The Green Jobs Now Blog
Updated videos for President Obama
Now that Barack Obama has been elected President , we made a couple changes to our video messages. I'm posting the updates here, but you can find the original versions elsewhere on the blog.
We're not going to update this blog moving forward, so please check out the blogs at Greenforall.org, 1sky.org, and wecansolveit.org.
We've got big plans for this winter, 2009, and beyond (including delivering these videos to Obama after he has taken office), so definitely find us on(and off)line.
Here are those videos:
On the topic of videos, this hot one from Rock the Vote came in too late to be included in the video contest, but is definitely worth watching:
Message Delivered to Obama and McCain
Thousands of Americans joined us on September 27th to send a message to the nation and our leaders: "We're Ready for Green Jobs Now".
Today, we delivered that message to our next President.
We just sent these two videos to the Obama and McCain campaigns.
What is your plan to invest in us?
We're ready. Are you?
Well really, we sent individualized versions to each candidate. You can see the videos to Obama here: www.greenjobsnow.com/obama and to McCain here: www.greenjobsnow.com/mccain
But we wanted to share the videos to both candidates here so that folks can spread them far and wide. Please share these.
New York is Ready!
New York - Urban Agenda, the New York Apollo Alliance, and students in green-collar training programs are ready!
Pictured here - students from the Consortium for Worker Education's SMaRT training (Sustainable, Mechanical and Retrofitting Technologies) completing a class at the Association for Energy Affordability.
"All these students are on the pathway to employment in retrofitting and building analysis. They are ready for the new green economy!" - Rebecca Lurie, Consortium for Worker Education – a member of the NYC Apollo Alliance Steering Committee.
Urban Agenda, convener of the NYC Apollo Alliance, is leading advocacy efforts to ensure NYC's sustainability policies create good jobs and enhance New York City's environment. Urban Agenda is also spearheading the Green Collar Jobs Roundtable Campaign to urge New York City Mayoral and City Council candidates to commit to a workforce development plan that connects green jobs with jobseekers.
brief check-ins from the Green For All team...
We just checked in with some Green For All staff members who are scattered across the country, supporting various Green Jobs Now events... here's a very brief taste from everyone...
Meanwhile, in the Oakland office, we've been calling media outlets all morning, frantically uploading video and photo, and working to support the Ella Baker Center's local event in Mosswood Park tomorrow.
CHECK-INS
Parin (Pittsburgh) - Collecting biodiesel. Event will be solar powered by a local union. Pittsburgh is happening!
Stacy (Seattle) - Picking up 3 solar panels for event now...
Brennan
(Chicago) - Frantically flyering for event. Had an idea to go to an
employment agency. Guys at the agency excited about green jobs... they signed petition and are totally ready!
Julia (Oxford MS) - Windmills are going up.
Mahfam
(New Orleans) - Going great. Expecting good
turnout for the rally, really excited about the musicians.
Alli
(Los Angeles) - Leaving a meeting at PV jobs in Los Angeles. They have
3000 positions filled with 70% formerly incarcerated. Rocking
it in L.A.
Ibrahim (DC) - Frantically sending photos of Congressional Black Caucus members from DC.
Hon. Antoine M Thompson, NYS Senate, 60th District - Buffalo with Ibrahim Ramey Board member of the Climate Crisis Coalition at CBC
NEW VIDEO Challenges Newt's phony "solutions"
Our new video challenges Newt Gingrich's drill, drill, drill "solution", and presents the Green Jobs Now alternative: lower gas and energy prices, more American jobs, and a healthier planet.
"Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" is a cute slogan, but it's based on lies. The polluters are using high gas prices to trick people into letting them drill more, burn more and profit more. But we know that throwing away the beauty of our coastlines for drilling won't affect gas prices for 20 years. And 20 years from now? Offshore drilling is projected to only lower the price of fuel a measly 1.3 percent.
Compare that to our plan: increasing the supply of clean energy through wind and solar, and decreasing the demand for dirty energy by using plug-in hybrid cars in a clean energy grid. Remember Economics 101? The law of supply and demand dictates that increasing supply and decreasing demand will bring prices down. And you don't need to buy a hybrid to reap the benefits: fewer people guzzling gas overall will give even the Hummer drivers lower prices at the pump.
The same is true not only for cars, but for homes. If we weatherize or put solar panels on a million homes, overall demand will decrease, lowering prices even for those who make no home improvements.
Finally, building a clean energy infrastructure in this country is gonna take work. We can create millions of good jobs, putting this country back to work in green collar jobs that can't be shipped overseas. A new report shows that green investment will lead to 2 million jobs in the next 2 years.
