Post-Peak Oil, Climate Change and Green Jobs

PVs and Wind are somewhat of an illusion. Neither supplies the
voltage and amperage needed to do the great majority of the
electrical work that our society has grown accustomed to.

The key to a bountiful green building economy is the reversal of the
thirty, fifty, one hundred year trend of sprawl development in the
United States.

By rebuilding neighborhoods and reallocating goods and services to
those renovated neighborhoods (made walkable, meaning that the great
majority of Americans will be able to get what they need within
walking distance of their homes), we can succeed.

Such a tremendous dedication of resources will be a boom to the
building trades and will create the effect of reducing automobile
usage by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years. Neighborhood commercial,
community and work/telecommute centers will be centrally placed in
what are now alienating, automobile dependent, strictly residential
areas, alleviating the problems associated with post-peak oil and
climate change and bringing with it the quality of life associated
with communities and neighborhoods, that most individuals and
families currently lack.

If we do this, we can take the opportunity to retrofit for
weatherization, passive solar design (heating and cooling),
electronic environmental controls, solar assisted hot water
applications, limited PV and wind applications, etc.

Also, if done correctly, we can make changes in ownership
arrangements that are much more fair and just, and work towards an
equitable distribution of wealth among neighborhoods.

It is important that we fundamentally reassess our economic system
and replace the current economic/finance system with one that targets
the needs of the current residents, and not, for-profit speculation.

Because of the terrible inflation of real and capital assets that is
a product of the speculative modus operandi of the Capitalist system,
it will be fundamentally necessary to reform our economic/financial
system by consolidating private (while rededicating them as
quasi-public) real and capital assets and equity and writing way down
the “market value” of those assets.

After completing that awesome task, we could proceed with a “plan and implement” economy dedicated to meeting the needs of the indigenous populations of all communities: inclusion, humanity, equity, quality of life, environmental/public health and wellness, sustainability,
and peace.

Mike Morin
Eugene, OR

Post-Peak Oil, Climate Change and Green Jobs

PVs and Wind are somewhat of an illusion. Neither supplies the
voltage and amperage needed to do the great majority of the
electrical work that our society has grown accustomed to.

The key to a bountiful green building economy is the reversal of the
thirty, fifty, one hundred year trend of sprawl development in the
United States.

By rebuilding neighborhoods and reallocating goods and services to
those renovated neighborhoods (made walkable, meaning that the great
majority of Americans will be able to get what they need within
walking distance of their homes), we can succeed.

Such a tremendous dedication of resources will be a boom to the
building trades and will create the effect of reducing automobile
usage by 80% in the next 20 to 40 years. Neighborhood commercial,
community and work/telecommute centers will be centrally placed in
what are now alienating, automobile dependent, strictly residential
areas, alleviating the problems associated with post-peak oil and
climate change and bringing with it the quality of life associated
with communities and neighborhoods, that most individuals and
families currently lack.

If we do this, we can take the opportunity to retrofit for
weatherization, passive solar design (heating and cooling),
electronic environmental controls, solar assisted hot water
applications, limited PV and wind applications, etc.

Also, if done correctly, we can make changes in ownership
arrangements that are much more fair and just, and work towards an
equitable distribution of wealth among neighborhoods.

It is important that we fundamentally reassess our economic system
and replace the current economic/finance system with one that targets
the needs of the current residents, and not, for-profit speculation.

Because of the terrible inflation of real and capital assets that is
a product of the speculative modus operandi of the Capitalist system,
it will be fundamentally necessary to reform our economic/financial
system by consolidating private (while rededicating them as
quasi-public) real and capital assets and equity and writing way down
the “market value” of those assets.

After completing that awesome task, we could proceed with a “plan and implement” economy dedicated to meeting the needs of the indigenous populations of all communities: inclusion, humanity, equity, quality of life, environmental/public health and wellness, sustainability,
and peace.

Mike Morin
Eugene, OR

“is it green, and is it fair?”

Depends on your definition of “IS”, “Green”, and “Fair”.

50% and higher combined tax rates don't seem fair to me but that is where we're headed. Combine health insurance (no longer a choice but a mandate with it's “fee”), inevitable higher Fed. income taxes (what's YOUR bracket now, do you know?), higher state income taxes, and most readers and posters with be there. This doesn't include rising consumption taxes just about any energy, food, alcohol, cigarettes, cable TV, property (my property taxes went up as my home value went down). Past disputing what entails a “green” job, how are government paid for programs going to spend our way to prosperity………other than calling it what this is, redistribution.

As to the numbers vis a vis unemployment, they need to be broken down by educational achievement, age, sex, and race – not just by age and race.

-Nikki-

Naomi Klein touched on this in a peice I posted here a few weeks back that most ignored because it was critical of Obama – maybe it will find some relevence today. She stated that the stimulus plan and the current administration has no plan to deal with this alarming problem of the economic race disparity. Klein talks about black and brown people further suffering because the current administration refuses to take a nuanced approached to the problem because of the politically and racially volatile climate we are living in at this moment. She states the following:

“Today's mobs, on the other hand, are reacting to the symbolic victory of an African American winning the presidency. Yet they are rising up at a time when non-elite blacks and Latinos are losing significant ground, with their homes and jobs slipping away from them at a much higher rate than from whites. So far, Obama has been unwilling to adopt policies specifically geared towards closing this ever-widening divide. The result may well leave minorities with the worst of all worlds: the pain of a full-scale racist backlash without the benefits of policies that alleviate daily hardships. Meanwhile, with Obama constantly painted by the radical right as a cross between Malcolm X and Karl Marx, most progressives feel it is their job to defend him – not to point out that, when it comes to tackling the economic crisis ravaging minority communities, the president is not doing nearly enough.”

For those who care about this issue and how race has affected the current political climate in addressing it, check out the piece:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/sep/12/ba…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/sep/12/ba…