Solar's rise lifted these blue-collar workers. Now they're worried about Trump
By Danielle Paquette June 5 at 3:37 PM
CHARLOTTE — Mike Catanzaro, a solar panel installer with a high school diploma, likes to work with his hands under the clear Carolina sky. That’s why he supported President Trump, a defender of blue-collar workers. But the 25-year-old sees Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement as a threat to his job.
“I’m a little nervous about it. The solar business is blowing up and that’s great for a lot of people around here,” Catanzaro said, just after switching on an 86-panel array atop a brick apartment building.
“I was in favor of Trump, which I might regret now,” he said. “I just don’t want solar to go down the wrong path.”
While some employed in particular industries have celebrated the U.S. exit from the Paris agreement, the responses of workers such as Catanzaro add a considerable wrinkle to Trump’s promises that scrapping the accords could save millions of people “trapped in poverty and joblessness.”
The more complicated truth, experts say, is that while there could well be some winners — such as workers in the coal industry — the Paris departure embodies the government’s abandonment of a suite of policies that promised to create hundreds of thousands of jobs at the same time as fighting climate change.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/05/solars-rise-in-north-carolina-lifted-blue-collar-workers-now-theyre-worried-about-trump/
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