On Friday, Congress took an extraordinary step forward on efforts to curb global warming. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the first-ever bill designed to advance a clean energy economy that creates green jobs, boosts national security and protects our planet. Click here to see the ad that SEIU and coalition groups launched in Capitol Hill publications just last week, urging Congress to pass and strengthen the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES).

Areas of the bill that could still use some strengthening, according to our coalition partner the Blue Green Alliance: key provisions related to the Renewable Electricity Standard, investments in clean energy, energy efficiency, worker training and fair treatment of workers. BGA Executive Director David Foster praised the passing of the legislation:

"The Blue Green Alliance and its labor and environmental partners believe that comprehensive climate change legislation is essential to creating millions of jobs building the clean energy economy, particularly in manufacturing and construction, two industries hard hit by the economic downturn."

Bright Ideas
On Sunday, President Obama sat down with a group of reporters for an in-depth interview about the climate bill and energy, saying that he thinks the clean-energy market is poised for explosive growth. One small thing Americans can do to help conserve energy as our country moves towards enacting stricter energy-efficiency standards? Buy new lightbulbs.

Obama said the Department of Energy is at work on new standards for fluorescent and incandescent lighting. "Now I know light bulbs may not seem sexy, but this simple action holds enormous promise because 7 percent of all the energy consumed in America is used to light our homes and our businesses," Obama said. Read the president's full remarks here. More details on the Waxman-Markey legislation at ThinkProgress's Wonk Room.

Between 1998 and 2007, the number of jobs in our country's emerging clean energy economy grew nearly two and a half times faster than overall jobs, according to a study by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Study results showed that clean energy jobs grew at a national rate of 9.1 percent, while traditional jobs grew by only 3.7 percent between 1998 and 2007.

Best of all: "The Clean Energy Economy: Repowering Jobs, Businesses and Investments Across America" report finds that the renewable energy industry is creating a diverse range of well-paying jobs in every single state, across all skill levels and educational backgrounds. Pew's study is the first-ever count across all 50 states of the actual jobs, companies and venture capital investments that supply the growing demand for environmentally friendly products and services.

Read the Pew report here and check out the state-by-state rankings here.

The first official quarterly meeting of the President Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB) took place this morning at the White House. SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger and the fifteen other board members discussed green jobs and energy with the President, sharing their perspectives and expertise on how the U.S. can enhance the strength and competitiveness of the nation's economy through the creation of a comprehensive energy plan that will generate millions of clean energy jobs.

During the meeting, Burger shared her perspective on how business, labor and government can work together towards creating a low-carbon, green economy and a movement into sustainable good, green jobs--citing SEIU Local unions that are leading the way on green initiatives within real estate commercial properties to illustrate her point.

"Now, when workers have a voice, they can actually implement their ideas about how they can do things better. Our Locals in New York and California now bargain in energy efficiency standards. They have a whole training program where they train their janitors and their engineers in terms of how to retro-fit [buildings], how to save energy. And they set a goal in their contract about saving 20 percent of the energy in their buildings through a certain set period of time." Read the rest of Anna's comments during the meeting.

SEIU and coalition partners MoveOn Political Action, Blue Green Alliance, AFL-CIO, Environmental Defense Fund and the League of Conservation Voters launched an ad this week called "America Wants Green Jobs," to highlight good, green jobs in the clean energy economy.

The ad calls on Congress to pass an energy bill that halts the economic crisis, creates green jobs and ends dependence on foreign oil. It will air on national cable and prime-time network television for at least the next week.

America wants green jobs, and passing comprehensive clean energy legislation in 2009 will help us to create more jobs like these. We've got to make sure we've got a united offensive to show decision makers this is the change our country wants and needs.

Tell Congress to create millions of new clean energy jobs for American workers by passing comprehensive energy and climate legislation

On Friday, four labor unions and two environmental organizations representing six million people announced their support for comprehensive cap-and-trade climate change legislation in 2009. The Blue Green Alliance and its partner organizations said this legislation is an effective way to rapidly put millions of Americans back to work building a clean energy economy and to reduce global warming emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

The Alliance's goal is nothing less than to transform the U.S. economy through global warming solutions, and create millions of family-sustaining green jobs in the clean energy economy. "We have a unique opportunity to be part of the solution and to improve the lives of working people and their families for generations to come," said Gerry Hudson, International Executive Vice President of SEIU. "It is our duty to ensure that legislation develops a cap-and-trade system that connects environmental justice to economic justice in a way that supports communities across America and creates good, green jobs."

The Blue Green Alliance supports a reduction of U.S. emissions by at least 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, and supports a renewed U.S. effort to forge a global treaty to reduce worldwide emissions by 50 percent by that same date. The Alliance also supports complementary regulation, including standards for renewable energy, energy efficiency resources and fuel and appliance efficiency. In addition, climate change legislation should include investments in a wide range of technologies -- including carbon, capture and sequestration technology -- and federal financing for the transition to a clean energy economy. Read the policy statement here.

David Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, spoke of the significance of the labor and environmental movements embracing a common vision for the future, saying, "For the first time, a substantial number of unions representing workers across a broad section of the American economy have endorsed the principle that the way out of our current economic turmoil is through major investments in solving global warming."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has promised to introduce climate change legislation by Memorial Day. Tomorrow, he and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will release a draft bill that is predicted to be the centerpiece of the upcoming climate policy debate. President Obama has also expressed his support for Congress to focus its attention on passing cap-and-trade legislation as part of his energy and climate change agenda to move away from polluting energy resources toward cleaner energy sources.

The Blue Green Alliance is a national partnership of labor unions and environmental organizations dedicated to expanding the number and quality of jobs in the green economy. Formed initially by the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club in 2006, the organization has recently grown to include SEIU, NRDC, CWA, and LIUNA.

More details here and at www.bluegreenalliance.org.