How Green Is the Green Economy?

A "green recovery" is being championed as a solution to both ecological and economic crisis, but the sanguine rhetoric has not always been matched by progress toward a more sustainable U.S. economy. Growth in "green jobs" has so far included waste incineration and offshore manufacturing of electric sports cars along with weatherization of homes and expansion of public transit. While the Right and industry lobbyists assail the very notion of green jobs, progressive critics argue that the catch-all term permits corporations to continue business as usual while banking public dollars to "greenwash" their image. [Joanne Poyourow]: To bank on green jobs as the salvation to bring this economy out of recession is giving people false hope. We're facing a bio-capacity issue as well as a "greenness" issue. Many of the "green" industries that are being touted by corporations and government officials are really ways of greencasting North Americans' excessive consumption. [Yvonne Yen Uu]: I like the term "community economy" instead of "green economy" because it doesn't allow corporations to use the cover of green jobs to continue with their same practices. We're so naturalized to thinking within the system of capitalism. This moment is giving us a psychic break to think outside of that. I think the long-term solution does lie in community economies.