Daily Score Blog

In October, the Center for American Progress released a report by economists at the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute called, “Green Recovery.” The report (definitely worth a close study) showed that a $100 billion green economic investment could create 2 million US jobs in two years -- not to mention the wonders it would do for breaking our dangerous fossil fuel addiction and cleaning up the climate.

A groovy new map on the CAP website illustrates how allocations to 34 states from this "green recovery program" would translate to net job creation and the dent this would make on each state’s unemployment rate (based on September 2008 unemployment figures). 

The CAP program proposes to boost public investment (and leverage private capital through loan guarantees) in six energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies: retrofitting buildings to improve energy efficiency; expanding mass transit and freight rail; constructing “smart” electrical grid transmission systems; wind power; solar power; and next-generation biofuels.

It would create 42,689 new jobs in Washington, reducing unemployment by 22.9 percent (from 5.3 to 4.1 percent).

In Oregon, 27,306 jobs would be created -- cutting unemployment by 23.7 percent.

You know I hate to editorialize, but this judicial decision is just awful:

A federal judge dealt a blow on Friday to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s efforts to improve air quality in the city, blocking a rule that all new taxis must meet stringent fuel efficiency standards. The rule, which was scheduled to take effect on Saturday, would have made it mandatory for most cabs to be hybrid gas-and-electric vehicles by 2012.

Unfortunately, this is a story for the Northwest too. The city of Seattle will almost certainly run afoul of the same ruling because the city has been leading the charge to green its taxi fleet by requiring higher efficiency standards from the cabs it licenses. (I've written about it here and here.) In fact, efficient taxis are a key part of the city's plan to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Why can't cities decide what how much their local taxi fleets pollute? Here's why:

The judge, Paul A. Crotty, of Federal District Court in Manhattan, issued an injunction to stop the city from enforcing the rule because, he said in a written order, the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in a key legal argument —that only the federal government has the right, under existing laws, to set fuel efficiency standards.

Not only are the feds the least common denominator -- they get to be the only common denominator. This is precisely the sort of thing that makes it exceedingly difficult for local governments to showcase the climate leadership that's lately been bubbling up from all over.

Now if only there were some chance we'd get new federal leadership soon...

Saul Alinksy—the fabled organizer (pictured) whose approach to grassroots mobilization has informed generations of activists, including the young Barack Obama—never promoted energy efficiency, to my knowledge.

But his institutional descendants are doing so now. The Chicago-born Industrial Areas Foundation, which Alinsky founded, has a Northwest branch, and that branch—long an inspiration to me for its creative thinking and deep community engagement—has crafted an intriguing plan for boosting both good jobs and green energy at the same time. Called SustainableWorks, it’s the kind of thing that can speed both economic turnaround and recovery from oil addiction and climate change.

SustainableWorks is a plan for structuring the marketplace for clean-energy retrofits.

What? Structuring the marketplace?

More simply put, it would create a few missing institutional links and thereby allow a whole bunch of organizations with shared interests to find each other and cooperate: neighborhood groups, building owners, skilled energy auditors, reliable contractors, workforce training programs at community colleges, union apprenticeships in green construction, utilities and other public and private conservation funders.

The results would include neighborhood-wide energy upgrades that are more thorough and less expensive than what we get now, plus more—and better—new jobs with better training and better career prospects over time.