Work-in-Progress-podcast3

“The growth in the clean energy industry is indisputable,” says Paula DiPerna, a special advisor to CDP, a nonprofit that works to build a sustainable economy by helping investors, companies, and cities understand their environmental impact.

Over the past five years, the number of green jobs has grown 10 percent. “Any job, any work that produces an environmental benefit is probably on a growth curve because all of the natural resources that we are dependent upon, if they’re not actually finite, they’re very limited. And so that requires efficiency, more and more efficiency,” explains DiPerna who joins me for this special Earth Day 2020 Work in Progress podcast.

Right now, like most of the economy, job growth is on pause in the green jobs sector. But, looking ahead, green jobs could play a role in our economic recovery after COVID-19. They could be a lifeline for the unemployed as businesses start adding jobs again.

Paula DiPerna

“I think that’s a very good way of putting it. Clearly my personal view is that protecting the environmental health of this planet is a blueprint to re-industrialize the country in a green manner.”

“And when you look at it that way, you realize that everything we buy, we design, we use, we invent, we dispose of, we eat, all of these things have to be reconsidered in light of environmental imperatives.”

DiPerna and I talk about some of the jobs you might be surprised to learn are considered “green”, how the education system could better prepare people for those jobs, and so much more.

You can listen to our Earth Day 2020 podcast here or find it and download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for listening. Have a healthy, happy, and safe Earth Day.

Episode 129: Paula DiPerna, Special Advisor to CDP and Environmental Policy Specialist
Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim
Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts