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With the general election heating up, we can expect to see more debate about the ramifications of the transition to a "green" economy after the next president is elected. It's clear that one of Bush's legacies will include his administration's lack of action in helping the transition to green technologies on an economy-wide scale. And yet the transition to the new "Green" economy is inevitable:

Presidential candidates talk about the promise of "green collar" jobs -- an economy with millions of workers installing solar panels, weatherizing homes, brewing biofuels, building hybrid cars and erecting giant wind turbines. Labor unions view these new jobs as replacements for positions lost to overseas manufacturing and outsourcing. Urban groups view training in green jobs as a route out of poverty. And environmentalists say they are crucial to combating climate change.

But is the promise of this revolution realistic? As with every new movement, the skeptics will always abound:

But some skeptics argue that the phrase "green jobs" is little more than a trendy term for politicians and others to bandy about. Some say they are not sure that these jobs will have the staying power to help solve the problems of the nation's job market, and others note that green jobs often pay less than the old manufacturing jobs they are replacing.

The term is so new, though, that we're not even sure to whom it applies:

"A green-collar job is in essence a blue-collar job that has been upgraded to address the environmental challenges of our country," said Lucy Blake, chief executive of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups, labor unions and politicians seeking to transform the economy into one based on renewable energy.

Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, said: "A green job has to do something useful for people, and it has to be helpful to, or at least not damaging to, the environment."

In fact, an old "dirty" job like a steel-worker can now be considered "green," says Dave Foster, executive director of the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership between the United Steelworkers and the Sierra Club,

"Ten years ago, steel was used for making low-efficiency automobiles, so those jobs were part of the dirty economy," he said. "But now that steel is being used to build wind turbines. So now you can call them green jobs."

The issue gets thornier the further you dig:

Welders at a wind-turbine factory are viewed as having green jobs, but what about the factory's accountant or its janitors? Workers with Sustainable South Bronx, a nonprofit group that plants vegetation to keep the area cooler and reduce air-conditioning demands, would seem to fit the bill. But so would the employees of Tesla Motors, south of San Francisco, who are producing an all-electric Roadster that sells for $98,000.

The highly comprehensive article goes on to cite the most well-known study [.pdf] commissioned by the American Solar Energy Society that said that "the nation had 8.5 million jobs in renewable energy or energy efficient industries. And Jerome Ringo, president of the Apollo Alliance, predicted that the nation could generate three million to five million more green jobs over the next 10 years."

But essentially the author weighs in on the side of the lasting power of this nascent revolution, since has become clear that Wall Street is now putting its money where its mouth is:

"The development of a green economy creates a broad new set of opportunities," Lois Quam, managing director for alternative investments at Piper Jaffray, said. "When I first started looking at this area, many people commented on how this will be as big as the Internet. But this is so much bigger than the Internet. The only comparable example we can find is the Industrial Revolution. It will affect every business and every industry."

So when you hear leaders out there from the old guard who are afraid of change and think Global Warming is not only a hoax but is an excuse to ruin our economy, send them this article and tell them to get with the program!

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