‘Green jobs’ have been increasingly touted as the solution to job loss and environmental crisis. Will Canada transition to a cleaner economy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and employs a new generation of workers? Are green jobs the only link between environmental policy and employment policy?

Defining green jobs raises further questions. What is a green job? Do we need new green jobs or greener jobs? Who will benefit in the transition towards a low-carbon economy? What strategies do we need to transition to greener workplaces?

The GREEN/ING JOBS: Definitions, Dilemmas, Strategies panel discussion will explore these challenging issues on Thursday, January 20, 2011 beginning at 3 pm in Room 100A of the Jackman Humanities Building, located at 170 St George Street, Toronto, ON.

Participants include expert activists, academics and policy makers:

• John Cartwright, president, Toronto and York Region Labour Council
• Tony Clarke, director, Polaris Institute of Canada
• Clare Demerse, associate director of the Climate Change Program, Pembina Institute
• Marjorie Griffin Cohen, professor, Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University
• Sara Letourneau, director, Labour Climate Project, BlueGreen Alliance (US)
• Carla Lipsig-Mumme, principal investigator, Work in a Warming World (W3) and professor, Department of Work and Labour Studies, York University

Green/ing Jobs is organized by Work in a Warming World (W3). The $1-million project, funded by the Social Science & Humanities Research Council, is addressing climate change's challenge to Canadian employment and work, and the ways in which the work world can contribute to the struggle to slow global warming. W3 is affiliated with the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS).

By Sabreena Delhon, W3 project coordinator.