A green-collar worker is a worker who is employed in an environmental sector of the economy.Wickman, Forrest. "Working Man's Blues: Why do we call manual laborers blue collar?" Slate.com, 01 May 2012. Environmental green-collar workers (or green jobs) satisfy the demand for green development. Generally, they implement environmentally conscious design, policy, and technology to improve conservation and sustainability. Formal environmental regulations as well as informal social expectations are pushing many firms to seek professionals with expertise with environmental, energy efficiency, and clean renewable energy issues. They often seek to make their output more sustainable, and thus more favorable to public opinion, governmental regulation, and the Earth's ecology.
Green collar workers include professionals such as conservation movement workers, environmental consultants, council environmental services/waste management/recycling managers/officers, environmental or biological systems engineers, green building architects, landscape architects, holistic passive solar building designers, solar energy and wind energy engineers and installers, nuclear engineers,Going Nuclear: A Green Makes the Case, The Washington Post, April 16, 2006France closes its last coal mine, BBC, April 23, 2004France: Vive Les Nukes, "60 Minutes," CBS, April 8, 2007Hot idea: Fight warming with nuclear power, NBC News, July 7, 2005 green vehicle engineers, "green business" owners, green vehicle, organic farmers, environmental lawyers, ecology educators, and ecotechnology workers, and sales staff working with these services or products. Green collar workers also include vocational or trade-level workers: electricians who install solar panels, plumbers who install solar water heaters, recycling centre/MRF attendants, process managers and collectors, construction workers who build energy-efficient green buildings and wind power farms, construction workers who weatherize buildings to make them more energy efficient, or other workers involved in clean, renewable, sustainable future energy development.
There is a growing movement to incorporate social responsibility within the green industries. A sustainable green economy simultaneously values the importance of natural resources and inclusive, equitable, and healthy opportunities for all communities.
In the context of the 2008 financial crisis, many experts now argue that a massive push to develop renewable sources of energy could create millions of new jobs and help the economy recover while simultaneously improving the environment, increasing labour conditions in poor economies, and strengthening energy and food security.
Notable uses Of or pertaining to both employment and the environment or environmentalism. 1976, Patrick Heffernan, "Jobs for the Environment — The Coming Green Collar Revolution", in Jobs and Prices in the West Coast Region: Hearing before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, Ninety-Fourth Congress, Second Session, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 134, 1997, Geoff Mulgan, Perri 6 et al., The British Spring: A Manifesto for the Election After Next, Demos, page 26, The United States, Canada, Germany, and Denmark are all generating hundreds of thousands of new 'green collar' jobs, especially for young people, achieving remarkable reductions in energy, water, waste disposal and materials costs. 2001, Diane Warburton and Ian Christie, From Here to Sustainability: Politics in the Real World, Earthscan, page 75, Studies for the UK suggest that the more than 100,000 existing 'green collar' workers in environmental occupations could be joined by many thousands more, both in the private sector and in the 'social economy' of community enterprises. 2007, U.S. Green Jobs Act 2007, U.S. Energy Independence and Security Act - Title X: "Green Jobs - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Worker Training Program" (signed into law 2007-12-19) 2008, during the U.S. Presidential Campaign, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama specifically promised more green collar jobs, and green vehicle bonds. Other candidates' energy policy of the United States recommendations all included increased green development, which should accelerate the creation of millions of new green jobs. 2008, January 22 U.S. Federal Reserve Board unprecedented mid-term 3/4% interest rate cut to soon be followed by other economic stimulus to avoid recession and support new job development in green building construction, remodeling/weatherization, transportation (green vehicles) and green manufacturing industry sectors. Widespread bipartisan, Administration and Congressional support for immediate economic stimulus funding, with a bias toward increasing sustainable green-collar jobs. Of or pertaining to rural, agricultural employment; often contrasted with urban blue-collar employment. 1983, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Forestry, Water Resources, and Environment, Cultivation of Marihuana in National Forests: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Forestry, Water Resources, and Environment, […], U.S. Government Printing Office, page 32, American [marijuana] growers, who have more recently become known as America's "green-collar" workers because of the bright green color of their product, […] 2004, Martin Heidenreich et al., Regional Innovation Systems: The Role of Governances in a Globalized World, Routledge UK, page 394, Qualification structure of the workforce (%) 1980 1997 Blue-collar 29.7 33.5 Green-collar 21.2 10.0 White-collar 25.0 31.7 Grey-collar 24.0 24.8
Al Gore Repower America
Al Gore states that economists across the spectrum — including Martin Feldstein and Lawrence Summers — agree that large and rapid investments in a jobs-intensive infrastructure initiative is the best way to revive the economy in a quick and sustainable way.
