Jobs and Renewable Energy, Hand in Hand
By Brenton Crozier
Can’t you picture it? Jobs and Renewable Energy walking into the sunset hand in hand. Maybe The Beach Boys “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” playing.
Well, you can’t simply create jobs out of the ether. And how long can we afford to put off the vital environmental work that needs to be done? Hold the phone (does anybody say that anymore?), there are organizations meeting both needs?
“Renewable Energy Development in Central Appalachia” is the tagline of The JOBS Project, Inc., an organization that is creating awareness, ownership and employment in the renewable energy field. It’s no great mystery that if there is going to be any type of real energy sustainability in the United States, we have to welcome renewable energy alternatives. In particular, the people that live in coal producing states know the first-hand effects of practices like mountain-top removal mining, but also know better than anybody that something has to give.
Framing this concern along the lines of political pugilism has only stifled progress and caused unnecessary division. But with the current state of the economy and soaring gas prices, how can we deny that organizations like The JOBS Project are creating real, pragmatic solutions that treat landowners with the respect they deserve, the environment with the care it needs, all while creating good paying jobs?
Solar, wind, biopower and energy efficiency–not a single one of these is a silver bullet on its own, but you smartly implement them all . . . sha-zam! And no one solution is perfect, but nobody can deny that your can harness the power of wind and the sun to create power. Just think, both are there for free, a virtual buffet of renewable energy resources.
Visit The JOBS Project, Inc. to learn more about who they are, what they do and how they do it. I’m sure you will find their work substantive and completely applicable to the needs of the real word, not just empty platitudes and grandiose, improbable concepts.
We Want to Know:
- Do you know about organizations that are making efforts to solve multiple issues with pragmatic solutions?
- What do you think of The JOBS Project, Inc.?
While officials from The JOBS Project, Inc. were not featured in our Appalachia episode, “Appalachia Rising,” you can hear about the renewable energy efforts that they have inspired in the area.
