In Portland last week I watched Al Gore endorse Bill Bradbury to be Oregon's next governor. (Disclosure: I count Bill as longtime friend, and served as his Chief of Staff when he presided over the Oregon Senate in 1993).
I went in part looking to hear about the transition to green jobs, because both of these guys have the brains and experience to drill deeper than pleasant platitudes, down to the bedrock of economic reality. I didn't hear depth, and with hindsight understand why: this was a launching event to rev up core supporters, not a policy summit on the new economy. And it served its purpose.
But it's time to put more meat on the bones of Green Jobs, and on the larger assertion that what's good for the environment is good for the economy. There's a critical mass of people who want to believe that, but the combination of the scariness of change and propaganda from the fossil-fuel establishment has too many of them stuck. In this week's column I'm suggesting that we're not doing much good as cheerleaders for abstract claims about economic conversion; let's push candidates to glean the best data from the Apollo Project and other sources, and turn on some voters not already in the choir.
As one who always wants to answer the question posed by the opposition to any idea I find constructive, rather than turn the question back onto the questioner, I esp. liked "At least some of the burden goes to the nay-sayers: If you want to stick with fossil fuels and hyper-consumption, explain to us how that will lead us to high-quality jobs, restored prosperity and a livable environment. Details, please."
ReplyDeleteBut I also liked the motto of the blue-and-white banner. It's not about having the quick, good answer, it's about commitment.
I do wonder about Bradbury and health care, not having heard his position and having come to feel that we simply MUST pass something that means something this time. As James Fallows recently commented on NPR, this is the third time the opposition has used the same scare tactics and erroneous descriptions of attempted health care reform. I can't choose between climate and health, because they're both interconnected.