Could Conservation Jobs Provide Stimulus?
conservation, natural resources February 4th, 2010Grist Magazine has an opinion piece that suggests that conservation efforts would prove to be a popular stimulus for the economy that would provide jobs and lasting impacts. The idea is for good hands-on work restoring forests, rivers, wetlands peat bogs and praries as well as investing in expanding the National Parks system. The jobs that could benefit are soil scientists, equipment operators, water engineers, tree planters, park rangers and other park personnel.
The thinking is that this type of job goes mostly toward labor, because there aren’t high material costs in the kinds of work that needs doings. It’s mostly physical work. And, the restoration of ecosystem services would lead to better biodiversity and would help mitigate against climate change.
I find this to be an intriguing idea, but I worry that those without jobs that are used to desk work may not find this kind of work appealing.
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