MNN - Mother Nature Network

Although I usually reserve my link love posts for a Friday, with the holidays coming up I decided to write a midweek green jobs news roundup instead. As 2010 comes to a close, a lot is still happening in the green jobs world.

 

Evidently the Aloha State will be seeing a bump in green jobs over the next two years. According to an article in the Honolulu Star Advertiser, green jobs are expected to grow by 26 percent between now and 2012. The state currently has approximately 11,000 green jobs and expects 14,000 by 2012. Although this may not sound like a big jump, the 14,000 green jobs the state expects by 2012 will make up three percent of the state’s total employment.

 

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm recently announced a new power purchase agreement that will bring more green jobs to the state. To help foster the deployment of wind energy in the state, Northern Power Systems will be supplying direct drive wind turbines that are manufactured at their Saginaw facility. The project is expected to add 137 new workers. Again, 137 may not sound like a big number but if we can get thousands of businesses across the country helping 100 or 200 people get back to work, we’ll begin to see the economy turn around.

 

Shari Shapiro answers a question that has cropped up in recent weeks – why aren’t there more green jobs? An article in the Wall Street Journal published last month highlighted the plight of Laurance Anton, a 56 year-old unemployed man that can’t find work despite completing a green jobs training program.

Shapiro’s response to this question is great:

“The underlying assumptions of the Washington Post article, and many others like it, are inherently flawed. You cannot wring blood from a stone. The recovery is happening slowly.  Lending is still very tight, meaning that it is difficult to get building projects -- green or otherwise -- financed. In other words, it's the economy, stupid.”

Exactly the point I was trying to make in my post Is the green jobs boom a bust?