With gas prices sky-high, an economy in the tank (no pun intended) and a historic election fast approaching, there's no better time to get our leaders' attention and convince them to invest in a new economy powered by clean, renewable energy. On Saturday, September 27 -- the day after the 1st presidential debate -- you have a chance to do that by signing up for Green Jobs Now: A National Day of Action.

Join Green for All, 1Sky, the We Campaign, dozens of national and local partners and hundreds of Americans as we organize and attend events across the country supporting the green economy of the future. Click here to sign up!

After you sign up, you can host or attend any kind of event, big or small: block parties, house parties, teach-ins, living room discussions, public programs with food, music, poetry -- whatever best fits your community and schedule.

We need this day of action now more than ever. In the middle of an economic and energy crisis, the fossil fuel industry and their lobbyists are trying to convince us that pivoting to a clean economy will cost too much and wreck our economy. Not true. Our economy is already in great peril, and no amount of drilling or building of new, dirty coal-powered plants will bring down the cost of energy. For years we've doubled-down on the dirty fossil-fuel economy, with nothing to show for it but higher energy costs and a dramatic acceleration of climate change. We need a new approach. Now.

Our only way out of this crisis is to invest in the new technologies and job training that will create millions of new jobs while saving our environment from the dangers of climate change. Green jobs are good for business, good for the middle class, good for low-income communities and good for the environment. Here are some examples from Green for All of the benefits of investing in green jobs:

Green-Collar Jobs Rebuild a Strong Middle Class
Green-collar jobs are good jobs. Like blue-collar jobs, green-collar jobs pay family wages and provide opportunities for advancement along a career track of increasing skills and wages. A job that does something for the planet, and little to nothing for the people or the economy, is not a green-collar job. An enduring green economy cannot be built with solar sweat shops and Wal-Mart wind farms.

Green-Collar Jobs Provide Pathways Out of Poverty
Most green-collar jobs are middle-skill jobs requiring more education than high school, but less than a four-year degree -- and are well within reach for lower-skilled and low-income workers as long as they have access to effective training programs and appropriate supports. We must ensure that all green-collar jobs strategies provide opportunities for low-income people to take the first step on a pathway from poverty to economic self-sufficiency.

Green-Collar Jobs Require Some New Skills (and some new thinking about old skills)
The green economy demands workers with new skill sets. Some green collar jobs -- say renewable energy technicians -- are brand new. But even more are existing jobs that are being transformed as industries transition to a clean energy economy: computer control operators who can cut steel for wind towers as well as for submarines; or mechanics who can fix an electric engine as well as an internal combustion engine. We need to identify the specific skills the green economy demands. Then we need to invest in creating new training programs and retooling existing training programs to meet the demand.

Learn more about green jobs here, then sign up to host or attend an event on Sept. 27. The technology and the workforce to build a green economy are here, but it won't happen on its own -- it's up to us to make it happen.