38th Notable: Van Jones

This speech is from a little earlier this year, but I never got around to posting it. Van Jones is an amazing Oakland resident, author and activist working hard to use the environmental movement to address our crumbling economy. But perhaps the dopest part of his approach is that he is mobilizing and training young people of color to lead the way in this new economy.

In addition to running The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland and his national org Green For All, he was also recently named Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ).

Previously: Van Jones and The Green Collar Economy

Van Jones and the Green-Collar Economy

Van Jones is at the forefront of a movement that has the potential to put America's economy and environment back on the right track. He has taken the Green movement, traditionally the realm of sandle wearing Berkeley vegans, and brought it to at risk Oakland youth. The Green movement has long needed to be brought to urban cores where incinerators, ports and airports are the norm, but as we all know, West and East Oakland have bigger problems to deal with. Van however has managed to roll the tenets of the Green movement into a business plan that trains and employs at risk and formerly incarcerated youth to build a Green economy.

Thanks to Jones's organization, Green for All, youth will be trained to do things like install solar panels and weatherize homes. Hopefully in the future this movement can help create green-collar jobs manufacturing wind turbines and environment frendly automobiles. This approach shys away from ramblings about the plight of polar bears, and reframes the Green movement as an environmental and economic necessity.



With our economy in the sorry state that its in, many think the environment will have to be relegated to a back burner. Van Jones and others make the point that we can kill two birds with one stone by putting unemployed blue-collar workers back to work in a green economy; thus saving the environment while rekindling our economy with some alternative energy. Listen to audio of Van explaining his vision to TIME Magazine here.

Come out to see Van Jones discuss the green collar economy and eco-populism tonight with home grown luminaries Aya de Leon, Barbara Lee and Danny Glover. Click the link to order The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems by Van Jones.

Props to O-Scene and the homegirl Ashley from Green for All