Derek Pugh
Template:TOCnestleft Derek Pugh
21st-Century Green Industrial Transformation
December 10, 2013, Sherrod Brown, joined leaders from the BlueGreen Alliance, the Institute for America’s Future and the Center for American Progress to release a new report that "offers a bold strategy to lead a 21st-century green industrial transformation".
The report, “The Green Industrial Revolution and the United States: In the Clean Energy Race, Is the United States a Leader or a Luddite?,” proposes maximizing the national strength of U.S. manufacturing by employing a region-focused strategy for clean energy manufacturing.
“We need solutions now to ensure that America competes at the highest level of the global clean energy manufacturing sectors,” said Sen. Brown. “This report is a valuable tool to help ensure that we take advantage of the strengths of our country, like our regional diversity and our ability to innovate at all levels of government...We need to capitalize on America’s competitive advantages—like our skilled workforce that lends itself to advanced manufacturing—to ensure a vibrant domestic clean energy manufacturing base.”
“The green industrial revolution has already begun. It will inescapably be a leading source of jobs, innovation and dynamism in the next decades. The countries that forge the lead here will reap the benefits in good jobs, expanding markets and global leadership against the threats already being posed by catastrophic climate changes,” said Robert Borosage, Founder and President of the Institute for America’s Future and a member of the BlueGreen Alliance Advisory Board. “This report outlines a strategy that builds on America’s strengths—combining a regional approach with proactive national policies that provides a sensible way forward.”
“We’ve seen great clean energy successes here at the national level in the U.S.—including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act—but our real strength will come from bottom-up regional action,” said Kate Gordon, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and board member of the Apollo Alliance Project of the BlueGreen Alliance. “Energy is an inherently regional issue, and a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it. It’s time for Washington to step up and promote regional clean energy strategies as part of an overall national commitment to taking action on climate change.”
“Backward-looking ideologues have pitted good jobs against the environment for far too long. Even some of their erstwhile allies in the energy sector are waking up to the reality that we need a different set of policies to address the undeniable reality of climate change,” said Derek Pugh, co-author and Senior Fellow at Campaign for America's Future.[1]
References
- ↑ [http://ourfuture.org/media_releases/progressive-leaders-release-plan-for-u-s-clean-economy-leadership, CFAF press release, Progressive Leaders Release Plan for U.S. Clean Economy Leadership, December 10, 2013]