{"id":447626,"date":"2010-03-19T12:22:49","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T16:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/apolloalliance.org\/?p=1380"},"modified":"2010-03-19T12:22:49","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T16:22:49","slug":"read-this-book-emerald-cities-by-joan-fitzgerald-officially-released-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/447626","title":{"rendered":"Read This Book! Emerald Cities by Joan Fitzgerald Officially Released This Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This week marked the official publication of a book whose arrival the Apollo Alliance has long awaited: Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development<\/em>. The book, written by Joan Fitzgerald, director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University, is an eminently readable primer on the diversity of policies and programs American cities have implemented to create local economic development as they transition to clean energy.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald was inspired to write the book by a trip she took to Europe, where she visited cities in Germany that were creatively integrating environmental and economic-development goals. She wanted to find out if American cities were undertaking similar efforts and whether those cities\u2019 strategies to transition to a low-carbon economy were in fact leading to local economic growth.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald discusses renewable energy initiatives in Austin and Cleveland; energy efficiency efforts in Milwaukee and Los Angeles; programs to promote clean energy manufacturing in Pittsburgh and New York City; and public transit policies in Denver and Portland; among many other examples. Although she highlights cities that have been successful in meeting their environmental and economic development goals, she also describes the challenges some cities have faced as they implemented what they thought were model policies that didn\u2019t end up producing their desired effect.<\/p>\n

This book is required reading for clean energy, good jobs advocates who work at the local and regional level. Not only does it cover many of the policies that cities should consider implementing if they haven\u2019t already done so, it also touches on some of the issues that Apollo holds most dear: equity (making sure green economic opportunities are accessible to everyone, including low-income and people of color communities), job quality (making sure green jobs are good jobs) and industrial policy (a policy to promote domestic manufacturing of clean energy systems and components).<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald concludes the book by emphasizing a concept that should be familiar to Apollo Alliance supporters. She writes, \u201c\u2026 the parts are linked to the whole, and to each other. We must only connect them. Renewable energy, energy efficiency, green building, recycling, waste reduction, fewer cars, more trains, walking, and biking are not individual policies but parts of the whole of how cities must be transformed. As impressive are the efforts of many American cities, they will realize their full potential only when the exercise is understood to be comprehensive and only when federal and state policy is working to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emerald Cities<\/em> is available from Amazon.com<\/a> or you can purchase it directly from the publisher, Oxford University Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Report on How to Make Weatherization Jobs Good Jobs<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Tuesday, the Apollo Alliance and the Green Justice Coalition released a new report about the importance of making the fast-growing weatherization field a \u201chigh road\u201d industry. According to the report, An Industry at the Crossroads: Energy Efficiency Employment in Massachusetts<\/a><\/em>, the state of Massachusetts could gain 6,000 high-quality jobs in weatherization by taking a high road approach. Although this is a state-specific report, many of its recommendations are relevant to weatherization programs anywhere in the United States.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s findings include the following:<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Right now, weatherization wages are poverty wages. Prevailing wages in home weatherization are $11.26 to $17.59 per hour in Massachusetts, so low that workers qualify for low-income weatherization assistance.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u201cLow-road jobs\u201d cost workers, taxpayers, and the state. Employers who underpay workers shift the cost of supporting their families onto taxpayers. This can cost the state and federal government more than $28,000 a year per family.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u201cHigh road\u201d jobs are a good bargain. Paying all of Massachusetts\u2019s energy efficiency workers $18 an hour + $4 in benefits would bring in $32 million a year in income taxes, unemployment contributions, and worker compensation premiums.<\/p>\n

The report recommends that the state, cities, and utility companies can make weatherization jobs \u201cgood jobs\u201d by aggregating individual retrofit jobs to create larger \u201cbundled\u201d contracts;\u00a0 and requiring contractors to meet \u201cresponsible employer\u201d standards, which would ensure that contractors pay living wages and offer benefits, provide quality training and safe workplaces, and hire local residents; among other recommendations.<\/p>\n

The report can be downloaded at the Apollo Alliance website<\/a> or the Community Labor United website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other news \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

*Labor, business and environmental groups urge Sens. Kerry, Graham and Lieberman to support clean energy manufacturing<\/strong>. On Thursday, the Apollo Alliance sent a letter of support for the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technologies (IMPACT) Act to Senators John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman. The letter urged the senators to include investments in domestic clean energy manufacturing in their bipartisan climate and clean energy bill. It was signed by 17 major labor unions, businesses, industry associations, environmental organizations and social justice groups, including the AFL-CIO, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Solar Energy Industries Association. Nearly 2,000 Apollo Alliance supporters have emailed their Senators with a similar message during the last week. Are you one of them? Click here<\/a> to email your senators about making sure the Kerry\/Graham\/Lieberman bill supports clean energy manufacturing.<\/p>\n

*Bureau of Labor Statistics Defines Green Jobs!<\/strong> The Bureau of Labor Statistics has just published its definition of green jobs and is seeking feedback. The\u00a0 BLS says that, \u201cbroadly defined, green jobs are jobs involved in economic activities that help protect or restore the environment or conserve natural resources.\u201d It lists those economic activities, which include renewable energy, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas reduction, pollution, and others. Click here<\/a> to read the details about the BLS green jobs definition and its request for written comments, which must be submitted by April 30.<\/p>\n

*Become a communications intern at the Apollo Alliance.<\/strong> The Apollo Alliance is seeking a smart, organized, energetic person with strong research, writing and internet skills to assist our communications department this summer. Responsibilities will include writing projects and website maintenance, among others. Click here <\/a>to read the job description.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week marked the official publication of a book whose arrival the Apollo Alliance has long awaited: Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development. The book, written by Joan Fitzgerald, director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University, is an eminently readable primer on the diversity of policies and programs American cities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-447626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}