In Pittsburgh a powerful alliance may be emerging as the nation?s largest unions gathered with environmental groups at a four-day conference, Power Shift, to have a conversation about how to build a green economy. Labor groups at the conference say that they are on board with the green agenda, but that it is not as simple as cutting the bad energy sources; creating new jobs in the green industries must happen concurrently. One of the conferences moderators, Richard Fowler, says that it is not just about ?a ban, or a fix, or a cap, or a trade?, but rather that the campaign for more sustainable energy sources should be about creating that new, clean energy market as a viable shift from the old one. Many of the students at Power Shift say that everyone needs to be a part of the conversation, ?and that includes the coal workers? and the families that depend on them.
See "Environmentalists, labor unions seek common ground to fight global warming and protect jobs", The Washington Post, October 20, 2013