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.

I twittered about this a few months ago and have been meaning to get to writing a post about it, but this is exciting news for my hometown. Boston has just committed to - what may be - the largest bike sharing program in the US.

Bixi is the brand name for a program developed in Montreal by the Public Bike System Company and rolled out there with great success. The concept is that bike sharing terminals will be deployed throughout the city and wherever you see one, you can walk up, wave your $78/year Bixi card (or a credit card) and take a bike out. When you get to your destination, pull right up to the nearby Bixi station and the bike is secure. Heading back? Grab a bike and start peddling. One thing I love about this idea is that the stations are completely self-contained, solar powered, wifi enabled - so you can plunk them down, boot them up and they are up and running. When the snows come, pick them up and store them for the winter.

The hope is that the bike sharing program will allow city dwellers and visitors to substantially cut down on car trips when moving around the city - thereby reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. I have had several conversations with friends and colleagues about this idea, and every single one of them has loved the concept in theory. The one downside cited by 100% of these folks however is perfectly understandable to anyone who has ever visited and driven in Boston. Beantown drivers are insane and the roads are old cowpaths - there are no bike lanes and no room to put them in. With this in mind nobody (except 20 year olds with a deathwish) are going to want to ride around the city. I am an avid road cyclist and want no part of riding in Boston.

I will keep you posted as the city and Bixi address this obvious concern….maybe they will surprise us all and come up with an amazing bike lane system with aggressive enforcement. Let’s hope, because I love the idea.

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.

A highly encouraging email hit my desk from Moveon.org asking their membership to vote on whether they were willing to back and participate in a Green Collar Economy political movement, started with this statement:

When FDR became president, a group of progressive activists asked him to push for some really big changes. His response? “I agree with you. I want to do it. Now make me do it.“ :

That is music to our ears at Green Collar Media.  To make the Green Collar Economy a reality, we need to move on all fronts.  A grassroots movement of millions of Americans organizing to ensure their message is heard is going to be critical.  Unless the administration and congresspeople know that the American people have their backs, we are going to witness false start after misstep as the entrenched interests fight for the status quo and pull the levers of power in Washington and in state houses around the country.

I am not sure how this movement will be organized or whether it will make any significant progress, and you may not agree with Moveon on most (or any) issues.  I hope you will agree that the American people standing up and demanding that the government move us in the direction of a green future is in all of our best interests.

As the details of the stimulus package come to light, the New York Times claims that there is about $80 Billion in:

spending, loan guarantees and tax incentives aimed at promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, higher-mileage cars and coal that is truly clean. As a stand-alone measure, these investments would amount to the biggest energy bill in history.

Not too shabby, but the point that they make and that Green Collar Media definitely agrees with is that while this is the type of investment that is critical to jumstart job creation in the green collar economy, these measures should not be confused with an energy plan that will get us where we need to go.

In addition to this spending and incentivizing, the government will need to open up the arsenal of tools at its disposal, including a carbon cap & trade, new green building standards, tax incentives to stimulate green investment, increased mileage and emission standards for vehicles, firm and consistent subsidies for alternative energy production, as well as about 1000 other things that can be done to send clear price signals to the markets. Our belief is that the first substantive legislation addressing all of these issues will be implemented prior to the end of the Obama administration’s first term. If we’re right, hold onto your hats, because the pace of innovation and change is going to blow us all away.

Keep it tuned here as more green details from the stimulus package are clarified. I feel a lot better about burdening my children with this debt knowing that a big portion of that investment will go to getting us on the road to a green future.

There was an interesting artice in Green, Inc. (the New York Times green business blog, which I usually like), called Will the Mileage Tax Replace the Gas Tax. The premise of the article was that a tax on mileage driven may be more effective than a gas tax….or at least will be if mileage really starts to go sky high.

Here’s the thing. This idea is absurd until we are many, many years down the line, if ever. What we need to be doing right now as a society is sending price signals to the market that are easy to implement and change behavior in a way that is beneficial to the country. A gas tax fits the easy to implement bill and we know from experience that expensive gas changes behavior quickly. The goal of an increased gas tax is to drive down greenhouse gas emissions.

I couldn’t care less if people drive a lot as long as they are not releasing green house gasses.

Times are as tough as any in the last 70 years.  The huge majority of Americans also have no experience with a situation in which keeping your head down and working hard may not be enough.  We certainly don’t have experience with a president-elect having to run the country before inaguration because our current president has checked out, but that is the situation we find ourselves in.  Thank goodness that the incoming president seems to be a lot more engaged and competent than the outgoing one.

We should be encouraged that while president-elect Obama is laying out the details of the much needed economic stimulus package, he is sticking to his green guns. As he laid out the structure of his plans in yesterday’s weekly radio address, the first area of investment and job creation he mentioned was in the Green Collar Economy. According to his address:

We’ll create nearly half a million jobs by investing in clean energy – by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years, and by modernizing more than 75% of federal buildings and improving the energy efficiency of two million American homes. These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can’t be outsourced.

This is an important statement so close to the inaguration and the likely passage of this stimulus bill. There is nothing that we Americans can invest in that will create more short and long-term benefits than jumpstarting the green marketplace. This kind of investment will level the playing field for alternatives by sending important price-signals to the marketplace and be the kind of thing that releases the kind of American entrepreneurial spirit that will move the Green Economy to the mainstream for years to come.

Keep up the good work Mr. Almost President.