Center for American Progress A report from the Center for American Progress concludes that a $100 billion federal investment in sustainable energy technologies over 2009 and 2010 would yield 2 million new U.S. jobs, cutting the unemployment rate by 1.3% and put the nation on a path toward a low-carbon economy. The report, prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, proposes $50 billion in tax credits for energy efficiency retrofits and renewable energy systems; $46 billion in direct government spending for public building retrofits, mass transit, freight rail, smart electrical grid systems, and renewable energy systems; and $4 billion for federal loan guarantees to help finance building retrofits and renewable energy projects. The Center believes that sustainable energy investments would yield about 300,000 more jobs than if the same funds were distributed among U.S. taxpayers. The sustainable energy investments would also have the added benefits of lower home energy bills and reduced prices for non-renewable energy sources, due to the reduced consumption of those energy sources.
Worldwatch Institute/UNEP Global efforts to tackle climate change could result in millions of "green" jobs over the coming decades, according to a 2008 study prepared by the Worldwatch Institute with funding from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The study found that the global market for environmental products and services is projected to double from $1.37 trillion per year at present to $2.74 trillion by 2020, with half of that market in efficient energy use. In terms of energy supply, the renewable energy industry will be particularly important. Some 2.3 million people have found renewable energy jobs in recent years, and projected investments of $630 billion by 2030 would translate into at least 20 million additional jobs.
U.S. Conference of Mayors Also in 2008, the U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report that finds the U.S. economy currently generates more than 750,000 green jobs, while over the next 30 years, an emphasis on clean energy could result in a five-fold increase, to more than 4.2 million jobs. Engineering, legal, research, and consulting jobs currently dominate the green jobs in the United States and could grow by 1.4 million by 2038, while renewable electricity production will create 1.23 million jobs, alternative transportation fuels will add 1.5 million jobs, and building retrofits will create another 81,000 jobs. The report notes that most of today's jobs are in metropolitan areas, led by New York City; Washington, D.C.; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles, California.
Green-Collar Work in China
Background In China, green-collar work is defined as "employment in industries, professions, departments and enterprises that on an average social level have low input, high output, low consumption, low emissions, recyclability, and are sustainable". With this definition, the main goal of green-collar work is to increase productive efficiency while minimizing resources used in production, including energy, while being environmentally conscious. This framework for green development maintains the current Chinese economic paradigm that has prioritized economic growth. As a general rule, green jobs include jobs in low-carbon development and environment protection. For some examples: environmental protection has existed in China since the 1970s, tree planting commenced in China every year since the PRC was established, and the solar power industry has been producing on a large scale since its beginning in the 1990s.
Policy decisions Since 1979, many pieces of legislation have been passed in China regarding environmental protection, including:
Laws regarding pollution: Solid Waste Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Water Pollution Prevention and Control Law, Air Pollution Prevention Law, Water Pollution Control Regulation, The Energy Conservation Law.
Laws regarding recycling and clean production: Clean Production Promotion Law, Renewable Energy Law, Circular Economy Promotion Law.
China has also passed a number of laws for developing renewable energy and optimizing China's energy structure, including: Energy Conservation Law, Eleventh Five-Year Plan – Outline for Economic and Social Development, Plan of Energy Efficiency and Emissions Reduction, Eleventh Five-Year Plan for Environmental Protection, National Climate Change Program, Climate Change Policies and Actions, and the New Energy Development Plan.
These policies aim to develop innovations and optimizations for various power generation technologies, including thermoelectric, hydroelectric, solar, wind, biofuel, and nuclear. In addition, the "policies promote the clean usage of coal, the use of coal-bed and coal-well gas".
In 2007, the state council also issued the Comprehensive Plan to Save Energy and Reduce Emissions, giving 45 policy measures to save energy and reduce emissions. The measures related to technological innovation of traditional industries are as follows:
"Accelerate the desulphurization of current facilities for thermal power units, enhancing desulphurized unit's capacity to 213 million kW. Newly built or expanded coal power plants must build desulphurized facilities and reserve places for denitration. Further promote projects in coal washing and clean-burning coal technologies. Strengthen the paper making, brewing, chemical, textile and dyeing industry's waste water and pollution management and technological innovation".