What is a green-collar job? An article from Time Magazine (26 May 2008) provides an answer from Phil Angelides

A venture capitalist and the 2006 Democratic candidate for governor of California (he lost to the political world's best-known Austrian-American), Angelides is the chair of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of business, labor and environmental groups championing green employment. Here's how he defines a green job: "It has to pay decent wages and benefits that can support a family. It has to be part of a real career path, with upward mobility. And it needs to reduce waste and pollution and benefit the environment."

• Obama proposes $210 billion for new jobs: Associated Press
• Green-collar jobs: Raquel Pinderhughes
• Green-collar jobs, defined and counted: Alan Durling
• Colorado's new energy economy: Governor Bill Ritter
• Obama's "Green Jobs" Plan Will Not Work: Kenneth Green

1. Do you agree with Phil Angelides' definition of green-collar jobs? What would you add or subtract from his definition?
2. Who will create green-collar jobs? Why will it happen?
3. Can green-collar job creation be the solution to the current state unemployment problem? Explain why or why not.
4. What is the difference in analysis between President Obama and Kenneth Green that leads to their opposed conclusions?

1. Mecklenburg County is the home to a number of large traditional energy companies (e.g., Progress Energy). Can the county leverage that expertise to encourage a wave of green-collar jobs in the county? If so, how? If not, why not?
2. Lenoir County is dotted with hog lagoons, the refuse dumps of hog finishing operations on many farms. There is currently a moratorium in place on the construction of new hog lagoons. New technologies have been proposed for handling hog waste, but these are currently more expensive to the hog grower than the existing lagoons. Is this an opportunity for green employment? Explain.