Last weekend, an organization called "Green for All", founded by Van Jones, asked people to rally around the country for green jobs.  Folks in 600 communities responded.  Like many people, Jones contends that putting people to work on green projects around the country solves several of our problems at once. 

WorldChanging has an article describing both the intent of the effort and the actions that organizers around the country came up with.  There are wonderful stories about what people did around the country to call attention to the intersection of the need to develop a new industry to provide energy for a new non-fossil fuel based economy and the current need for stimulating our economy by creating well-paying, useful jobs.  

Here is Jones talking about the focus of the organization:

"There is only one comprehensive solution to the present mess," said Van Jones, founder of Green For All, the organization behind the "Green Jobs Now!" National Day of Action. "Put America back to work retrofitting and re-powering America with millions of green-collar jobs."

The article discusses the reason that this initiative is being heeded now: 

"The promise of green jobs revitalizing our tired economy isn't a new one. Groups like the Apollo Alliance and the Energy Action Coalition, leaders like Van Jones and Majora Carter, and others have been calling for a green-collar revolution for a number of years. Recently, however, the economic nosedive and proposed bailout have amplified the usual chorus. As Carl Pope, head of the Sierra Club, commented on the bailout, 'The amount being talked about -- $700 billion -- is roughly equal to this year's bill for imported oil. So if we really took ending our addiction to oil seriously, we could repay the Treasury for the bailout -- and it's hard to see any other pot of money lying around big enough'."

Apollo Alliance, a sister organization to Green for All defines green jobs in a report issued in March: "A job qualifies as green-collar if it provides high enough wages and good benefits to support a family, opportunity to advance and build a career, and reduces waste, pollution, and other environmental risks."

In 2004, the Apollo Alliance published a report, entitled "New Energy for America" estimating the number and types of new jobs that are available.  Here's what they suggested:

1. A $300 billion investment in America’s economic and energy future over 10 years would produce 3.3 million jobs and a $1.43 trillion gain in GDP.
2. 932,000 of the jobs are in energy diversity.
3. 900,000 jobs in industries of the future — hybrid cars, energy efficient appliances.
4. 827,000 in high performance buildings
5. 679,000 in infrastructure investment