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Green At Work Another cool benefit from buying local: growing jobs. by Tom Watson Buying local has a green angle because it reduces transportation. When folks grow their own food or buy it at a farmers market, for example, rather than buying food shipped from thousands of miles away, that can help reduce global warming.

But today I want to talk about the other cool benefit from buying local: Growing jobs.

I was going to say "creating jobs," but "growing jobs" seemed more appropriate. It's an organic process. As an example let's take Nube (pronounced "noo-bee") Green, a store on Capitol Hill (10th and Pine) in Seattle that just opened a few weeks ago. Nube Green carries products and crafts made from recycled or sustainable materials, mostly made locally. Owner Ruth True says they don't stock any products that have traveled across oceans.

Now, Ruth has sprouted new jobs for herself and a few other people that work in her store, but she is also growing jobs for the local artists and manufacturers that make the stuff she carries. For example, she proudly told me that she is now the "flagship store" for Alchemy Goods because she stocks every product they make. I have featured Alchemy Goods in this column before – it's Eli Reich's local company that makes bags, wallets, belts and accessories from inner tubes, seat belts and other discarded items.

So, she's also helping to maintain and grow new jobs at Alchemy Goods. Ruth also carries these great dog beds made from scraps of old blue jeans that are rejects from Goodwill. I featured them on my last EcoConsumer segment on KOMO4 TV, and everyone loved them. She has a guy who makes those dog beds for her, so she's also helping to grow new work opportunities and income for him as well.

And that's just one little store. What about green manufacturing or service jobs, like building or installing solar panels or geothermal heating systems? What about all the green jobs Cedar Grove Composting has created locally by figuring out how to turn all our yard waste and food waste into a high-quality soil amendment sold in bags at major stores? Just think of all the thrift store jobs – those are green jobs too!

This is a topic that really excites me. The biggest economic problem in this nation right now is unemployment, and green jobs are absolutely part of the solution. They don't all pay a lot of money, but that's true for all jobs. And what I really like about green jobs is that there are so many opportunities for entrepreneurs like Ruth and Eli.

It's the eco-American dream: If you have a great green idea and work hard, who knows what might happen?


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