Green Jobs Training programs present solutions for West Oakland and other Urban communities including poverty alleviation, employment, pollution mitigation and environmental justice, but the scope of existing programs could be more complex and greatly expanded.
In 2000 the unemployment rate in West Oakland was 18.3%. Since that time, these rates have gone up dramatically. The bioremediative horticulture and green infrastructure sector we are developing is an untapped and highly necessary area of employment and poverty alleviation; Oakland and other Urban youth and residents would be prepared to enter jobs in the fields of sustainable landscaping, urban agriculture, water retrofits to increase water efficiency and conservation, bioremediative plant propagation and harvesting, urban timber harvesting, alternative sustainable construction methods, data collection and analysis, community organizing, as well as parks and open space maintenance and expansion.
Green Collar Jobs
For the green job training aspect of the project we are developing a green infrastructure curriculum for Merritt College. By leveraging teacher’s salaries and small materials budgets we will be able to get started while we seek funding to develop a more comprehensive training program, which would incorporate local organizations with related experience.
We have an able workforce from Merritt College and two classes of 35 students each per semester, which can be relocated from the Merritt campus in the Oakland hills to the flats of West Oakland. Over a three years, we plan to develop a Green Jobs Training Program in eco-landscaping where young people will gain transferable skills while working on real projects in their community. Participating students will be receive training in a college-level program in job-skills, urban gardening, eco-literacy, propagation, installation of plants, irrigation design and implementation, root barrier installation, bioremediation, water efficiency and landscape maintenance.
Through the Peralta community college system we have an opportunity to build on the successful systems and infrastructure that Laney College has developed for Green Collar Job training programs. While Laney College has focused on preparing youth for jobs in construction and solar PV installation, Merritt College Landscape/Horticulture Department has spent the last decade developing an innovative Eco-Landscaping and permaculture curriculum. Through the development of a Green Jobs Training program in Eco-Landscaping, coupled with cutting-edge research in bioremediation, a Merritt College program based in West Oakland would address urban ecological injustice, while propelling the environmental movement forward.
Urban Timber
Urban Biofilter could potentially help Oakland become the leader of a new Urban Timber industry. One of our primary and most effective bioremediative plants for air and water filtration and erosion control is bamboo. The bamboo trade is estimated by some to be over $10 billion per year. Over 20 million tons of bamboo are collected and harvested per year, primarily by people without economic means. Our Greenbelts and Propagation facilities would produce incredibly versatile plant materials which could be used in framing construction, turned into composite building materials, furniture, flooring, biofuel, charcoal, bicycle frames, and many other value-added products. Over a billion people in the world live in homes made of bamboo. A large scale urban bamboo forestry project would provide stable green collar jobs for the community of West Oakland, create a new sustainable source of city revenue, and fashion a model for urban timber production in other cities. Sourcing timber from within the city limits would be a major shift in resource management and economics toward sustainability.
