from TreeHugger.com
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York
Okay, so it's a little hokey at times, but this video that Peter Sinclair points to at Climate Crocks is a nice depiction of the economic benefits of wind power in struggling rural communities.
I've harped on the importance of recognizing the real-world impact renewable energy projects have before -- for some reason, folks (politicians in particular) forget that building and running wind turbines creates jobs and provides new revenue streams for local economies.
And at a time when one tenth of the nation is out of work, it's hard not to see the benefits provided by the renewable energy sector beyond their clean power generation -- the sector continues to be one the few bright spots in the nation's economic picture. Still quite small, but bright indeed.
So the question is, how can we scale up the deployment of wind and solar to bring economic relief to more communities like this one? It seems that with the unemployment rate stagnating, the stage is ripe for a jobs bill that focuses on renewable energy production -- hey, a guy can dream, right? Seriously, though, I'll delve further into this prospect next week: I've got an idea for a Jobs for Energy Security Act that I think Obama might want to check out ...
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