A Splash of Green for the Rust Belt is the title of this terrific article from the "NY Times." What this article does, better than any I've read, is make the reality of job creation in the renewables industry palpable. We've seen a lot of great numbers on this: Daniel Yergin's $7 trillion in renewables business, Barack Obama's $150 billion to support renewable energy initiatives, and millions of jobs from any number of studies. But we've haven't always seen the real people and their lives being improved in this great transition to a low-carbon society that is so imperative not only for the planet's health but for the economic health of us all, developed world and developing.
There are a host of terrific looks at how renewables are reviving towns given up for dead and some great quotes, among them: ""You have to reinvest in industrial capacity,' says Randy Udall, an energy consultant in Carbondale, Colo. "You use wind to revitalize the Rust Belt. You make steel again. You bring it home. We ought to be planting wind turbines as if they were trees.'" That's the metaphor of the year!
Don't miss this piece.