The next President and Congress will have to make a choice between Newt's lies, and investing in a new green economy, strong enough to Repower America and lift millions of people out of poverty.
This Saturday, September 27th, show them whose side you are on.Green Jobs Now at Grind for the Green, a solar-powered hip-hop show organized by youth
Check the video:
Wind Rally in West Virginia: Fighting dirty coal with clean alternatives
On Sept 16, West Virginia organizers help a protest against mountaintop coal removal. They are advocating creating clean wind energy farms to save the mountains and streams of West Virginia from this destructive practice.
The Flash Mob Photo: 7 steps to telling the candidates that you're ready for Green Jobs Now
- Pick a time and place in your neighborhood or city (It can be at city hall, or just a park or street corner). Click "Host an event" and enter this information.
- Spread the word far and wide through phone calls, emails, fliers posted at café’s or telephone poll, and tools like evite, craigslist, myspace. All should have a link where people can RSVP to your event online (this is automatically assigned once your sign up to "Host an Event"). Tell everyone to show up exactly on time.
- Make a banner that says “X town/street/neighborhood/barber shop is Ready for Green Jobs Now”. Get creative with props.
- On the 27th, bring a camera and your banner and props to the spot.
- When everyone shows up, take LOTS of photos and videos.
- Make sure everyone signs the "I'm Ready" Petition.
- AFTER your event, upload photos and videos to GreenJobsNow.com, and mail us your petitions.
Resource: Organizing 101 and Media Training audio file
Listen to our conference call trainings for event hosts from today and yesterday.
- Organizing Your Event 101 : download here
- Media Training with Van Jones : download here
Tips for taking Group Photos
Here are some tips for your "I'm Ready" photo shoot, only slightly adapted from: http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/how-to-take-great-group-photos/ 1. Prepare: There is nothing that will make of people posing for a photograph turn upon you faster than you not being prepared. People don’t like to be kept waiting so think ahead about some of the following aspects of your photo: * scope out the location of your shot before hand * think ahead about how you will pose people and frame your shot * make sure everyone you want in the shot knows you want them there for a few minutes * make your your camera is on and has charged batteries
New Report: Green Investment Will Yield Two Million New Jobs in Two Years
The Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and the Center for American Progress (a Green Jobs Now partner) just released a report which finds that,
The U.S. can create two million jobs by investing in a rapid green economic recovery program, which will strengthen the economy, increase energy independence, and fight global warming...
Green Recovery reports that a short-term green stimulus package would create two million jobs nationwide over two years....
The short-term $100 billion green economic recovery package would:
- Create nearly four times more total jobs than spending the same amount of money within the oil industry, and 300,000 more jobs than a similar amount of spending directed toward household consumption.
- Create roughly triple the number of good jobs — paying at least $16 dollars an hour — as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry.
- Reduce the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent from 5.7 percent (calculated within the framework of U.S. labor market conditions in July 2008).
- Bolster employment especially in construction and manufacturing. Construction employment has fallen from 8 million to 7.2 million jobs over the past two years due to the housing bubble collapse. The Green Recovery program can, at the least, bring back these lost 800,000 construction jobs.
Green Recovery – A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy was prepared by the PERI and released by a coalition of labor and environmental groups.
Read more and download the report here.
Photo and video resource page up
We just put up a new page on photos and videos for Green jobs Now: www.greenjobsnow.com/hq/photos-and-videos
The most powerful events can actually be the simplest: gather in one place and take a photo with a "We're Ready" sign. Photos and videos are essential to sending a powerful and unified message to our leaders.
The Green Economy is Coming
This video from the Applied Research Center is a great overview of the green economy:
ACTION ALERT: Coal company to begin destruction of major West Virginia wind energy resource
Urgent action alert from our friends at Coal River Mountain Wind! Please help them ask WV Governor Manchin for "stay of execution" for Coal River Mountain. While the residents of Coal River Valley in West Virginia thought we had months to stop the proposed Mountaintop Removal coal mining operation for Coal River Mountain, the coal company – Massey Energy – circumvented the law and altered their permits, and are set to begin blasting the mountain for coal TOMORROW, September 10th. Call Governor Manchin today.
Flyers, Banners, "We're ready, we're ready..."
On Friday, Green Jobs Now event hosts from Grind for the Green and Silence the Violence picked up some flyers at the Green For All office, and took the opportunity to do an impromptu photo shoot.
Check out their hot banner.
