Climate Crisis – Economic Crisis

Rising Oceans – Rising Unemployment

Ecological Collapse – Economic Collapse

“Our country cannot afford politics as usual – not at a moment when the energy challenge we face is so great and the consequences of inaction are so dangerous. We must act quickly and we must act boldly to transform our entire economy – from our cars and our fuels to our factories and our buildings…” President Barack Obama

“[U]nless we create a massive green-economy movement across America, Obama won’t have the mandate he needs to overcome the oil companies and make fundamental change. As president, Obama’s extraordinary power comes from the people outside Washington. And that’s us.”

MoveOn.org email to over 2 million members

February 18, 2009

TWO CRISES – ONE SOLUTION: GREEN JOBS – GOOD JOBS - MS Word Version

An important coalition of labor, environmental and grass roots community organizations, called the Blue Green Alliance,[1] is mobilizing to demand Action by Congress on the President’s program for “New Energy for America.” This program, called cap-and-trade, is a first step toward saving the planet and the key to rebuilding our economy. It imposes a declining cap on emissions, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent from current levels by 2050. It links the creation of good jobs with creating green jobs.

There is debate over how to reduce emissions and whether it is enough. There is no debate over the need to start NOW.

But the energy monopolies – oil, coal and natural gas – are already on the offensive. The President’s program will undoubtedly cut into their profits, but it is really the only choice if we are to survive.

How will cap-and-trade work? The program would sell greenhouse gas emission rights to companies and then auction these rights with the money going to fund new investment and jobs in clean energy infrastructure. But big corporations are demanding that these rights be allocated free by the government on the basis of current emissions. Then they would profit again by selling these rights to others. Either way the proposal utilizes “market forces” to incentivize emission reductions by allowing companies that are cleaner than their allowance to sell the difference to companies that can’t meet their allowance.

Cap-and-trade is a first step. It may not be enough. Cap-and-trade is hard to enforce. It worked to reduce sulfur oxide emissions, but on a much smaller scale and with relatively inexpensive technology. The same approach failed in the Kyoto Treaty because it was unenforceable – and because the U.S. never signed on.

The principles of the Blue-Green Alliance, however, are sound and strive for economic justice. They stress scientific targets, an economy-wide architecture, and job creation and retention, ending regional economic disparities and leading to economic justice.

A carbon tax may be better. A carbon tax is viewed by many as a better alternative, in which the government would tax carbon usage at an increasing rate. It could be more effective than cap-and-trade, because fossil fuel purchases are easily monitored. It still relies on market forces.

Business has to pay for cleaning up the mess. Corporate lobbyists argue that the costs of limiting greenhouse gas emissions will be simply passed through to consumers. In a depression, they argue, this would raise prices at a time when people have less money, and would hurt the economy. This is a self-serving deception, however. Experience teaches us that prices are set in the marketplace, not in corporate accounting departments. This is the same lie that says that higher wages cause higher prices.

Corporations need to pay for the damage they do to the environment. Workers need the jobs that will come from building the means to do so.

It is very possible that ultimately we will need the government to impose absolute ceilings on greenhouse gas emissions, with stiff fines for violations. We may ultimately need worker or government takeover of companies that arrogantly thumb their noses at the fate of the planet, to retool them with green technology.

What’s most important is a movement! The Blue-Green Alliance/Obama program has a movement behind it. Additional measures will follow if the need becomes apparent. Getting people into motion on the issues is the key.

The interlocking crises of the economy and climate catastrophe offer the chance to do this. The Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism urges all progressives and organization to get behind it.

“Business-as-usual global warming will almost surely send the planet beyond a tipping point… “

James Hansen, NASA, Goddard Institute for Space Studies[2]