I have to admit to not liking the term "green jobs" much, while at the same time knowing what it's trying to do and supporting that aim.
It's trying to show people that environmental awareness and de-carbonising doesn't mean economic pain, as the fossil fuel industry would have you believe.
It's a catch-all term to counter the arguments of those countries and companies who refuse to do anything to combat climate change because they feel they will be sacrificing "growth". (Growth itself is a whole other argument that I'm not willing to go into right now!)
I also feel that using the term "green jobs" actually scares people - it sounds like something alien, something futuristic that has nothing to do with what they know and have trained for. And, if we're honest, it sounds a little bit hippy-ish.
Just what is a "green job" anyway? It's an engineer, a welder, a factory production-line worker, a secretary, an accountant, a ship captain, a delivery driver, a tailor. A "green job" is just a job, but in a specific industry or done in a different way.
So it was pleasing to hear the news yesterday that Scotland could benefit to the tune of 48,000 new jobs in the offshore wind industry.
The report by Scottish Renewables will hopefully have given business leaders pause for thought. There's an entire industry springing up that will need a lot of nurturing. And it's not scary or futuristic.
It's just less oily.
7 comments:
Hi SD (May I call you SiD?)
Thought I was going to disagree at first, but end up with agreeing. Good.
What do you think of a Green Wage Subsidy, transforming JSA &c. into a subsidy for the whole green sector?
Cheers
Richard
(If "Anonymous" it's because Google has forgotten my password)
Is that your photo? Can I use it please, pretty please. With credit of course.
Number 11
Weggis, it's not mine but you can find it on flickr with a Creative Commons licence (meaning you can use it as long as you credit): http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_stormonth-darling/3539488365/
Richard, I guess the problem is how do you decide what is in that "green sector". Is it the manufacturing company which makes the wind turbine blades? What if they also make jet engine blades? Is a plumber who ocassionally installs a solar water system a green worker?
I think the playing field does need to be levelled in some way, but I'd rather see the unofficial "subsidies" from fossil fuel industries removed first - things like the lack of tax on airline fuel.
Thanks SD.
Thanks for this. It's a good point. But I think the reason people have got so enthusiastic about Green Jobs was that it moved the language on from Green Taxes - which was a very problematic frame for Green politics.
You're right to say that these are just jobs, but there is a need to convince politicians and the electorate that Green Politics is about more than just wildlife and recycling your tin cans.
Green jobs is a way to do that.
Sorry, the other thing I meant to say is that it would be really good to better define what's meant by Green jobs.
I've often got the feeling that people think, if it's anything, it's a job in a park. That's not helpful.
Peter, that's why I mentioned that it can be seen as a little bit "hippyish".
I saw a docu on Obama's first year in office in which a guy was moaning about the lack of "all these green jobs" which were promised. What did he do? He worked in an RV-making factory which had recently retooled in order to build hybrid RVs.
You could argue whether building a vehicle can be called a green job, but the guy on the production line didn't think so, and I would imagine most of the population wouldn't think so.
I feel we're setting people up for disappointment when we talk about "green jobs" and how great they'll be, when the populace realises that actually they're just normal jobs and they might still be pushing pens around a desk for 8 hours a day. They'll just be selling recycled office equipment instead of the normal stuff.
On the other hand, perhaps we're right to highlight the differences from the norm. However, even back in the 70s you never heard Labour promise that if they were elected they would create 50,000 new unionised jobs!
So, do we continue to big-up something that can't be defined or assessed, or do we see our economic strategy never get mentioned in the media?
I have to admit I don't see the better alternative - so as much as I hate the phrase I'll continue to say "green jobs".
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