To help the environment, manufacture
Former Sierra Club chairman Carl Pope took an unusual stance for an environmentalist on Wednesday, saying that in order to meet the massive challenge posed by climate change, America needs more manufacturing. At a time when living sustainably and reducing waste are key topics in the national environmental discussion, Pope added a new wrinkle. The transformation required to meet the climate challenge, he said, involves no less than rebuilding or refurbishing virtually every American home, factory, school, power plant, hospital, and motor vehicle to become cleaner and greener over the next three to four decades. That level of transformation will require a host of new environmentally friendly products that can be delivered by high-tech manufacturing, much of which left the United States in recent decades. These are the factories and jobs, Pope said, that America should fight to get back. In addition to providing access to new products, the advanced factories would...