Blue Collar and Proud of It: The All-In-One Resource for Finding Freedom, Financial Success, and Security Outside the Cubicle (26 page)

Oregon Tradeswomen.
This Portland, Oregon–based group provides education, mentoring, and programs for women who are considering a career in the trades. The group also provides assistance to women who need guidance with workplace issues. The organization sponsors support groups throughout Oregon to connect tradeswomen to each other. Oregon Tradeswomen offers extensive job resources as well as information about area unions:
www.tradeswomen.net
or (503) 335-8200.

Sisters in the Building Trades
. Themission of this organization is to expand the network of women who are entering the construction workforce and to promote the field by offering beneficial career options. Mentoring, support, and recruitment are part of the mission. Located in the Seattle area, Sisters in the Building Trades is also a resource for apprenticeships and training:
www.sistersinthebuildingtrades.org
or (206) 618-6715.

Tradeswomen, Inc.
ThisOakland, California–based groupwas started in 1979 to support women in the trades. Now the organization creates opportunities for tradeswomen to support each other and learn from one another.The organization recruits women into the trades, promotes the role of women in these industries, and provides a resource for jobs, apprenticeships, and training:
www.tradeswomen.org
or (510) 891-8775.

Tradeswomen Now and Tomorrow
. This national coalition of organizations advocates on behalf of women in the trades. The group works to achieve economic equality for women while promoting policies and legislative plans. TNT is a clearinghouse for sharing programming initiatives and offers women a resource for jobs, workplace issues, unions, and professional growth:
www.tradeswomennow.org
.

VermontWorks forWomen
. Based near Burlington, Vermont, this group works with women and girls to explore and pursue nontraditional careers. The organization hosts training and education programs that expose women to carpentry, painting, law enforcement, andmore:
www.nnetw.org
or (800) 639-1472.

Washington Women in Trades
. This Seattle-based organization works to improve women’s economic equity through training and success in highly skilled careers in the construction, manufacturing, and transportation sectors. The group has built extensive networks of women in these industries while also educating women about nontraditional careers and the opportunities that exist in the trades. WWIT also offers resources for jobs and career training:
www.Wawomenintrades.com
or (206) 903-9508.

Wider Opportunities for Women
. Working across the country, WOW has trained and educated women while advocating for their access to well-paid work opportunities.This group works to help women and families attain economic independence through technical and nontraditional jobs. WOWworks with women through programs that focus on literacy, technical and trade skills, the welfare-to-work transition, and career development:
www. Wowonline.org
or (202) 464-1596.

Women Building Futures
. This organization works to improve the lives of women through job training and preparedness. One of the group’s programs is Fixit Chicks, a series of workshops that trainswomen in fields such as carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work:
www.Women-buildingfutures.com
or (780) 452-1200 and
www.fixitchicks.ca
.

Women in Trades and Technology National Network
. WITT is a Canada-based advocacy group that promotes the recruitment, training, and retention of women in the trades across the country. WITT offers many resources for women and has local offices throughout Canada:
www. Wittnn.com
or (800) 895-WITT.

Women in Trucking
.Devoted to female truckers, this organization’s mission is to encourage more women to enter the trucking industry. The group promotes women to major companies and works on behalf of women to advocate for comfortable, equitable workplace environments. This organization works to reduce the obstacles women face in the field and serves as an all-around resource and community for women in the industry:
www. Womenintrucking.org
or (888) 464-9482.

Women Unlimited
. This small organization works with women in Maine to provide an introduction to the trades, training, and hands-on experience so as to expose participants to the construction industry. This is an excellent resource for connecting with other tradeswomen in the area:
www. Womenunlimited.org
or (800) 281-5259.

Chapter 5
Green-Collar America
How Blue Collar Is Going Green

W
hen Carolyn Coquillette gets to work each day, she can’t imagine a place she’d rather be. “I have broken hybrids all around me, ” she says, referring to her repair shop Luscious Garage in San Francisco. “I’m pretty much in heaven.” Although Coquillette has a habit of taking public transportation to work, she is passionate about hybrid cars, loves repairing them and working on them, and enjoys the instant gratification of being able to take something broken and pass it back to its owner once it’s fixed. Plus, she gets to feel great about doing her part to help the environment.

After getting her undergraduate degree, Coquillette was working at a nonprofit organization, but on the side she wanted to be able to fix her own car. She figured that with a $120, 000 education under her belt she should at least be able to do that on her own. So she signed up for a car mechanic class and enjoyed the work so much that she decided to trade in her job to become an auto technician. In 2007 she opened Luscious Garage, which she runs with one other female technician.

“Enthusiasm and passion, in many cases, trump rote learning.” ” learning.”

—David Hedlin, owner of Hedlin Farms, Mount Vernon, Washington

Like others who have opted to work in green industries, Coquillette is expecting the alternative-fuel craze to drive hybrid sales. In turn, those hybrids will need routinemaintenance and repairs. Coquillette says her shop is not only participating in this green movement by servicing hybrids but she is also offering cutting-edge technology as well as environmentally conscious products. “People are inspired by what we do.”

