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Oil jobs are not the only things these people can do. There is an argument to be made that renewables, like solar, actually would increase employment - especia
by outside1234 7y ago
Oil jobs are not the only things these people can do. There is an argument to be made that renewables, like solar, actually would increase employment - especially of middle class labor.
- Mirioron 7y agoSure, but nobody wants to be the guy to go up to hundreds of thousands of people and tell them that they're fired. The skills needed to work in an oil production company aren't the same as solar.
- RestlessMind 7y agoSo if someone is in their late 30's or 40's, having made an entire career in oil industry, with a family and mortgage - your proposal to them is to make their jobs obsolete and that they should seek a career in an at-best tangentially related field like solar? Look, I get that climate change is one of the most important problems we are facing. But if we want to devise a solution, it has to pass the "political viability" test. Else, you are only inviting a radicalized electorate. Example: "yellow vests" in France, which is supposed to be a rich society with plenty of resources to withstand the shock from rearranging an oil-based economy, with people supportive of generous social safety nets. If France can't get a gas tax passed without fierce nationwide protests, forget about making oil jobs redundant in Texas, let alone in developing countries like Nigeria or Kazakhstan.