The Made in America Jobs Tour is a project created by the Alliance for Climate Protection’s Repower America campaign, the Blue Green Alliance, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. The tour will features stops in cities across the nation to highlight the importance of transitioning to a clean energy economy. One of today’s tour stops is in Gary, Indiana, where a green jobs rally featuring EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will begin at 4:00 pm.

 

The event is hosted by Bobbie Stewart and will be held at USW District 7 Office, McBride Hall at 1301 Texas Street in Texas. The hour-long rally will focus on how the city’s ailing steel plants can become a part of the nation’s clean energy economy by manufacturing wind turbine parts and hybrid car batteries.

 

Although the focus of this rally will be on regenerating Gary’s economy with good, green jobs, green jobs naysayers are also expected to show up at the event as well. “journalists have reported that the dirty energy lobby is pressuring employees to show up at demonstrations against green jobs. They've named corporate coordinators to count noses and take names. They've hired a national events coordinator to choreograph these gatherings, trying to make them appear to be spontaneous expressions of grassroots sentiment.” Source: NRDC Switchboard

 

Earlier this summer, the Pew Charitable Trusts released the results of a clean energy industry study. The study showed that employment in the clean energy industry experienced a 9.1% job growth between 1998 and 2007. This is nearly three times the 3.7% growth seen across all job categories during the same time period.

 

During that same time period, the state of Indiana experienced an explosive 17.9% growth in clean energy jobs while overall jobs in the state declined by 1%. In 2007, there were 1,268 “clean businesses” in the state. Indiana residents have a lot to gain from converting these steel plants into clean energy manufacturing facilities.

 

In addition to the Gary, Indiana, green jobs rally; the Made in America Jobs Tour will also have events today in St. Louis, Missouri, Flagstaff, Arizona, Knoxville, Tennessee, and Fargo, North Dakota. More events are planned for Wednesday and Thursday of this week as well as September 9 and September 14. To see the entire list, and get details about the green jobs rally in your area, visit the Made in America Jobs Tour website.