It looks like there is enough momentum in both chambers of commerce (oops, Freudian slip, I meant Congress) that we may actually see a compromise energy bill passed.  In the House, Nancy Pelosi is close to bringing a bill to the floor  that includes not only the alternative energy solutions and investment we need, but also provisions for offshore oil drilling.  This includes in all areas outside of 100 miles offshore, and gives states the option of choosing to drill outside of 50 miles.

In the Senate, the so-called Gang of 20 is moving to pass some moderate legislation that also allows for increased off-shore drilling - and although this is not a short or long-term energy solution, it is more important to compromise and move forward than to sit in limbo forever.

The good news is that money from this drilling will go to help fund the alternative-energy initiatives our country so vitally needs.  So, the Republicans get to say they succeeded in making America drill for its remaining oil assets, and Democrats get to say we compromised so we can move forward in solving our energy crisis long-term.  I am good with this….let’s move on and start capitalizing on the green revolution.

I was just watching Hardball (on MSNBC)  with Mike Barnacle (a Boston-guy) sitting in for Chris Matthews.  Towards the end of the show, Barnacle asks his guests (paraphrasing) “When is one of these presidential candidates going to get specific about their energy policy and when are they going to get the guts to tell the American people the truth.   That it is going to hurt and that we are going to have to stop driving so much.”  

This seems like a reasonable question to ask, but to ask it two days after Barack Obama gave his speech on energy and announced his formal energy platform either means he is, a.) not doing his homework (at all), or, b.) actively trying to keep people from learning about it by making obtuse statements that change the conversation away from substance and towards rebuttal.  He continued this pattern with the other main point he brought up, that Obama would tax the oil companies on their windfall profits.  That he would do this to help  provide $1000 energy rebates for families unable to afford gas or heating oil was barely touched on, but plenty of time was spent on the part about how Obama hates companies that make a profit.  Mike, you can change the subject all you want, but you’re from the northeast, and you probably know people personally who are not going to be able to pay their heating bills this winter.  There are lots of working families and people on fixed income that are being hurt by these price increases and one of our presidential candidates presented his ENERGY POLICY, and American’s deserve to know what it is and how he plans to pay for it - all without partisan talking points as the main focus.   I am equally interested in learning how Senator McCain is planning on addressing this short-term issue and the much larger issue of his long-term energy policy.

I urge you all to watch or read Senator Obama’s speech, as it is vitally important.  Early on he eloquently lays out the essence of his position with this statement:

When it comes to our economy, our security, and the very future of our planet, the choices we make in November and over the next few years will shape the next decade, if not the century. And central to all of these major challenges is the question of what we will do about our addiction to foreign oil.

OK, that is exactly what we want and need to hear.  What’s more important than our economy, our security and our planet?  The fact that energy policy can positively impact all three is why Green is going to help America get its Mojo back and is why I started Green Collar Media.  He makes it clear that there are some short term pains that need to be addressed due to the price spike and he makes the following suggestions:

1. Provide $1000 energy rebate to every working family in America (to be paid for by windfall profits tax, as mentioned earlier by Mr. Barnacle)
2. Increased domestic oil production
3. Not opening up new areas to drilling but making the oil companies drill on the 68 million acres they already have, or give up their leases to someone who will
4. Increasing shale oil extraction
5. Drilling in a portion of Alaska (not ANWR)
6. Releasing 70 Million barrels of oil from the strategic reserve to bring prices down quickly

He states, though, that these are short-term fixes and in no way address or solve our addiction to foreign oil which is so poisoning our nation.

…breaking our oil addiction is one of the greatest challenges our generation will ever face. It will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy. This transformation will be costly, and given the fiscal disaster we will inherit from the last Administration, it will likely require us to defer some other priorities.

It is also a transformation that will require more than just a few government programs. Energy independence will require an all-hands-on-deck effort from America — effort from our scientists and entrepreneurs; from businesses and from every American citizen. Factories will have to re-tool and re-design. Businesses will need to find ways to emit less carbon dioxide. All of us will need to buy more of the fuel-efficient cars built by this state, and find new ways to improve efficiency and save energy in our own homes and businesses.

This will not be easy. And it will not happen overnight. And if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, they are either fooling themselves or trying to fool you.

If that is not a presidential candidate telling us the truth, than I cannot imagine what that could possibly look like.  Mr. Barnacle, you owe this guy an apology.

He goes on to outline 3 main steps that he would take as president to help America succeed in meeting these challenges and taking advantage of the opportunities it will create:

1. Help American car companies create the next generation of electric-hybrid vehicles that get 150 miles to the gallon and get 1 Million of them on the road within six years.  To do this, he suggests investing in advance battery technology, leverage private sector funding to bring the products to market, but offer a $7000 tax rebate for purchasers of the new cars.
2. Require that 10% of our energy come from renewable sources by the end of his first term.  Tax breaks, incentives, funding for entrepreneurs…all the stuff you would expect, but hey…they work.
3. Start a nationwide conservation effort.  He wants America to use 15% less energy by the end of the next decade.  This is the easiest and most cost effective thing we can do and it will save us $130 Billion a year if we can pull it off.   He wants to make national building efficiency standards so that new buildings will be 50% more efficient within 4 years, and based on California’s success, change the ways that utilities get paid by compensating them on how much energy they save, not how much they sell.

This is a substantive and well thought out stance on the most important strategic decision of our time.   I’ll let Senator Obama’s optimistic words, which capture my own beliefs, sum up his policy.

But I know we can do this. We can do this because we are Americans. We do the improbable. We beat great odds. We rally together to meet whatever challenge stands in our way. That’s what we’ve always done — and it’s what we must do now. For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, we must end the age of oil in our time.

Game On!  Senator McCain - you have your work cut out for you.