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The prophet of the green collar economy

Meet Van Jones, the man who is single-handedly bringing the green collar economy to America's forefront. And now he's been tapped to be Obama's Green Czar.
By E.B. Solomont
Fri, Mar 06 2009 at 10:16 AM EST
Read more: GREEN BUSINESS, GREEN COMPANIES, GREEN ECONOMY

Photo: Courtesy Van Jones
Van Jones was tapped to be Obama's green jobs czar in March. Since then, he has been followed by controversy over past comments and affiliations, culminating with his resignation on Sunday. This original article is a profile of Jones.
 
More on the green collar economy:
 
With the economy gasping for air, there has been no shortage of solutions. Obama! Economic stimulus! Bailout! Go green!
 
Go green? "Everything it would take to beat global warming is exactly what it will take to beat the recession," says Van Jones, author of the new book, The Green Collar Economy. "Basically, clean energy and green economics are essential," he says.
 
While Jones is not alone — last year, the New York Times columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman published Hot, Flat, and Crowded — Jones has emerged as an energetic voice calling for the creation of new "green" jobs that would stimulate both the economy and the green movement.
 
A Yale Law School graduate, Jones staked the early part of his career on police reform before turning to the green movement, where he has become a rising star. Several years ago, Jones attended a conference in a well-heeled neighborhood of Marin County, Calif., where he was blown away by the plethora of salads and tofu, organic agriculture, hybrid cars and solar panels.
 
"I really felt uplifted by all that stuff, but also like, 'Geez, why do I have to come over here to get it?'" he recalls thinking, as he returned to his home base Oakland. He says that experience resulted in a stark realization that is the basis for his current work: "I had this epiphany that we need green jobs, not jails," he says. "It's kind of four syllables that came into my mind and changed my whole life."
 
Put simply, Jones believes that a "green economy" will simultaneously create jobs, boost the economy and save the planet. "Solar panels don't install themselves; that's a job. Winter vines don't manufacture themselves; that's a job. Buildings don't weatherize themselves. Trees and urban gardens don't plant themselves," he says.
 
"Everything that's good for the environment is either a job or a contract or a business opportunity, and when you look at it from that point of view, given what's going on in our economy right now, it's even more important to have a green economic renaissance in the United States and include everyone in it."
 
To date, Jones says, green ways of life have been attributes of the "eco-elite." People had to be willing to pay a "green premium" to consume green products, he says, leaving out those in lower socioeconomic brackets.
 
To expand the movement, Jones argues for a more robust governmental role. For instance, "You should be able to check a box on your energy bill, 'Please install solar panels,'" he says. (While the cost would be added to property tax bills or utility bills, the investment would pay off over 10 to 20 years, he says.) "That's not something an individual can do, but the utility companies and local government and maybe even state legislators," he says.
 
"It's bottom-up and top-down," he says, adding, "Here's the thing: Just because it started out in Berkeley, doesn't mean that Milwaukee or Philadelphia" can't do it, too.
 
When it comes to involving more people in the green movement, Jones says the country should "green the ghetto" first.
 
"If you're going to green our cities, you should green first those communities where the buildings are the leakiest, where the poor people live in drafty old buildings. You should put solar panels up there first. You should put the community gardens where people can least afford food," he says.
 
Those urban communities are also consuming low-nutrition food that's highly processed and trucked all over the place, he adds. "If you substitute a low-nutrition, high-carbon diet for a high-nutrition, low-carbon diet, you can punch a big hole in your greenhouse gas problem," he says. "You can also be improving public health. This is how you've got to be thinking."
 
But with the economy in shambles, where do green initiatives stand? Jones argues precisely because of the current crisis, the country is primed to see clean energy as a cornerstone of the next American economy. He envisions more local production, thrift and smart saving, and environmental restoration.
 

But he says our country's pattern of consumption also must change. "We need more than just a change in our energy system. If we only rely on that, we can end up with solar-powered bulldozers," he says. "Then all we're doing is putting a hybrid engine in a car that's headed toward a cliff anyway." 



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Comments(15)

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Posted By kim - Wed, Aug 26 2009 at 1:04 PM EST

the prophet of the green collar economy

this article is supposedly an "in-depth" history of van jones?? what about his jail time? his association with apollo? his immersion into communism which he found in prison? his purpose for joining the "green movement"? this man is working alongside anti-capitalist organizations in the hopes of destroying our society and developing his own communist type government. the man is working with other obama socialist and communist czars, which are chosen, not elected, and is hoping to take away our.... More

Posted By Cara - Tue, Jul 14 2009 at 12:45 PM EST

Wake up people!

Another ex-con czar! How much more corruption are people going to tolerate in the name of "hope and change". Wake up people, Obama has LIED to all of us! He has spent more, and increased the deficit more, in 6 short months than all the past Presidents combined (including Bush!). The only people who benefit from the "green" revolution are those hypocrits who line their pockets with tax payer money. Why has Obama skirted the typical nomination process by electing over 30 czars? Because NONE of.... More

Posted By Anonymous - Thu, Apr 16 2009 at 4:43 PM EST

Inmate Van Jones

Isn't Van Jones an ex-convict? He was put in prison for rioting at the L.A riots. There were a lot of rioters, and only the worst of the worst were arrested and locked up.

