Pascual Lewis
Profesor Plummer
ENGL 211
30 November 2021
Climate Change and the Unemployment Rate
Creating more jobs has always been a top priority for our country. People applaud when a president says they will create more jobs. Every year national small business week is celebrated to appreciate the number of jobs that small businesses create. With over 100 million people losing their job in 2020 it has become extremely important that the US finds ways to increase employment (Richter). The most common ideas to create more jobs are tax cuts, saving small businesses, or some type of expansionary policy. How about an idea that could tackle two problems that we are constantly facing? Dealing with climate change could create a few million jobs and at the same time help the environment. Saving the environment is something the government doesn’t seem to put a lot of effort into. Our leaders may say they are combatting climate change, but when less than one percent of government spending is put towards the environment it is hard to believe them (USASPENDING). Investing in climate change is one of the best ways to decrease the unemployment rate because it will help fix multiple problems. The US government needs to devote more money and time into policies that will battle climate change and increase jobs. When the government decides to invest in climate change there will be more jobs created from beneficial energy sources, a more reliable climate that will prevent businesses from layoffs, and chances for the government to put more money towards policies that will decrease the unemployment rate.
Every time a new renewable energy source is introduced there are new jobs introduced. Someone was hired for the research and development of every energy source and more people will be hired to build renewable energy sources. Arguably one of the most popular and important renewable energy sources is solar power. From 2008 to 2018 solar power had an annual growth rate of over 40 percent (Karin). This means more and more people are becoming interested in installing solar power. This increase in curiosity has caused businesses to capitalize on this high demand and provide solar panel installations to the public. The demand for solar power is not just from residents, but companies and cities as well. In 2014 one of the biggest car brands in the US decided to build a solar array for their headquarters (Ford). As more companies are working to provide solar power, more people will need to be hired. Just like other major companies, there will be a group or team that will be hired for installation, manufacturing, sales, operations, and maintenance. There will be a constant need for work as people might need maintenance on their solar panels throughout the year. As of late 2019, there are between 300,000 and 400,000 people in the US that are employed in solar energy (Kirk). Another renewable energy source that is continuing to create more jobs in the US is wind power. The wind power industry has had an annual growth rate of 15 percent in the past decade (Energy.Gov). Installing wind power can be a much longer process and have a greater expense. Anyone who has seen a windmill blade traveling down the highway can get an understanding of the amount of work it takes to put these windmills together and on the road. The US Department of Energy has separate research projects that just handle the transportation of windmill blades (Energy.Gov). Of course, there is also a factory that makes these 100-foot-long blades. One windmill blade requires 100 jobs (GE Renewable Energy). Someone must also drive the blade to where the windmill will be constructed. In 2017 Elizabeth City, North Carolina built a wind farm with 104 wind turbines and created a thousand jobs for the 18-month long project (Litwin). Shelley Cox, the Pasquotank County Planning Director, said there was an obvious increase in the amount of business local stores, restaurants, and hotels were receiving during this project (Carnevale). This increase in business can jump-start an economy and keep unemployment low. The land that was bought for the wind farm was from 60 local farmers (Litwin). Each of these local farmers gets paid 6000 thousand dollars a year for each turbine. This money will be put back into the economy and maybe spent at local stores. This will help local businesses and makes sure none of them go out of business and that they can continue to employ people. Dave Goss, an Economic Development Consultant said that not only are the local counties benefiting, but also nearby cities because of the number of people that came to work on this project (Carnevale). Even though the project is over the turbines still need maintenance and that means more jobs were created even after the completion of the project. The US has had 1500 other wind farm projects with a total of 67000 turbines (USGS). This created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the US. Wind power has the potential to create half a million more jobs if we continue to invest in it.
One of the largest renewable resources on the planet is water. Hydropower may not be one of the most popular sources of energy, but it still employs 300,000 people in the US (NHA). Just like solar and wind power, hydropower jobs are generated from manufacturing, installation, maintenance, or facilities. Although, hydropower is different because it is on a much bigger scale than wind and solar power and can take much more time to develop and plan. This is not a bad thing when it comes to jobs. Since it takes more time to build and develop it takes more jobs to be able to create and use hydropower. For example, the Gaston dam in Thelma, NC that connects the John H. Kerr Reservoir and Lake Gaston is over 3000 feet in length and over 100 feet tall (Dominion Energy). The dam also has 4 generators that can produce 220 megawatts (Dominion Energy). To build such a large structure and maintain the machinery takes hundreds of jobs. In the US there are over 2000 hydroelectric dams that all had to be built by people and must be maintained through the year (Energy.Gov). The National Hydropower Association states that policies can be put in place to create a million more jobs in hydropower by 2025. Hydropower could be the leading source of jobs in renewable energy sources if the government chose to invest in the right policies.
