Laid Off Autoworkers to Build Windspires in Michigan

Laid off Auto workers in Michigan will soon building Windspire wind turbines in what could change from the Rust Belt to the Green Belt.

If the U.S. economy is in the tank, then Michigan is the dirty gravel at the bottom of the tank. The big fish, Chrysler, General Motors and Ford have all gone belly up, and after having risen to the surface to receive their bailout money, are beginning to sink towards the bottom with the rest of Michigan.

I know, because I grew up in Michigan, and I was at one time involved in the Automotive chain. Don’t get the wrong idea, it’s not just the “Auto Workers” the guys who build the cars in the assembly plants that are out of jobs. For every auto worker attaching rear view mirrors in Fords, there is a factory that is putting those mirrors together, factories like Johnson Controls. For every mirror being assembled, there is a glass company and a plastic company involved. Then of course there are the truck drivers that move the parts and the auto supply dealers who sell replacement parts. The domino effect has gutted not only Michigan’s economy, but contributed to the world wide, but the worlds economy.

But wait, there is good news.  In Manistee, Michigan, the town is preparing for the opening of a new manufacturing facility that will build Windspire wind turbines and provide badly needed jobs to the community.

People like Randy Brown, a seasoned engineer of the auto industry forced into unemployment, will now be able to build a career in wind power. Younger employees like Chris Dittmer, who saw a bleak future for himself within the community, find opportunities in alternative energy.

The opening of the Manistee manufacturing plant aligns with President Obama’s mission to put people back to work by creating jobs in alternative energy.

We are moving toward a new type of economy. An economy built on the lessons learned of our past. An economy built on the understanding that having the biggest, baddest, most resource utilizing product or products on the block is not good for our economy. We are moving toward a future of sustainable responsibility, where we have to fix the things that are broken (Water infrastructure) and create new alternatives, products and energy sources that will move us into the future.

At Twilight Earth, we welcome these changes, because we know a couple of things.

• We know that you don’t have to solve a problem to move forward with making a situation better.
• The only constant in life is change.

The time of us all saying “I can’t solve the problem so I won’t try” needs to be over. None of us could live normal lives without the help of millions of other people. We don’t build our own houses, we don’t grow our own food, we work as a collective member of a larger organization to secure monies that go into banks with millions of other account holders. Why do we think that when it comes to the environment that “If I can fix it, it aint broken?”

We are better than that.

Support alternative energy solutions. Our economy needs them, the environment needs them and we need them.

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