The gist: “Green-collar jobs”—a term that refers to manual-labor jobs in rapidly growing green industries–has the potential to speed progress on two deeply rooted problems at once: to reduce our society’s impact on the planet, while lifting people out of poverty. Dozens of prominent leaders, from Oakland's Van Jones to Barack Obama and Governor Schwarzenegger, have grabbed onto the concept and made it a core component of their platform. There is evidence of a growing green-collar job boom, particularly in the Northwest.

The details: What are green-collar jobs? The term—which Sightline helped coin in 1999--is used to describe the growing number of jobs with environment-friendly products or services, ranging from green building and construction, renewable energy such as biofuels, solar panel manufacturing, weatherization, organic farming, green car manufacturing, and bicycle repair. Think of blue-collar jobs with a sustainable edge.

“Green-collar jobs” have the potential to be more than just new jobs, though. Some leaders believe that if the right programs are put into place, green jobs could be not only a path towards a more sustainable economy, but are also a path out of poverty for low-income communities.

As Van Jones--who directs Oakland's Ella Baker Center and is a leading proponent of green-collar jobs programs--the issue could weld environmental issues to kitchen-table issues such as jobs in an unprecedented fashion. He speaks eloquently about how a united effort to train a "green-collar" workforce can bring labor, social-justice and environmental groups together once and for all.

Not surprisingly, in the past couple of years, political leaders  including Obama, McCain, Clinton, Gregoire, Kulongoski, and Schwarzenegger have grabbed onto the concept as a core part of their platform.

What is the potential of green-collar jobs? According to one measure, the green sector is the fifth largest market sector in the United States. One oft-cited figure is that according to a November 2007 report commissioned by the American Solar Energy Society, the current tally of 8.5 million US jobs in renewable-energy and energy-efficiency industries could grow to as many as 40 million by 2030. . Clean Edge, which has been tracking the growth of clean-energy markets since 2000, reports a 40 percent increase in revenue growth for solar photovoltaics, wind, biofuels, and fuel cells in 2007 in the US, up from $55 billion in 2006 to $77.3 billion in 2007.

In the Northwest, there is evidence of a growing green-collar job boom. Ted Sickinger of the Oregonian calls it a "small tsunami." Here are a few examples, and read this Sightline blog post for more.

• As reported in Washington Rep. Jay Inslee's book, Apollo's Fire, Microsoft's special projects vice president, Michael Rawding, believes that a cap on carbon emissions "would help Microsoft grow an entirely new line of business, one that is dedicated to saving energy." Currently, Microsoft is developing a program that will put "whole banks of computers" in sleeper mode when they are not being used. Ten computers in sleeper mode will save the equivalent of one car's CO2 emissions per year. 
• SolarWorld, a manufacturer of photovoltaic cells that hopes to expand its new Hillsboro, Oregon, operation to some 2,000 employees in the next few years.
• California-based solar manufacturers Solaicx Inc. and XsunX Inc. are establishing plants in Portland and Wood Village, Oregon, respectively.
• Solar silicon maker Peak Sun is building in Millersburg, OR, starting with 50 new jobs in 2008 and gearing up for at least 500.
• Portland-based wind power manufacturer PPM Energy has seen its employee count balloon from 12 in 2004 to 559 today. ("We are recruiting all the time," said Jan Johnson, a spokeswoman for PPM.)
• Horizon Wind Energy, the nation's third-largest wind energy developer, is bringing jobs to Clark County, WA.
• Global Energy Concepts, headquartered in Seattle, employs an international workforce of engineers and wind power consultants.
• A search for Washington State jobs on the sustainablebusiness.com "Green Dream Jobs" function revealed many openings in the state, from positions with the National Forests to international engineering and consulting firms headquartered locally. A search in Oregon revealed even more possibilities.
• And there are ripple effects in other industries. According to the Oregonian, the International Longshore and Warehouseman's Union added 26 full-time positions at the Port of Vancouver last year because so many wind turbines were being offloaded, then shipped up the Columbia River Gorge.
• As the New York Times reports, the trend is catching on in higher ed too, as workforce demand increases and college kids think about promising career paths.

• Oakland leader Van Jones’s group and the electrical union in Oakland have created the Oakland Apollo Alliance, which helped raise $250,000 from the city government to create a union-supported training program that will teach young people in Oakland how to put up solar panels and weatherize buildings.
• In December 2007, Congress signed the Green Jobs Act, which authorized $125 million in green-collar job training opportunities (enough to train about 30,000 workers a year for jobs in emerging "green" sectors), and also includes a green Pathways Out of Poverty Program.
• Jones and other environmental activists like Majora Carter from Sustainable South Bronx are also involved in a “Green for All” campaign, which advocated for the Green Jobs Act.

A San Francisco State University professor named Raquel Pinderhughes has studied the benefits of green-collar jobs. In a recent study of the Berkeley area (commissioned by the City of Berkeley Office of Energy and Sustainable Development), she found that jobs in these sectors were in high demand, tended to pay more than other manual jobs, and could help fill the urgent need for living-wage jobs among the working poor, if they were “deliberately cultivated.”

Sources and related items

• Organization: Green for All, Van Jones' nonprofit on green jobs
  
• Book: Apollo's Fire, by Washington Rep. Jay Inslee's book and  Bracken Hendricks
• Study: American Solar and Energy Institute’s recent report on the economic promise of opportunities in renewable and efficiency industries
• Study: Green-collar jobs potential in the Berkeley area (also includes reference to Sightline’s original use of the term, page 13)
• Alternet article by Van Jones on green-collar jobs 
• Article: Thomas Friedman article on Van Jones’ green-collar concept
• Ella Baker Center Green Job Corps
• Chicagoland Green Collar Jobs Initiative
• Article: Obama's green jobs program
• Article: Clinton's green jobs program
• Sightline post: Green-Collar Jobs, the Secret History
• Sightline post: Green Pay Day
• Sightline post on Van  Jones: A Green Wave Shall Lift All Boats
• Sightline blog series: Climate fairness