green jobs

"What they're not looking at is ultimately the extraordinary cost--both the human cost and the actual cost.." says Jeff Biggers, author of Reckoning at Eagle Creek: The Secret Legacy of Coal in the Heartland. After the Massey mine explosion and BP oil spill last year, we now face a nuclear disaster in Japan. The question, then, is whether we take the opportunity to push for truly clean energy or hunker down and retreat to the old faithful sources that are slowly killing us. Jeff joins us via Skype to discuss the possibility for better energy policy post-Japan, the new coal mines opening up in Wyoming, and much more.

"There was no there there. There wasn't a whole lot you could sink your teeth into, but it was very much Obama in 2008 in terms of 'let's spend responsibly, let's all get along, let's be scientific and smart and go forth and be Americans and we're exceptional,'" said ColorLines editor Kai Wright of Obama's State of the Union speech last night. Obama made the case for "winning the future" with investment in education and green technology, Kai notes, but didn't lay out specifics for how to get there--but with Republicans putting up Paul Ryan and Michele Bachmann putting up her own Tea Party response to the speech, he may still get four more years. Campaign 2012 begins now, and Kai joins Laura to discuss what's coming next. Michele Bachmann isn't the only one who believes in American exceptionalism--there was plenty in Barack Obama's State of the Union speech that reiterated the notion that the US is somehow above the rest of the world. But what does all that mean now? Richard Wolff says "We are exceptional these days not only in the nice and happy things but in things that are not so good." And Maya Wiley points out "It's good if we feel strongly about the importance of our nation. What's complicated is what's behind it." Maya and Richard join Laura in the studio for a discussion of American exceptionalism in 2011--the hard truths we're not acknowledging, what Obama spoke about in his speech, and what changes need to be made to live up to some of the promises being made by politicians on both sides. What happens in Tunisia apparently doesn't stay in Tunisia. Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, has been rocked by protests for the past two days that show no sign of stopping. While the US State department is issuing statements that the government is stable, everyone's paying attention to unconfirmed reports that President Mubarak's wife and family have landed in Heathrow airport in London, landing with 97 pieces of luggage. Al Jazeera English, which can be seen on Free Speech TV alongside GRITtv, had this report from the early morning hours in Cairo. In the State of the Union speech, Barack Obama did get applause for saying that the US stands with the people of Tunisia. Now, he didn't mention the two decades of support the US had given the dictatorship. Laura has some thoughts on the US response to the protests in Cairo as well. Distributed by Tubemogul.

Richard Trumka has a message for all the so-called progressives who don't actually look out for working people: "We can't be a world-class economy unless we make things." It's the key to rebuilding our infrastructure after years of neglect, after what he notes was "the party the rich had that we didn't get to go to," to helping to stabilize the climate and most importantly, to digging us out of the economic hole we're in. Creating jobs, green jobs, innovative manufacturing jobs, he argues, could solve all of that. Trumka is president of the AFL-CIO, but he became known to many Americans through the fiery speech he gave to the Steelworkers' union against racism and in favor of Barack Obama. He joined Laura in the GRITtv studio for a frank conversation about jobs, the economy, and Obama's administration.

Hurricane Katrina and the BP spill have hit New Orleans with a double whammy, but the one bright side has been the opportunity to create not just new jobs for local residents, but green jobs--jobs that help the city move into a new energy future. This video from Green for All looks at just a few of the residents of the city who've found a new purpose helping weatherize homes and better their neighborhoods.