On Saturday, September 27, 2008, about 100 Rhode Islanders met at New England Institute of Technology to consider what we can do to create green jobs and businesses in the Ocean State. We heard from several panelists, as well as Mayor Cicilline of Providence and a brief videotaped greeting from Senator Whitehouse, which is now posted on the Greening the Rhode Island Economy website.
I have an audiotape of most of the conference, and I've begun posting notes on the Greening RI website. The first panelist, Dr. Joseph Ilaqua, Professor of Economics at Bryant University, was a bit contrary, making a point of saying he wasn't a green economist. Yet you'll find when you read the notes that he supports green job development. He quoted Tip O'Neill's famous remark, "all politics is local" and applied it to green:
"It's impossible to change the basic political and economic
system.... Understand that green is also local," but not in the sense
of Think Global, Act Local.
"If we're going to get anything done in the economics of green in Rhode Island, we have to think local and act local."
The Independent Man comes to mind ~ we can't change the rest of the world, but it's within our power to change the Rhode Island labor market. Don't wait for the world to change, maybe they'll follow us, maybe not. Let's just do what we can right now, right here in the Ocean State.
Dr. Ilaqua also mentioned a report featured by the Sierra Club and posted on the Green Jobs for America website, Job Opportunities for the Green Economy: A State-by-State Picture of Occupations that Gain from Green Investments.
I'll be posting the rest of the remarks during the next few days on Greening the RI Economy, as well as links to reports and other information that will help Rhode Islanders create green jobs and turn our economy around.
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