As Americans and their families work their way out of the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression, there is a natural tendency to want to go back to a place that's safer. But the bubble economy of the past decade is not what our country needs to build a secure future. We need to think ahead and work ahead, to start building a stable, sustainable economy that encourages invention, creates good jobs in new sectors and protects our environment.

What we need is to build a green economy, and we need to do it now. Our future security depends on it, and by that I mean not only the security of a planet battered by disasters like the BP oil spill, but the livelihoods of generations to come.

Thinking green is about more than windmills and solar panels -- although building a clean energy industry is essential. It means creating greater efficiencies; it means building offices and homes that are cheaper to heat; it means developing and manufacturing technologies to clean our water; and it means creating modern transportation systems that relieve congestion, cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

All of this means jobs. It means prosperity. And we can do it if we revive that great American tradition of innovation.

Countries like Germany, Spain and China have sprinted to capture the opportunities offered by the green economy. Last year, China, which is working overtime to become a world leader in green energy technology, invested $34.5 billion in developing low-carbon energy technology -- nearly twice the U.S. level of investment.

We cannot afford, in any sense of that term, to sit back and watch others take over our leadership role. For nearly two centuries, the United States was a leader in developing new technologies. People around the world watched as we built an incredible industrial base that was the backbone of our prosperity, security and middle class.

But today, our federal investment in energy-related research and development is only about 65 percent of what we were investing back in 1980. We rank 11th among the 20 largest industrial nations in clean energy investment.

We know the way forward. States like Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, long derided as the Rust Belt, are pointing the way by developing new technologies -- and the good jobs that come with them -- such as advanced batteries, hybrid energy systems and fuel cells. They are capitalizing on our country's enormous assets -- our industrial infrastructure, our talented, experienced workforce, our educational institutions and our technical and engineering know-how.

There is a huge payoff ahead if we follow the example of that kind of leadership.

We're in a severe jobs crisis. But we can create 1.4 million American jobs by investing in hybrid and other clean cars, public transportation, efficient lighting and heating and renewable energy. With the right priorities and policies, we can spur an estimated $343 billion in renewable energy investment alone by the year 2020. Think about the economic boost that level of investment would provide.

That's why many unions are signing on to build a sustainable future for our country. Some of the unions of the AFL-CIO are working with state pension funds to encourage investments in sustainable technologies and green real estate. Others are working to improve and expand mass transit and training employees to work in the new energy sector. Several unions have joined environmental organizations to create the Blue Green Alliance, dedicated to expanding the quantity and the quality of green jobs.

All these efforts challenge the tired notion that we cannot have a strong economy with good jobs that pay well while protecting our environment. For too many years, powerful interests argued that you could have jobs or a clean environment, but not both. They said commonsense measures to protect the environment would be bad for business. But in fact, the same forces that fought environmental protection efforts also fought laws to protect workers or raise wages.

We know that providing a secure future for our kids and grandkids means building a sustainable economy, one that respects both people and our Earth. It's a matter of reaching for the future. That's what Americans do.

Cartoonist Rob Rogers does "Rob's Rough," an early look at his work and his creative process, exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.