The thought of revitalizing the economy with green jobs is inspiring, but how will it actually work? What will those jobs look like? Duke University just released a study that starts to answer that question. It looks at five industries, including LED lighting and concentrating solar power. For each, researchers asked what the value chain is and how jobs could be created.

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In an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, his first since the election, President-elect Barack Obama talked about the economy, the housing market and how to create a sustainable auto industry. He said that the $700 billion bailout plan has done little to improve the economy so far, but he credited the Bush administration Sunday for working to address the global financial crisis.

“There’s no doubt that we have not been able yet to reset the confidence in the financial markets and in the consumer markets and among businesses that allow the economy to move forward in a strong way,” Obama said. “And my job as president is going to be to make sure that we restore that confidence. We shouldn’t worry about the deficit next year or even the year after. … The most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession.”

The president-elect also said that not enough has been done to address bank foreclosures and distressed homeowners.

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Video source: SNL on Hulu

It can, and it does, via EcoMedia. The NY based company originally started by an LA surfer turned environmentalist to protect local watersheds from pollution has now expanded to find ways to improve and protect the air, energy, and green space of places across the US. This happens via partnerships with CBS and Worldwide Pants.  Between the three of them, they cover national and local markets, online, and also produce original green oriented content such as the Daisy Fuentes hosted TV show The EcoZone Project.

It comes down to this -

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T. Boone Pickens helps bring wind energy to the center of the energy discussion and the center of the political aisle.

Misguided Probing
I don’t think it made the 3 minute clip CBS aired, but in the full 12 minute interview Katie Couric instantly goes after T. Boone Pickens about his financial aspirations of starting a wind farm. Now I’m no big T. Boone Pickens fan, but Katie, people start companies to make money (and tycoons usually start businesses to make billions). As much as you can fault the man for funding the swiftboat attack ads against John Kerry, or fault him for his influence on the Republican Party, you can’t fault the man for starting a business and wanting to make money.

I think Katie is trying to get T. Boone to say what everyone already knows (so why even waste time probing for a confession?) which is, T. Boone Pickens doesn’t care about the environment or the economic revival of rural economies as the well laid out spinning on his Pickens Plan website would like you to believe.

T. Boone Pickens cares about money–and he’s good at making it.

So why then, poke and prod a man who will put his tycoon-ish master mind to work on an energy source that will benefit the nation environmentally and economically?
Katie should’ve poked and prodded T. Boone for what was curiously left out of the Pickens Plan.

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I’m not sure what it is about these ads that have captured the nation’s imagination; John McCain has his own version of it, and, of course, it inspired scores of parodies on YouTube and among late-night talk show comedians.

Still, I wonder if the candidates will get around to making one of these ads about the environment.

It’d be really easy to do, actually. All you need is a ringing phone…and no one to answer it.

That’s because the environment has somehow become a non-issue during this campaign season. All three candidates have fairly progressive views when it comes to addressing climate change, and they all tout the benefits of weening ourselves off foreign oil, so we’ve basically been told by the media that there’s nothing more to discuss on the topic.

The only problem is that voters WANT to discuss it.

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