I am thrilled that Jones will once again have a prominent position from which he can influence the economic and clean energy debates. America needs his vision for green jobs now more than ever.
At a time when climate change continues unchecked and Americans are struggling to support their families, Jones has pioneered a solution that can address both challenges at once: green jobs.
These are jobs that put Americans to work weatherizing homes, installing solar panels, manufacturing wind turbines, and assembling clean, efficient cars. Jobs that help us cut dangerous pollution and reduce our reliance on foreign oil.
The concept of green jobs has now entered the mainstream, but Jones was its original champion.
After working for years in Oakland to help young people stay out of jail, he began focusing on how to provide enduring jobs that could offer people dignity and a path out of poverty. This mission dovetailed with his growing alarm at the way ecological disaster hit the poor and people of color “first and worst.”
Jones realized that green jobs--jobs that paid well and helped build America’s renewable energy resources--were the answer. He founded the Oakland Green Jobs Corps, which became one of the country’s first job training programs dedicated to preparing low-income people for jobs in the clean energy industry.
Since then, Jones vision has taken hold. Business leaders, senators, and community activists alike view green jobs as a potent answer to the current unemployment crisis. With Jones’ input, the Obama administration built the economic stimulus around green job opportunities in renewable power and public transit. Meanwhile, economists have determined that passing a clean energy and climate bill would create nearly 2 million of the green jobs Jones has promoted.
Still, we have a long way to go before we realize the full potential of green jobs. That is why we need Jones back in action. Jones left his previous post as White House Council on Environmental Quality after Glenn Beck led a nasty smear campaign against him.
I am relieved that he has rejoined the national debate, because we need his leadership and on-the-ground experience in order to pass the laws that will create millions of green jobs.
Jones knows we need a broad national commitment. He has said, “Some people think that if we just pass the right law, that then there will be magical green fairies that will come around with little wands and put up all the solar panels and everything will be fine. No. People have to be trained to do that work. That is skilled labor.”
Jones has concrete ideas for how people can get the training they need to build a cleaner energy future for America. In his new positions, he will advocate for “green enterprise zones” that promote clean energy development in inner city and rural areas--from Watts to Appalachia, as he says. He will also campaign for a tough national renewable energy standard and a “Home Star” program that would offer incentives to make homes more energy efficient.
As lawmakers bicker over climate solutions and pass only a very modest jobs bill, Jones is cutting through the noise with real-world solutions. I am glad to have him back in the conversation.
]]>A leader in NRDC's San Francisco office from 1981 to 1998, Al was a potent force for NRDC and the environment. He was an aggressive litigator, fighting against exposure to toxic chemicals and for improved health -- for all of us, but with particular focus on those working on farms and in factories, people living in poverty, all who needed the public interest bar to represent them against the pesticide and chemical industry. Al was a great champion of California's Prop 65, using it relentlessly to go after chemical industry abuses.
Al was not only a great litigator, he was an immensely effective communicator and writer, penning off op-eds a mile a minute. He championed our outreach beyond the environmental community to labor and health organizations, to Hollywood, to those involved in progressive politics. While at NRDC, he testified before Congress more than 50 times.
He was more than hugely accomplished, he was also great fun. He was irreverent, funny and always ready to have a good time. He regaled us with stories, challenged us with new strategies, identified people we should get to know and work with. At a dinner he hosted last winter in Los Angeles, Al spoke with such passion and pride about all that NRDC does.
Al represented the very best of NRDC. I will really miss him. We all will.
]]>It's been a hard fall. That's why I couldn't imagine a better time for Van Jones to release his new book: The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.
As the founder of Green For All, Van writes that the best way to tackle our dual energy and economic crises is to invest heavily in a green collar economy that produces both clean, sustainable energy and millions of skilled jobs at the same time.
What kind of jobs is he talking about? The jobs that allow America to install solar panels, design more energy efficient appliances, operate the light-rail systems, put in the most efficient windows and HVAC systems, and write the software that analyzes a building's energy use. These are high-paying jobs that stay on American soil.
Economists, policy makers, and current statistics support Van's approach.
Van is an ally of NRDC, and we have worked together on a number of shared goals. I find him to be a charismatic and compelling figure.
After working for years in Oakland to help kids stay out of jail, he began focusing on how to provide enduring jobs that could bring people dignity and a path out of poverty. This mission dovetailed with his growing alarm at the way ecological disaster hit the poor and people of color "first and worst."
Van also noticed that the same communities that bore the brunt of environmental injustices tend to benefit "last and least" from available solutions:
We are the last to get the hybrids, we are the last to get the solar panels, and we are the last to get the organic foods in our neighborhoods. We can turn that around.
But not without some a concerted, national commitment.
Some people think that if we just pass the right law, that then there will be magical green fairies that will come around with little wands and put up all the solar panels and everything will be fine. No. People have to be trained to do that work. That is skilled labor.
In just about every conversation I have had with Van, I come away inspired. Although he has faced some of the toughest issues of urban poverty, he is an optimist with a vision and hope.
That vision shines through his book. This book is not a clanging alarm bell. It is a list of solutions. It is a plan. Van says:
We have come to the end of the road for dirty fuel based on dead dinosaurs that is cooking the planet. We are now opening a chapter that says we are going to do energy in a clean, green, renewable way.
His book points the way.
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