Bringing Green Home: Van Jones and Green Collar Jobs

(Page 2 of 2)

September/October 2008
By Wayne E. Mayer 
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How is global warming connected to safer inner-city streets?

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A lot of people are engaged in the underground economy—selling drugs, stealing, selling stolen goods—but nobody does very well for very long. And most of them are not having a very good time. This is not a music video. Trouble is, they don’t know how to get out of that spiral of poverty and violence. If we reach out to people, especially when they are young, and offer them green pathways out of poverty, we can break that cycle. The green economy will create a net increase in jobs. If we connect at-risk youth with mentors, training and green-collar jobs, we can reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and inner-city violence.

If you were the U.S. president,what would your clean-energypolicy look like? 

We need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on education to train people for the green-collar jobs of the 21st century. To move into a low-carbon economy means a lot of people doing a lot of work. And that means training people to do the jobs that make our country and our planet healthier, wealthier and more sustainable. 

Beyond education, we need to re-invent the Civilian Conservation Corps that Franklin Roosevelt created. Only, we need to retool it to focus on today’s environmental challenges

Van's favorite things

■ Supporting People’s Grocery and Green Worker Cooperatives, which create jobs in the green economy.  

■ My hourglass shower timer, which helps me save time and water.

■ Donating to Solar Richmond, which helps low-income people become solar-panel installers.

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  • bob geary 8/28/2008 11:02:04 AM

    That's exactly it-what Van Jones is doing will be the future eco-backbone of this nation. No longer can we the people sit back and let irresponsible entities grind this country and her people into the ground for the sake of profit and the expense of our world and her people. He speaks to sensible, practical grass roots change that our beloved country so badly needs. Too many of us give lip service to issues like this without action. Kudos to men and women like Van Jones who joins solid words with progressive change. This is the kind of responsible, well thought out leadership our nation has been without for many years.
    I tip my (natural materials) hat to you, sir.

    Bob Geary
    Gilbert, AZ 85296

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