What's a "green job"? I recently came across the term in a news article. Perhaps not surprisingly, a "green job" is one that contributes to the production of renewable energy--putting up/maintaining wind farms and installing solar panels are just a few examples. As people across the country have become more aware of environmental issues and what they can do to fix them, and as the economy has taken a turn for the worse, the demand for "green collar jobs" has increased; in addition to being an important part of the environmental policies of the various presidential hopefuls, green jobs have been the subject of an exciting experiment right here in the Bay Area.

The concept of "green collar jobs" is music to the ears of the presidential candidates: green jobs benefit the country economically, while being great for the environment. Thus, Clinton, Obama, and McCain have all stepped out in favor of increasing green jobs. This is one issue on which all three of the candidates seem to agree: all three promise to increase funding and incentives for green collar jobs across America, although few specific numbers have been disclosed by the campaigns.

Meanwhile, the city of Richmond has decided to take the matter into its own hands with an ambitious program designed to train low-income residents for green jobs. The program teaches workers how to install residential solar electric systems, and the hope is that at least some of these workers will be able to take these skills and convert them to a career, thus helping them out of poverty and helping the environment at the same time. To put these new green collar workers to good use, Solar Richmond oversees a project that offers free solar electric system installations to low-income Richmond families. With these combined efforts, Richmond hopes to