Apollo and Upward

“Al Franken is fighting for green jobs in his home state of Minnesota. He’s proposing a national ‘Apollo project’ to fuel the development of new technologies in clean and renewable energy.”

— Al Gore in an email to MoveOn supporters.

This morning, I attended the second general meeting of a large-scale collaborative process to create a “road map” for policy recommendations on green-collar jobs in New York City.  The process was initiated in June by Urban Agenda, a workers’ advocacy organization that is spearheading the NYC Apollo Alliance.

I read the MoveOn email when I was at the meeting (bad habit!), and I was excited by the serendibity of the moment.  (I should note that I find any news about Franken interesting because I remain a registered Minnesota voter.)  I thought that Franken was proposing to team up with the national Apollo Alliance, “a coalition of business, labor, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in America to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that are destabilizing our climate, and expand opportunities for American businesses and workers.”

Then I looked at Franken’s website.  No mention of the Apollo Alliance, though I did learn that both the candidate and the organization were inspired by the Apollo space program.

Whether or not the twin name was intentional, Franken’s proposed project lines up pretty neatly with the goals of the Alliance.  What he’s missing, though, is any mention of green-collar jobs (“high-tech, high-paying jobs” are not pathways out of poverty).  From his website:

This “Apollo project” should provide financial support for research into new forms of renewable energy and development of currently-identified sources to make them more efficient. Of course I’m talking about corn ethanol. But I’m also talking about cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels. I’m talking about solar power. And, especially here in Minnesota, I’m talking about wind power. We live in a windy state!

It’s going to be a huge project, but it will pay off in so many ways:

• We’ll dramatically improve our environment.
• We’ll finally be taking steps to address global warming.
• We’ll make our nation more secure and less dependent on an uncertain global fuel economy.
• We’ll revitalize our manufacturing sector. The Ford plant in St. Paul that’s closing down should be making wind turbines, and we should be putting them up all over Minnesota.
• We’ll create high-tech, high-paying jobs in conservation and R&D.