March 10-11  East Bay Green Tours - soon to be BAY AREA GREEN TOURS - yes, we too are expanding --  will take BHS School of Social Justice & Ecology students on a GREEN COLLAR JOBS TOUR !  Our site visits will be inspring and the timing is perfect.  See this article below...

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Green Economic Stimulus
By Eric Martin

The United StatesDepartment of Labor has announced a $190 million initiative to create green jobs across the country. Just when you began to despair that there were any good ideas out there, here comes something that could be the beginning of a larger movement toward economic and ecological sustainability.

It is instructive to put these two "eco's" together as the United States economy is at least in part tied to the ecology of the nation and the ecology of the world. What connects the two?  In a word: energy.

 We'll be visiting Art's to see what they are doing with electric cars and solar panels, look for photos and details soon!

Obama's economic stimulus package contains provisions for streaming $4 billion into training and placement of workers in new jobs over the next three years. Included in this package is a provision that $500 million will be used for a large variety of clean-energy jobs.

Secretary Soils said that the alternative energy sector could provide better prospects for minorities and new training for workers with traditional vocational skills.  

Our Green Collar Jobs Tour will visit Eco Options, a minority owned company that does exactly that.  You will see what CEO Dahlia Moodie is doing for our community and perhaps the nation!  

As an example of this shift to greener jobs, a recent report from Collaborative Economics shows that green jobs in California has increased by 36% from 1995 to 2008 which far exceeds the state's 13% job growth. According to the study, the green-job sector in California is three times the size of the biotech industry and almost two-thirds the size of the software industry in California. 

An additional $150 million in federal funds have been dedicated to "Pathways out of Poverty" grants.  In this program, also a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (federal stimulus plan), money will be used to "help disadvantaged populations find ways out of poverty and into economic self-sufficiency through employment in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries".

Money for green jobs is money well spent.  Spending money on green jobs is an investment in a real, possible future.

Federal dedication to the two eco's of the economy and the ecology then represents a twin virtue. It is rare today to applaud the United States government for anything, especially its vision for the future, but the Department of Labor's announcement of $190 million and $150 million for separate, beneficial green oriented projects is laudable.

Green jobs in the USA?  Now we can add, Go USA to our "Let's go green!" bumper stickers.
More resources:  http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx