Green industries are more labour intensive and employ between 160 and 260% more people per dollar spent. This is a good thing? This argument flies in the face of millenia of human development and is a recipe for a new dark age. I thought they were talking about energy efficiency. Gotta get back on my bike..

Why is cutting waste http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=6964
to cut our emissions in half still not on the radar? Cutting waste in production and waste in use can mean more jobs and businesses http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7994 not less. Spending money to stimulate the economy should be directed to spending on what is needed for our future, to cope with climate change and natural disasters – spending on radical changes as well as modifications in infrastructure, housing, food supply, sustaining the environment, supplementary appliances to use when the big appliances are not needed, such as small cars, not always driving the big cars, more natural childcare, developing solar power, more durable and repairable goods, better salvage . . to be users rather than wasteful consumers. The big energy producers may not need to produce so much energy - can our economy not cope with this?

Suggestions for greater activism and more efficient use of electricity are to be commended but, by themselves, will not bring about what is really needed – significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

That will only be achieved with implementation of Obama’s initiative of implementing a cap and trade ETS. This should penalise the worst polluters and uses revenues raised to reduce adverse effects on the economy and fund R&D of technologies aimed at generating competitively priced base-load electricity from renewable sources.

Unless and until a fossil fuel economy is converted into one which sources all of its energy needs from non-polluting sources – and that excludes biofuels - essential reduction of CO2 emissions will simply not be achieved in time to prevent irreversible global warming with catastrophic consequences for the economy and humanity.