Report: Jobs in a Green Economy

Tuesday, 2/23 at 5:30

By Jim Miller

Join yours truly this Tuesday, February 23rd at 5:30 as I moderate a talk by Carol Zabin of the UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Green Economy Program.  Zabin is the author of “Putting California on the High Road: A Jobs and Climate Action Plan for 2030.”  

In this report, she offers a vision for California’s future that evades the false choice between jobs and the environment.  She argues that we should be integrating economic workforce development strategies into climate policy in an effort to fight catastrophic climate change while promoting social equity at the same time.  

As the Daily Californian noted in its coverage of the report when it was released last fall:

• Zabin said the report’s recommendations are important amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the state is faced with a high recession and the challenge of how to rebuild.

• According to Zabin, although there is no substitute for a big stimulus package for the economy, California can either proceed in a “clean, green” way that is more equitable or fall back on old patterns involving cutting corners on the environment and on workers.

• “California has the most comprehensive portfolio of climate policies and programs, so it’s really important to add labor and equity elements to that, and this report shows the state how,” Zabin said.

Thus, as we approach a larger national discussion about how to address climate in the Biden Administration’s forthcoming recovery package, Zabin’s work is particularly relevant.  

As Naomi Klein has argued, the climate crisis and the crisis of economic inequality are fundamentally interrelated.  We will never address one without also dealing with the other and that question is at the heart of Zabin’s work.  

This event is being co-hosted by the San Diego Labor, Environmental, and Community Coalition  the San Diego Green New Deal Alliance, the Progressive Labor Alliance, and the Climate Hub in an effort to create an intersectional space for a larger discussion on how to move toward a sustainable future without leaving workers behind.  

While environmental issues are frequently a source of conflict within labor and between labor and environmental groups, we believe a better way is possible.  

For more on Zabin’s report go here:

To register to for the event, go here: