Green Collar Media believes it is time for a substantial increase in the gas tax in America. Not being in love with the idea of any type of higher taxes, we are firmly convinced that a gas tax increase is the right type of tax to use to pay for the war surge in Afghanistan, and will provide the country with three absolutely critical benefits. :

First; we simply cannot continue to add to the enormous deficit with new war spending. We must have a means to pay for it (and all new programs) - or our kids will never forgive us. This means new taxes - growth alone will not generate enough revenues to close the gap. Additionally, if we keep this up, our international creditors will get even more nervous than they are now, will have more leverage over us than they currently do (if you don’t think they have leverage, read the news coverage of Obama’s trip to China), and interest rates are going to go up on our debt and the burden will increase dramatically. We must show fiscal responsibility as a society.

Second, increasing the price of gasoline leads to changes in driving behavior, which lowers our emissions - a vitally important goal for our nation and the planet. This post from when gas was $4 a gallon discusses how that was happening and what it meant. The fact of the matter is there is only one way gas prices are going over the next 20 years, and that is UP, UP, UP. As a society we need to get ahead of that curve and make that inescapable fact work for us. If we don’t, we’re proving that our heads are so far in the sand, ostriches are embarrased for us.

Finally, more expensive gasoline will stimulate demand for green solutions in the vital transporation sector of the green economy and create jobs. American auto companies (what’s left of them) are betting their futures on fuel efficient vehicles. A gas tax will accelerate the adoption of these vehicles and the solutions of dozens of other entrepreneurs and companies that are working like mad to bring new products to market. And let’s be honest - deep down, don’t we all want to drive a Tesla or a Fisker? Stimulating this marketplace in this manner will allow these companies to reach economies of scale and bring the prices down. We’d probably also be happy with Tesla’s mid-sized sedan, or Fisker’s minivan as long as the performance was based on what they’re doing with their sportscars.

These are three things that are vital to our country. Nobody likes to be taxed and feel the pinch in the wallet, but this is exactly how the tax code should be utilized when absolutely necessary. It should be focused on discouraging or eliminating things that are not in our interest as a nation (greenhouse gas emissions, runaway deficits, sending jobs overseas) and encourage areas that are in our interest (new green technologies, manufacturing jobs, exportable products, lowering emissions). We cannot scream “No Taxes Under Any Circumstance, Ever!” and expect that our country will not continue to suffer. We need to use the tax code to further our national interest, and a significant gas tax will do that at this point in our history.

Join this Facebook Group to add your voice to the cause.

When I started writing Green Collar America, I did so because I felt that the green technologies and solutions that were going to make our nation and our society more sustainable represented the next great industry that would drive America’s future prosperity. According to a just released report produced by The Breakthrough Institute and The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation we are going to be buying all that technology from Asia.

Every American should read at least the “Overview” page of this report. There are 5 points on that page…here is the first:

Asia’s rising “clean technology tigers” – China, Japan, and South Korea – have already passed the United States in the production of virtually all clean energy technologies, and over the next five years, the government’s of these nations will out-invest the United States three-to-one in these sectors. This public investment gap will allow these Asian nations to attract a significant share of private sector investments in clean energy technology, estimated to total in the trillions of dollars over the next decade. While some U.S. firms will benefit from the establishment of joint ventures overseas, the jobs, tax revenues, and other benefits of clean tech growth will overwhelmingly accrue to Asia’s clean tech tigers.

That 3-to-1 investment disparity is assuming that the US Senate will pass a clean energy bill like the American Clean Energy & Security Act which the House of Representatives passed earlier this year. That is by no means a certainty, and is actually very unlikely based on what’s going on with healthcare. The outspending will be more in the ball park of 10-to-1 in that case - and it is only that close because some of the stimulus bill went to clean tech. However, we’re sending a ton of that stimulus money overseas anyway and not creating Green Collar Jobs at home - because we can’t buy cost competitive clean tech products here.

Even if we do pass such a bill the report argues that it;

includes too few proactive policy initiatives and allocates relatively little funding to support research and development, commercialization and production of clean energy technologies within the United States.

Instead, we are relying on some tax incentives and other market stimulating solutions that - in past times - have jump started innovation and moved America into a leadership position. There are a lot of good things to be said about this bill - as Representative Markey (the primary author) describes in this video

Unfortunately, the race may be over before this approach even gets us running - we have never had competition that was willing to spend half a trillion dollars to kick our ass before.

There is only one answer - we all have to get off our asses and scream at Congress until we drown out the noise from the people who JUST DON’T GET IT. We don’t have time for obstruction - we need to move and we need to move now. Unless you have another idea for a multi-trillion dollar industry that is being birthed right now and can sustain our country and our economy, call your congress person…please.

Well, WBUR - the Boston NPR station anyway (the best NPR station in the country I might add). I was interviewed for the recent Radio Boston show about the Massachusett’s economy and how ‘green’ is allowing the state and region to emerge from the recession - perhaps earlier than other regions. I should have had this up weeks ago, but they never got back to me about how to embed their media stream in the blog. Click Here to listen to the show.

I wanted to get this post up yesterday, but it was one thing after another all day long. Great news for those of us who believe that sustainability is the road to prosperity and the great economic engine of the 21st century. Van Jones was named Special Advisor to the Obama administration for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Sweet.

As the Fresh Greens column at US News and World Report puts it:

Author, activist and think tank fellow Van Jones will be joining the Obama administration next week as a special adviser on green jobs, reported the White House Council on Environmental Quality today. Jones will work with agencies and departments to advance the administration’s climate and energy initiatives, with a special focus on improving vulnerable communities, according to a White House statement. Jones is the founder of “Green For All,” an environmental group dedicated to bringing green jobs to the disadvantaged, and the author of “The Green Collar Economy.” Environmental groups are, of course, thrilled with the decision - in their opinion, no one knows green jobs like Van Jones.

Given how hard Van has worked, the impact he’s had and the vision we share, put us down in the column of those who are ‘thrilled with the decision’. Good luck Van….we’re all counting on you.

Just received an email from Van Jones (the green evangelist who wrote a book named after our website - Green Collar Economy, see right sidebar to purchase) and he was suggesting that we all watch the Discovery Channel tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 11). Here is a preview of the show.

This is a 52 second summation of the Green Collar Media philosophy and mission. Our goal is to lubricate the wheels of commerce so that the vision these people are dedicated to becomes a reality as quickly as possible. I especially love the line when the guys says “I am a capitalist, not an environmentalist”. The beauty of the time we live in is that there really is no longer a difference.

The President-Elect is not waiting until the lame duck Bush has even had the door hit him in the ass on his way out before making it clear that the country is on a new path. Meeting with legislators today, including a bunch of governors who have been battling the Bush administration in court to try and force tougher greenhouse gas restrictions, Barack (I can call him that, after all the emails he sent me during the campaign, right?) made it clear that he is going to go big on battling climate change and that delay is not an option. To prove my point, I quote him from his speech:

“Delay is no longer an option.”

See.

And it is music to Green Collar Media’s ears to hear him tie this imperative back to the economy and his belief that investing in green will create 5 Million good jobs. Now if only we can convince him to start calling them Green Collar Jobs (which is what they are), like his future Secretary of State does. Hey Van Jones, let’s get our people working on this together.

I finally had the opportunity to watch Gore’s speech.  I’d love to hear from those of you out there that think he’s nuts…what exactly do you disagree with?  And for those of you that think he’s nuts, how many of you have actually watched this? And for those of you that think he’s nuts and have watched it, how many of you would agree that lying is a better rule of thumb than telling the truth…because it seems like we are faced with the same type of moral quandry in this situation?

And finally, spend a minute and just imagine how different our post 9/11 world would be if Al Gore hadn’t lost in 2000.