We need to green up our economy!

Since the economy has taken a downturn, I've observed that the business news industry has kept very busy. Suddenly, the front pages of our newspapers are littered with news stories on the stock market, financial institutions like Freddie Mac (a home loan mortgage corporation) and Fannie Mae (a stockholder owned enterprise). In recent years we've learned that financial institutions, although they seem so out of our lives, are actually possible of affecting our lives in big ways. This can be seen in the rate of foreclosure, which has been on the rise since the recession began. Realtytrac.com, a site that reports foreclosure rates, reported a 5% increase this month ( http://www.realtytrac.com/foreclosure/foreclosure-rates.html ). 

Although the recession has hit hard, there has been a sector of the economy that has been flourishing, the green economy. Speaker Gary Kleppel mentioned to the class during his presentation that in New York City, Harlem was seeing community gardens develop. I think that during this time, small businesses especially could flourish by offering "green" services. Continuing to plant community gardens, selling fair trade products in our stores, constructing "green roofs" (a green roof is a building that has vegetation on top of the roof, its benefits are reducing the cost of heating, reducing storm water, and filtering out pollutants), etc. These are all things we could do to perpetuate a green economy.

Simultaneously, we would be creating jobs. Unemployment rates that have been reported fluctuate, and many claim that the real figure is unknown. Yet what we do know is that unemployment is on the rise.

A green economy will create jobs while saving the planet. Green economies will force us to work within our own communities and reduce transportation costs, one of the major issues we have with oil dependancy. Imagine, if every state increased its support of green economies, the entire United States would be greener in no time. Localizing our communities will also reduce the amount of power that the government has on our lives. Because we trust to the government to protect us and do what is right, we have been screwed over, for lack of a better term.

In California, the California Academy of Science has opened a green museum (http://www.calacademy.org/). This is another benefit, with the creation of green museums we can educate and create excitement for going green. Children could especially benefit from an early education in going green. Since children are the future, it is important to keep them in mind when making decisions about the future.