Special Series
Word on the Street
In a Series
Six in 10 Americans Support a Cap-and-Trade Proposal
A CNN/Opinion Research poll released today shows strong public support for
cap-and-trade legislation. As Alex Kaplun of E&E points out, this is despite months of attacks from those opposed to climate and energy policy.The poll found 60 percent of the public expressed support for a
cap-and-trade proposal that would "limit the amount of greenhouse
gases that companies could produce in their factories or power plants."
About 37 percent of voters say they would not support such a
proposal.
Most interesting, perhaps, the poll found a relatively strong level of
support among Republicans for the legislation, with about 4 in 10 backing
the bill. A solid majority of both Democrats and independents back
the
measure.
There's a clear generational divide. Younger voters are more inclined to support the measure, with 68 percent of those under the age of 50 supporting the legislation but with those older than 50 evenly split.
Gas Prices Are Noisy
Do people notice small changes in gas prices? I've been wondering about this lately -- which gave me an excuse to download historical gas price data -- and I learned a couple of things in the process. Consider:
Gas prices changed by 7 cents per week, on average, during 2008 and 2009. Sometimes prices went up and sometimes they went down, but they rarely stayed constant. What's more, the price changed by very different amounts each week.
Much of the most intense volatility occurred during 2008 when gas prices broke the $4 barrier and then subsequently collapsed as the economy unravelled. But even in 2009, gas prices are changing 5 cents per week, on average.
Is 5 cents a lot? The answer depends on what you mean.
Last Chance for Sightline's Getaway to Seattle Sweepstakes
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Special Series
Green-Collar Jobs: Realizing the Promise
In a Series
Green Collar Jobs Start With Basic Skills
A study released over the summer found that there are some great opportunities in Washington state for green jobs in the renewable energy sector. But it also pointed to some problems ensuring adequate training for those jobs.
The study confirms what Professor W. Norton Grubb found: work force training needs to be better integrated with education. Training is about learning tasks or work related skills that allow immediate employment while education is grounded in more broadly applicable skills like reading, writing and organizational skills.
The education training dichotomy is one aspect of the fragmentation that plagues work force training and by extension training for green collar jobs. Grubb’s ideas, creating better connections between education and training, are still relevant today more than a decade after he wrote about them in his book Learning to Work.