Posted By Brandon S. - Mon, Apr 13 2009 at 2:46 AM EST

Great that Obama is doing

Great that Obama is doing urgent moves to change America into a better nation that succeeding in many ways. Fixing environmental problems will take much time. As we can the world, natural calamities occur anywhere not just this, we can also see that people are doing things that causes great disastrous effect to the earth. The housing bubble bursting led to a drastic drop in demand, and prices, and even though you can't buy a house with payday loans alone, you can get one for dirt cheap (or at.... More

Posted By Anonymous - Mon, Mar 23 2009 at 2:45 PM EST

Don't Write Much English?

Interesting... you listen to Rush, or at least his detractors... but can't speak English very well can you? Get an education... then we may listen to what you have to say!

Posted By Jeannine - Wed, Mar 11 2009 at 6:57 PM EST

Give me a break!

Van Jones is dangerous! Legislating what people can eat? What's next? Will I pay a fine if I eat a twinkie? It's bad enough that Obama wants to Socialize America... but Van Jones simply wants to destroy it. Don't let him!

Note to the woman who lost her son... very sorry to hear these kind of stories, could not possibly understand what you are going through. But to her sons... stay out of trouble and stop committing felonies! Quit making excuses for poor choices in life and become a.... More

Posted By Anonymous - Tue, Mar 17 2009 at 11:46 PM EST

Rush, is that you?

Oh my gosh! Hey everyone, it's Rush Limbaugh. I guess he does do more than twist raw data to create a lopsided and rhetoric filled propoganda agenda that does nothing but support his own needs, i.e. further advance his personal career, and elicit fear and hatred among the weak and lost, or otherwise arrogant and insecure, citizens of this beautifaul country.

There is no way this country will accept socialism over capitalism, an in no way will it allow communism to usurp democracy. I.... More

Posted By Anonymous - Wed, Mar 11 2009 at 3:39 PM EST

Can alternative energy effectively replace fossil fuels?

Oil is running out and coal burning is cooking the planet. The Obama administration just passed a stimulus bill with billions in it for alternative energy development. The question that remains is whether or not wind, solar and other renewables can actually provide for current energy needs.

Many experts argue that renewable energy energy can effectively replace fossil fuels, while others have taken the current energy crisis as an opportunity to promote increased use of nuclear power and.... More

Posted By msladysta - Tue, Mar 10 2009 at 9:34 PM EST

felony and on probation

I lost my second oldest son on Dec. 27, 2005. He was murder shot 4 times. Now my other 3 sons ages 18, 21, 28 is having a very hard time. They are out of work and trying to be good dads to their children. After my son death my other sons try to go on with their lives. Now they have felonies. One on 7 years probation without a high school diploma or G.E.D., he doing everything right while on probation, but can't find a job because of a felony, but if he finish his probation he want have a.... More

Posted By Anonymous - Thu, Mar 12 2009 at 7:11 PM EST

all your children are criminals???

Isn't it ironic, that you inqire about green jobs and posting your letter here in response to the appointment of the street agitator Van Jones another czar in the most corrupt administraion in the history of this country?
Why is it that ALL your children are criminals? Maybe you yourself never had an honest job and always relied on government handout, had children from different men and never gave them the proper attention?
Don't cry to us- go to your Obama- maybe he will give.... More

Posted By Anonymous - Mon, Mar 16 2009 at 2:29 PM EST

Not everyone feels as you do

I feel comforted knowing that not everyone feels the way you seem to. Such a waste of energy inflicting your venom on others, I feel sorry for you. Perhaps you should vent your bile on something you actually know something about instead of on someone you make assumptions about.

Posted By Anonymous - Fri, Mar 13 2009 at 9:24 AM EST

Amen and Dittos!

Amen and Dittos!

Posted By Ron San Miguel - Tue, Mar 10 2009 at 7:14 PM EST

Go Van Go!

Go Van Go!

No pun intended, but no doubt, Vincent Van Gough would be delighted with this great news! Van Jones is a genius! Kudos to both President Obama and Mr. Van Jones. What a dream team!

I am confident that our great nation will now make tremendous headway into the transformation toward the "greening" of America.

Since before President Obama's inauguration, I have been telling family, friends, and associates that I would not be surprised if our new President brought Van Jones.... More

Posted By Sean Keller - Tue, Mar 10 2009 at 12:58 PM EST

Van Jones Getting His Due

Couldn't have happend to a better guy, Van is a revolutionary, wants to help give a chance to the inner city poor and allow for the people who were left out of the pollution based economy, and make sure they have the upper hand in the new green economy. Check out my site http://www.greencollareconomy.com to find green jobs, and keep up to date with the green movement. Thank you. Sean.... More

Posted By CalifDreama - Mon, Mar 02 2009 at 9:04 PM EST

e-Scape for a Greener Tomorrow

Hello! I'm CalifDreama - I had to stop by tell you how much I Loved reading your blog. So much so that I had to added it to my google search engine on my blog
( http://eco-earthblog.blogspot.com/ ) so others could read your work I hope you don't mind.
Also I like to add that there is now "Online Education for real estate people "The Commercial Brokers Association and Cascadia.... More

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