The point of all these environmentally friendly energy sources is to deal with climate change. Climate change can make the weather very unpredictable. If the weather forecasts were more reliable it could give business owners peace of mind when making yearly decisions. For example, some restaurants have abbreviated hours depending on the season. If local businesses can’t predict when they should close for the season, they could lose money by not being open or by being open for too long. Think of a water park, if the waterpark closes too early they are losing income and getting rid of possible jobs. One business that relies heavily on weather is farming. Being able to predict the weather lets the farmers know how good of a yield they will receive from their crops. Farmers may be pushed out of the industry and take away jobs if they can’t rely on the weather. Climate change can also become dangerous and make businesses shut down. In July 2020 heat records were constantly being broken in Virginia (Gregory). In Norfolk, the hottest monthly average was broken and the area saw four consecutive days with the temperature above 100 degrees (Gregory). On the other coast, businesses in Portland, Oregon were shutting down because their A/C could not keep up with the rising temperatures. One business owner said, “It’s better to lose a weekend than to lose your life…” (Garza). Unfortunately, closing businesses mean decreasing jobs. If a restaurant is not open as often they might need to lay workers off. In the past year, there have also been more wildfires because of climate change. Very recently Denton, Montana had to be evacuated as a wildfire threatened the town. This wildfire could burn down local businesses that provide most of the jobs to the local county. The record heat due to climate change can also cause other environmental problems for businesses. Joao Teixeira, co-director of the Center for Climate Science at NASA says, “…as global temperatures increase, extreme precipitation will very likely increase…”. For instance, in Hampton Roads, we usually experience hurricanes every year. These storms cause many businesses to shut down and sometimes experience property damage. The amount of money that business owners spend on repairing their store can force owners to lay off workers to be able to pay for repairs. A future with a reliable and safe climate will allow business owners to be more successful and prevent layoffs.
The government itself will also be able to benefit from making changes to fight climate change. The government would be saving money from renewable energy sources and could increase spending on policies or programs that would decrease the unemployment rate. By getting rid of energy sources that contribute to global warming the government could save money in numerous ways. Coal is currently one of the most used energy sources and the biggest source of pollution in the US (Enova Energy Group). Most people have seen those giant clouds coming from coal plants. These clouds are letting out carbon emissions into the air and surrounding environments. A coal plant along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania is constantly releasing carbon emissions that can travel into the Chesapeake Bay (Chesapeake Bay Foundation). The variety of important species in the Chesapeake Bay would need to be protected and the government would have to spend money to protect these animals. If clean and renewable energy sources were used, the government would save money and still be protecting the environment. The government could also deal with climate change by imposing a carbon tax on companies. Since so many companies in the US release such high carbon emissions, the government would gain a lot of revenue to put towards decreasing the unemployment rate. The carbon tax would also make companies look for clean sources of energy and help increase the number of jobs in industries like solar power. Also, as climate change is being dealt with there should be fewer violent storms and hurricanes. The government would not have to put as much money in hurricane relief programs if the government invested in climate change. On a smaller scale, the government can make simple changes like using LED bulbs in streetlights. The LEDs would be changed less often and more time and money could be spent on other projects. Every step the government takes to defeat climate change would help save money and give the US more opportunities to focus on decreasing the unemployment rate.
Tackling climate change to decrease the unemployment rate is very possible and there are only a few hurdles to get past. Of course, change can create panic and that is why everyone must know how beneficial it would be to deal with climate change. Some common fears of changing to renewable energy sources are finding suitable areas and how it will disrupt the land. For solar and wind power it is easy to find areas to use. When Pasquotank county decided to build a wind farm, they took small spaces out of farmers’ land. The farmer’s income will not be hurt by this because they can farm all around the windmills and are still getting paid for the land today. People might also argue that wind power can’t be used everywhere because there isn’t as much open land in certain parts of the country. That is when solar power can be used on top of buildings and homes or a dam can be built for hydropower. Every part of the country can benefit from renewable energy sources and the number of jobs created. In scenarios that research would need to be done to find suitable land, more jobs could be created. Another concern is the upfront cost of renewable energy sources. The government must face the fact that fossil fuels will not last forever and that means those jobs at coal plants will not last forever either. To make sure jobs are always plentiful the government must start to invest in climate change.
The government has not invested enough time and money towards climate change to create the millions of jobs that renewable energy sources have the potential to create. By just looking at wind, solar, and hydropower there are a few million jobs to be created. It is easy to see how job opportunities would constantly be created in the future from a better climate.
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