Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Wait, is that...optimism?

I remember reading about the Civilian Conservation Corps for the first time, and thinking that the United States could 'kill several birds with one stone' (not the best expression for the topic) if they would just do something like that. Van Jones confirms that belief:
“The green economy has the power to deliver new sources of work, wealth and health to low-income people — while honoring the Earth. If you can do that, you just wiped out a whole bunch of problems. We can make what is good for poor black kids good for the polar bears and good for the country.”

The intersection between the environment and the economy is a clear one. There is the very basic issue that without the biosphere there would be no economy, none at all. The social inequalities of the United States demonstrate that the 'resources' that are being 'harvested' from that biosphere are not being distributed equally among the inhabitants in our corner of the world (or any corner, really). That such a problem, inequality of resource distribution, could be partially solved by the protection and enhancement of those 'resources'(sorry I hate that word, it is reductionist) is beautifully simple. And it seems apropos that I am typing this on the day that Obama*, who says that he wants to create millions of green jobs, might be elected. I wish him, and Van Jones, the best of luck in their endeavors.



*Yes I snarked on him on a previous post, and the snark stands, because I think he set his sights too low.

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