America’s big car companies have taken major steps toward manufacturing hybrids, plug-ins, and other alternative-fuel vehicles in massive quantities. In September 2008, GeneralMotors, Ford, and Chrysler received a $25 billion loan from the federal government to refurbish their factories and auto plants to start producing these alternative-fuel and fuel-efficient vehicles. With these new factories come jobs. But not the kind that your grandfather had. I’ve said this before, but your grandfather’s generation would barely recognize the carmanufacturing plants of today.

Coquillette says the industry is responding to environmental demands and the need to reconfigure energy use. “We have very sophisticated automobiles on the road, ” adds Coquillette, explaining that when she lifts up the hood of a hybrid she’s confronted with a whole world of technology and computerized equipment. “It’s notmundane.” And doing work that has a positive impact is what people in all green jobs say is one of the most appealing aspects of their careers. “It’s really inspiring, ” says Coquillette of what she does.

Many of the green sector jobs are in the most obvious places. For almost every sector you can find a green job equivalent. Construction is beginning to see the prevalence of green construction, which uses recycled material or materials that haven’t been treated with chemicals and paints that are not damaging to the environment. Bicycle repair shops are naturally green (especially if they operate their building in a green way) for the service they provide to commuters who are opting for two wheels instead of four. There are jobs for people weatherizing buildings, constructing wind turbines, farming, building responsibly, and offering sustainable landscaping services. Residential and commercial cleaning businesses can also find ways to prosper as clients begin to demand nontoxic cleaning products and services. You can apply this green stamp to just about every aspect of life, every industry, and every job.

A recent report by Duke University’s Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness looked at five popular technologies that reduce carbon emissions, including LED lighting, high-performance windows, auxiliary power units designed for long-haul trucks, solar power, and a specialized soil system that is used to treat hog waste. Although these may seem like obscure examples, the study set out to show the nearly endless ways in which green energy and green consciousness would be part of the next generation for the American workforce. In each of these sectors is the need for manufacturing, shipping, labor, and everything else that goes into creating, selling, and sustaining a product or industry. The study showed that the states most likely to benefit from the green revolution include Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, and California. All of these attempts to cure, curb, and realize climate solutions will result in jobs.

Many cities across the country are adopting their own green economic plans, which include ways of not only becomingmore green but also igniting a local green economy. The Apollo Alliance identifies ten areas in which changes can be made. The group in turn suggests that jobs will be created as a result, perhaps has many as 8 million of them.

1.
Promote hybrid cars.
You’ve heard about this one.

2.
Invest in more efficient factories.
Energy-saving systems can be installed to make factories more efficient and more responsible. Overhauling them requires workers.

3.
Encourage green building.
Offer incentives to contractors, builders, and owners who are willing to build energy-efficient homes and municipal buildings.

4.
Increase use of energy-efficient appliances.
Increase investments in factories in North America while working to improve and market energy-efficient appliances.

5.
Modernize electrical infrastructure.
Using the local workforce, overhaul the electrical grid system and employ new environmentally friendly technologies.

6.
Expand renewable energy development.
Promote solar and wind power while establishing clear goals for renewable energy and independence.

7.
Improve transportation.
Increase clean public transportation choices by upgrading rail and subway systems.

8.
Invest in smart urban growth.
Revitalize urban centers to promote vibrant cities and good jobs, while upgrading deteriorating infrastructure.

9.
Plan for a hydrogen future.
Invest in long-term research and development of hydrogen fuel cell technology.

10.
Preserve regulatory protections.
Ensure that regulation promotes and demands energy efficiencies and system reliability that protects the environment and people.

The green economy has simply exploded, and really it’s only started. Being green no longer means just shopping for expensive organic produce or driving hybrid cars. Like it or not, we’re all thinking about how much waste we create, how much energy we burn and fuel we use, and how we can conserve or adjust our impact on the environment. There has been a surge in interest in renewable energy, including wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass power. It sounds complicated, but this is no longer an issue left to the academics or the environmentalist groups. It’s even started to permeate pop culture. In the summer of 2008, Planet Green, cable television’s first twenty-four-hour eco network, was launched. The 2008 James Bond film
Quantum of Solace
featured an eco-resort in Bolivia, and the very popularmovie
Wall-E
starred a solar-powered trash compacting robot.

We have become addicted to foreign oil and use about 25 percent of the world’s available oil in our country alone. As a nation, the United States is searching for themeans to become energy independent and to clean up its act in an effort to stop the environmental crisis. This is everyone’s problem, and green-collar workers are going to be the driving force behind fixing what is broken. It’s clear that the younger generations will be most impacted by the destruction we’ve already done and by the efforts we’re undertaking now to change our ways. Anyone at any age can go green or simply work a green job, and after talking to dozens of people in the green sector it’s clear that environmental concerns are becoming a dominant force behind corporations, municipalities, and individuals. There are a lot of jobs to be had and money to be made in the green economy.