Today, we began to get a taste of what that could look like. This afternoon, President Obama spoke in Holland, MI at the site of a new factory being built by Compact Power, an advanced battery company.
The President made a powerful pitch his economic recovery plan. He spoke of cutting taxes for 95 percent of working families in Michigan and across the country and the importance of the federal government laying a foundation for small businesses to build on.
Obama was at his best when he got down to the specifics of what could be accomplished in the battery sector alone:
And by the way, these aren’t just any jobs. These are jobs in the industries of the future. Just a few years ago, American businesses manufactured only 2 percent of the world’s advanced batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles — 2 percent. But because of what’s happening in places like this, in just five years we’ll have up to 40 percent of the world’s capacity — 40 percent. (Applause.) So for years you’ve been hearing about manufacturing jobs disappearing overseas. You are leading the way in showing how manufacturing jobs are coming right back here to the United States of America. (Applause.)
The President also went after Republicans or blocking progress:
There are some folks who want to go back –- who think that we should return to the policies that helped to lead to this recession. Some of them made the political calculation that it’s better to obstruct than to lend a hand. They said no to tax cuts, they said no to small business loans, they said no to clean energy projects. Now, it doesn’t stop them from being at ribbon-cuttings — (laughter) — but that’s okay. I just want to make sure that everybody understands that this country would not be better off if this plant hadn’t gotten built and if the clean energy package that made it possible wasn’t in place. (Applause.)
Missing from the speech was a single reference to the legislation currently being debated in Congress. If the energy and climate bill has any chance of passing the Senate it’s going to need the full endorsement of the President. I can hardly think of a better opportunity than at an advanced battery plant in America’s heartland.
Or perhaps there is one place . . .
Just last week, I helped launch a new campaign with 350.org, PutSolarOn.It, to try and convince President Obama to install solar panels on the roof of the White House. Sure, it’s a symbolic gesture, but it would be a powerful chance for Obama to send a clear message to the entire nation: this is our future.
It would be a chance for Obama to stand up on his own roof and walk some clean energy talk — and then push hard for Congress to do the same. (You can add your voice to the effort by visiting the PutSolarOn.It website).
President Obama is starting to make the pitch for clean energy. Now it’s time for him to shout it from the rooftops.
After many dollars and much political capital are spent on non-gasoline private vehicles, we will discover that a consumer product is not the efficient way to move people or organize society. But by then, the carbon number will be much past 350 and though profits will have been made, progress will not.
Van Jones said it well at Power Shift 2009, I’ll paraphrase here. Will our “green” economy be based on the same ecologically and socially exploitative systems. Do we, as a movement, want to be complicit in creating, or actively cheer lead the way to an economy that requires us to fight imperial wars for Lithium instead of oil?
It is important to be able to point to solutions and ways of moving forward to meet our needs, but if our “solutions” aren’t based on a more thorough analysis of our current problems (climate crisis < climate justice < ecological justice = social justice), then they aren't solutions, they are next steps in the spread of imperial economic and ecological relationships.
Yes, lets build up our economic base through local jobs that build things – but lets also consider the supply chain. What about jobs building sustainable transportation infrastructure, rather than replacing our petro-imperial-based transportation system with a lithium & rare-earth-mineral-based transportation system.
I expect politicians to cheer lead false solutions, but expect a more holistic analysis from the youth climate movement.
You’re right on, Andrew. We need solutions that are as socially just as they are ecologically sound. But I think you’re a bit off the mark on condemning solar panels (you’ll notice that Van and many others “cheer lead” solar along with many other solutions).
Look, the point is not that a solar panel on the White House is going to save the world. The goal is to get our President to start throwing his weight behind real solutions, to start using his bully pulpit (or rooftop) to educate and advocate. It may start with a panel, but it can’t end there.
I like your use of the word holistic. Just as we need a holistic approach to solutions, we need a holistic approach to movement building as well. It takes many different approaches, different people, and different entries. That’s one of the reasons why our real focus this year is on the 10/10 day of action — it’s a platform for people to show their own solutions and start building the future they want to see from the ground up.
You want sustainable transportation: how can you help turn your town or city into a test case? Who do you need to bring on board? How can you connect it to a discussion of social justice?
We all know that we can’t be waiting for our politicians to lead, but we can sure be pushing them to follow our example.
You’re right. I meant my critique to target the focus on electric vehicle battery tech development Obama was touting in Michigan, not 350′s PutSolarOn.It.
I think solar panels on the White House would be a symbolic act with potentially rippling effects, and that 350.org (and the whole crew of people behind it and Step it Up) offers a powerful, serious, and inspiring entry point to the sustainability movement. A local Step it Up 2007 event was one of the first events I helped organize! Solar is going to be an important part of future energy systems, hopefully distributed and community-owned, and work like PutSolarOn is an important starting point for people to begin asking themselves questions like the ones you pose to me on building sustainable transportation. The 10/10 day of action sounds great.
Here in the Coal River Valley this week a locally-driven community economic diversification group is installing the first solar water heater in the Valley. It’s on a home on the foot of Coal River Mountain, and across the valley – in plain sight of – the Edwight mine site, and a two minute drive from Marsh Fork Elementary School. If Put Solar On It is using pictures to the same effect as 350.org’s 350 campaign, I’ll try and make sure you end up getting a photo.