Green Jobs

I think Megan gets this exactly right:

But green jobs have become the ginseng of progressive politics: a sort of broad-spectrum snake oil that cures whatever happens to ail you. They are the antidote to economic malaise, an underskilled labor force, the inherent unwillingness of the public to suffer any significant economic and personal dislocation in order to save the environment. They enhance nationalistic vigor. (If we don't act now, the Chinese will steal all of our green jobs!) They stave off aging of stale political platforms. And I'm pretty sure they're good for bunions, too.

While I, like Megan, am obviously in favor of a cleaner Earth, I have mentioned before that instead of wasting tax dollars subsidizing cleaner air methods, the government should incentivize methods to sequester carbon, thereby not limiting economies of current products, but rather encouraging growth into new economies of carbon capture (Follow the back and forth with TPI here and here).


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