AP Article: Popp Weighs in on Biden's Proposed Civilian Climate Corps

September 9, 2021

The Associated Press

David Popp

Public Administration & International Affairs Department

Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Center for Policy Research

Climate Change

Environment

Government

Natural Resources

David Popp

President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats are pushing for a modern counterpart to the New Deal-era Civilian Conservation Corps: a Civilian Climate Corps that would create hundreds of thousands of jobs building trails, restoring streams and helping prevent catastrophic wildfires. David Popp, professor of public administration and international affairs, says a key distinction between the original Civilian Conservation Corps and the new climate contingent is that the U.S. economy is not in a depression—great or otherwise—as it was during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency. Most of those being targeted for the new climate corps "could find employment elsewhere," Popp says, noting a proliferation of help-wanted signs at retail businesses across the nation. "I don’t know that an unemployed coal worker in West Virginia is going to move to Montana to take a minimum-wage job to restore streams," he says. Read more in the Associated Press article, "Biden, Dems push Civilian Climate Corps in echo of New Deal."