs; renewable power industry; biofuels industry; and manufacturing of sustainable products using environmentally sustainable materials.
Greening the Ghetto: A Remedy for Both Global Warming and Poverty?
January 14, 2009 by editor
Filed under Technology
Van Jones is the president and founder of Green For All, a national organization dedicated to building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty.
A few months ago, Van Jones, the founder and president of a group called Green for All, went to visit New Bedford, Massachusetts. His first stop of the day was the public library, where someone had assembled an audience of about thirty high-school dropouts. They leaned back in their chairs, hands in the pockets of their oversized sweatshirts. A few appeared to be stoned.
Jones, who is forty, is tall and imposing, with a shaved head and a patchy goatee. He wears rimless glasses and favors dark clothing. On this particular day, he was wearing a black turtleneck, black jeans, black boots, and a charcoal jacket. He was introduced by a community organizer and aspiring rapper, who described him as “a leader with answers,” a “genius from the hood, similar to our own,” and a youthful version of Barack Obama. When it was his turn to speak, Jones rejected the lectern that had been set up for him, saying that it reminded him too much of college.
“I love Barack Obama,” he said. “I’d pay money just to shine the brother’s shoes. But I’ll tell you this. Do you hear me? One man is not going to save us. I don’t care who that man is. He’s not going to save us. And, in fact, if you want to be real about this-can y’all take it? I’m going to be real with y’all. Not only is Barack Obama not going to be able to save you-you are going to have to save Barack Obama.”
Jones went on to discuss the crisis on Wall Street, the federal budget deficit-”We’re going broke by the second”-and how annoying it can be to listen to people who use a lot of fancy words. “People who know a lot talk weird,” he said. “So you can spend a lot of time listening to people who are educated, and all you get is frustrated, because what they’re saying doesn’t actually land with you. Well, boohoo. Get over it.”
Green Jobs Proponent California Congresswoman Hilda Solis Picked for Labor Secretary
December 18, 2008 by admin
Filed under Green Collar
Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., at the Democratic National Convention
President-elect Barack Obama promised he would create jobs thanks to a clean-energy revolution. Now he’s named the Labor Secretary to do just that.
California congresswoman Hilda Solis has reportedly been tapped to head the Labor Department. A member of the House environment and commerce committee, and the House select committee on energy independence and global warming, Rep. Solis’ signature legislative achievement was the 2007 “Green Jobs Act.”
That bill, signed into law as part of the broader 2007 energy act, provides federal money for “green collar” job training, “such as energy efficiency retrofit and service, green building construction, and solar panel installation.” Rep. Solis figures green-job training could create as many as 3 million new jobs in the next decade. Other studies touted by the Obama administration talk of up to 5 million green-collar jobs.
Among Rep. Solis’ admirers is green-jobs evangelist Van Jones.
If Rep. Solis is confirmed, it will bring the Labor Department within the orbit of the administration’s energy and environment team. At the same time, it will mean that energy and environment team has an even stronger California flavor.
The Wall Street Journal - Environmental Capital
Green Jobs Recharge Lives in Richmond California
November 19, 2008 by admin
Filed under Green Collar
Solar Richmond promotes and inspires the use of solar power and energy efficiency in order to bring the economic benefits of the green economy to Richmond, California. They serve the community through solar installation training, educating a new green-collar workforce and opening doors to employment.
RICHMOND, Calif. — Nearly 70 years ago, Richmond was a bustling shipyard where women and a predominantly African-American population - farm workers and sharecroppers from the South retrained as welders and ship builders - assembled hundreds of vessels in the deep waters offshore. Nowadays, the “city of pride and purpose” is known more for pollution from oil refineries, joblessness, and crime than its World War II industries.
But, a program that trains men and women to install solar panels atop city homes and buildings, aims to spark a renewal in the city by joining a nascent solar and green industry and generating so-called green jobs.
On a recent sunny day in Richmond, about a dozen workers installed 12 solar panels - a 1.8- kilowatt system - on the rooftop of a home. The workers are trainees in Solar Richmond BUILD, a joint program of Solar Richmond, a nonprofit solar installation group, and Richmond BUILD, a construction skills and solar installation training program run by Richmond.
