The question often posed is: Jobs or the Environment, by which conventional economists say that we can either conserve something or destroy it in order to create employment. Up until recently this has been the received wisdom amongst many including some environmentalists. But what if we rearranged the ideas and theory of economics so as to combine both environment and economy? What if we realigned our (disappearing) industrial base into creating products that alleviated the effects of climate change? If we can realign energy production to renewables and transfer the current subsidies given to nuclear and then build turbines, solar panels and enhance energy efficiency not only would it mean greater sustainability and less reliance on fossil fuels it would also create vast opportunities for giving highly skilled and worthwhile employment to areas currently stricken with no jobs and the inevitable poverty this creates. All a silly hippy pipe dream? Well not necessarily so-during the cold war the U.S. Government invested vast sums into the military industrial complex in order to have military superiority over the Soviet Union. The by-product being the creation of some of the wealthiest and most prosperous regions of America. Now imagine if this same kind of investment was given to green technologies, with the emphasis on life and not death. This would reinvigorate so many areas especially in Wales which currently scrape by on service industries and tourism. More importantly it would mean rather than leave solutions to climate change and peak oil to the vagaries of crossing our fingers and the free market we would as a society be moving forward and would be winning the central struggle of the 21st century: that of sustainability versus mindless growth.....
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