Linking heavy industry cities
By Ed Mitchell 6th July 2010
The South Coast Labour Council in Australia are looking to develop a network between heavy industry cities in Australia and abroad with the view to accelerating the transformations and transitions to more sustainable industries and regional economies.
There are patches of (ex) heavy industry all around the world from Wales with its coal mining heritage to Detroit’s Car industry (see Requiem for Detroit if you can), which surely provide an interesting context for Transition groups.
Below is a short excerpt from the SCLC’s very interesting report on green job generation, and you can download the full report as attached to the SCLC’s website.
“The Climate change sceptics constantly scaremonger about the possible loss of jobs through the transition to a lower carbon economy. But they constantly fail to talk about the new clean jobs of the future which will arise from the introduction of the carbon pollution reduction scheme, the renewable energy target and energy efficient measures in the future.” Kevin Rudd, July 30, 2009.
The Challenge for the Illawarra
Green Jobs Illawarra is a strategic response to three massive challenges facing the region. First, the impact of climate change policy on a regional economy reliant on steel, coal and heavy manufacturing. Second, the onset of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and third, a sluggish economy and the continuing inability of the region to recover from the downturn in the steel industry in the early 1980’s and subsequent recessions which have resulted in unacceptably high levels of unemployment, particularly for youth.This report turns conventional wisdom on its head by demonstrating that the region’s coal, steel and heavy industrial base, the sectors that have exposed the region most acutely to the impacts of climate change response, the GFC and longer term structural economic weakness, in fact provide the foundations, and in turn competitive advantage, for the Illawarra in the emerging green economy.
Thanks to Arthur Rorris for bringing this to our attention – and good luck! If you find this relevant to your community, get in touch with the SCLC via their site or we can put you in touch.