U.S. Mayors Call for 'Green Revolution'

Every time I drive past the Solar Store in Tucson, I check to see if the sign about needing to hire people is still up. So far, still up. From what I hear around town, they can’t hire people fast enough because there is so much consumer interest in solar everything.

So I was not totally surprised when my friend Susan sent me an article about U.S. Mayors calling for a green revolution. From my view, that makes them really smart! Green is the area of job creation and the wheels are already in motion. Again, from where I sit, this is our opportunity to see things through the looking glass and do everything we can to be a part of the revolution.

Some excerpts from the author Barry Janoff writes: A new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls for a "green revolution" and said if it takes place, 4.2 million new "green" jobs could be created in the country by 2038.

The report said the U.S. now has about 751,000 green jobs, which generally involve producing renewable energy or providing engineering, legal or research support. That figure represents less than 0.5% of all current U.S. jobs. The report was based on information provided by research firm Global Insight, Waltham, Mass.

The forecast of more than 4 million new green jobs is based on the U.S. generating 40% of its electricity from alternative fuels (wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, biomass), 30% of fuel used in cars and light trucks coming from alternatives to gasoline and diesel that electricity use in existing buildings will drop by 35% by 2038.

According to the report, some 418,000 of the current 751,000 green jobs in the U.S. are in engineering, legal, research and consulting; behind that was the field of renewable power generation with 127,000 jobs, followed by government administration with 71,900 jobs.

The top 10 cities in the nation ranked by current green jobs and the potential number of green jobs they could have by 2038 are: New York (25,021/197,971), Washington (24,287/192,165), Houston (21,250/168,136), Los Angeles (20,136/159,321), Boston (19,799/156,660), Chicago (16,120/127,545), Philadelphia (14,379/113,772), San Francisco (13,848/109,570), San Diego (11,663/92,285) and Pittsburgh (9,627/76,174).

You have to admit – this really is good green news and when major cities are committed and getting ranked, we are all moving in the right direction. And I also appreciate that not only will so many jobs be created, we will be constantly creating alternative sources for fuel – cleaner, less-dependent-on-foreign-oil kinds of alternatives!