Green Career Central Blog

Green Career Tip - Wake Up! The Time for Sustainability is Now!

It’s amazing how different the world can look when you have the opportunity to see the world anew.

If you are feeling stifled or stuck in how you are thinking about your green career options, I encourage you to find a way to expand your world view.With the current, never-ending flow of information, you don’t have to look far to find opportunities to gain a new perspective of your options. Read this week's article to learn more.

How Green Are Your Favorite Candidates?

As the election season picks up steam for the November 4th finish line, it’s critical that we take it upon ourselves to understand how green the candidates really are. They may be talking the talk, but are they putting their vote where their mouth is? It’s not always easy to tell by how they campaign.

The League of Conservation Voters’ mission is “to advocate for sound environmental policies and to elect pro-environmental candidates who will adopt and implement such policies.” To this end they track the voting record on environmental issues for all national level politicians and give each one a score so you can compare the relative green quality of each person’s voting record.

 

• Check out the Presidential Profiles of all 2008 candidates. Here you’ll find a description of Biden’s, McCain’s, Obama’s, and other candidates’, environmental views. (They do not have a profile of Palin’s environmental views in the same format because she wasn’t a presidential candidate in 2008, but they have written a statement  and five questions for her.) 
     

 

• Presidential Nominee Comparison Chart  that lists the lifetime and 2007 environmental voting score as well as their positions on a number of green issues.
     

 

• Check out the LCV National Environmental Scorecard to check out the voting records of your local candidates. Enter your state or zip code to pull up results for your Congress members.
     

If you have a green career or dream of having one, place your vote very carefully during this election.

Take Action - Call Congress!! Extend Tax Credits for Renewable Energy Investments

This week I received an email from Al Gore's We Campaign. If you are a member of the We Campaign you no doubt received them email as well.

So the question is...Did you take action? Did you make the calls?

Although we all receive a number of "take action" emails in a given week, this one deserves as much attention as we can each give it.

If you want a green career...you need the green economy to thrive. One of the critical components to keeping the green economy going is the tax credits for investments. I can't say it better...so here's the text from the email from Al Gore and the We Campaign. (I've added bold for emphasis.)

Congress will consider energy legislation this week.

Meanwhile, tax credits for investments in solar and wind power have not been extended, and the growing renewables business that just made America the largest producer of wind power in the world, is on the verge of shutting down huge planned projects all over the country.

Billions in private investment, thousands of megawatts of new, clean energy, and more than 100,000 new jobs expected for 2009 will be lost (if the tax credits aren't renewed).

We face a stark choice: subsidize old, dirty energy or invest in new, clean energy. This should be easy, but the influence of the oil lobby is deep -- they've already spent more than $100 million in lobbying and advertising this year. Please call your members of Congress now  and tell them to pass legislation that will Repower America.  Of course, the oil industry is pushing its "drill, drill" slogan with all its might -- and some are hoping to use this for political advantage.

It's simple. Click through and enter your zip code to see a list of your senators and your representative. Place the calls--the script is right there. Record your results at the bottom of the web page.

Thanks for taking action TODAY!! NOW!

We can't let Congress stall any longer. The tax credits for investments in renewable energy must be extended.