Van Jones’ Green Collar Manifesto
Few people have been able to inspire the kind of critical thinking and political action considered a necessary component of “success” in the modern environmental movement. But if you were to make a list of those few, Van Jones would definitely be on it.
The environmental movement has never spoken with one voice and that will likely remain the case for the foreseeable future. That said, the environmental movement shouldn’t speak with one voice, it should speak with a diversity of them, and Van Jones’ new book, The Green Collar Economy—published by Harper One and released on October 7—does just that.
What Van Jones does that makes his message different, is that he makes linkages between the “traditional” environmental movement, and the issues of economic development, urban sustainability, and quality of life issues that have often been overlooked. Mainstream environmentalism has been perceived largely as an endeavor undertaken by affluent white folks. But Van Jones is blowing that whole concept out of the water by arguing that environmentalism isn’t just about open space preservation, driving a Prius, and eating organically.
As Jones recently wrote at HuffPo:
“Rather than giving platinum parachutes to those who wrecked the economy, let’s throw a green lifeline to the ordinary people who want to rebuild it. We can’t drill and burn our way out of our present mess. But we can invent and invest our way out.
Our present economy is based on consumption, debt and environmental destruction. The next U.S. economy should be based on production, smart savings and environmental restoration. You can’t have a stable economy based on unregulated greed at the top. But you can have one based on unleashing green, at the bottom.”
Green Options’ founder, David Anderson, wrote a spirited post last week outlining the reasons why Van Jones should be Obama’s “Secretary of Prosperity.” And I don’t think he’s that wide of the mark with this clarion call. Just as some argue that we should have a Department of Peace, or a Department of the Environment, is it too pie-in-the-sky to argue that we should have a Department of Prosperity that can make the linkages between energy, economy, and the environment?
As we witness a reconfiguring the progressive movement, with some of the strongest contingencies in that movement joining forces to push forward a progressive clean energy agenda, we need leaders and critical thinkers that can help us in the cause—and Van Jones will undoubtedly be one of those leaders.
[...] Van Jones Green Collar Manifesto [...]
[...] the show and in his bestselling book, “The Green Collar Economy“, Jones highlights how both parties have believed the fallacy that our economy can be based [...]
[...] >>See also: Van Jones’ Green Collar Manifesto [...]
“(Van Jones) is blowing that whole concept out of the water by arguing that environmentalism isn’t just about open space preservation, driving a Prius, and eating organically.”
-Who exactly had this misconception, and how is he “blowing it out of the water”? This whole thing reeks and I see green shirted, clipboard toting gangsters creating more problems than helping them. It’s more busy work for the “gimme gimme” masses to secure the vote in 2012. The person who wrote this article is a hack of the highest degree. HACK!
John:
Who had this misconception, you ask? Environmentalism HAS traditionally been a pursuit of the white and affluent. This has been the reality of the environmental movement (at least in the U.S.) for decades. But it is also important that this is how the movement has been perceived.
How does it blow it out of the water? Well, Van Jones is expanding the notion of environmentalism (for those who perceive it as a white/affluent pursuit) by bringing it to urban areas by focusing on economic development.
If all you think this “expansion” of the movement means is that there will be “clipboard toting gangsters” you are completely missing the point and I suggest you spend more time learning about what it actually means.
Finally John, being called a hack at the end of a comment like that, is a compliment “of the highest degree.”
IN THE CURRENT HOST OF ISSUES, TO CHOOSE SIDES BASED ON A PARTICULAR PARTY LINE IS NEAR SIGHTED. I DO NOT AGREE WITH “BIGGER GOVERNMENT” IS THE ANSWER. GW, RR, AND SLICK WILLY, PROVED THIS, I DO BELIEVE SOME CHANGES ARE NEEDED. HOWEVER WHEN OUR REPRESENTIVES ADMIT FOR THE MOST PART THAT THEY DO NOT READ THE “BILLS” THEY VOTE ON. WHEN OPERATIONS WITH DUBIOUS TIES, LIKE “APOLLO ALLIANCE”, HAVE SUCH HIGH INFLUENCE IN THE STRUCTURE OF RECENT BILLS AND OUR PRESENT ADMINSTRATION APPOINTING “CZARS”, WHO FOR THE MOST PART ANSWER ONLY TO THE PRESIDENT, NOT APPROVED BY CONGRESS, NO OVERSIGHT BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, I AM BECOMING INCREASINGLY CRITICAL OF THIS NEW AGENDA. THERE ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT MANY PEOPLE OF INFLUENCE IN THE NEW ADMINSTRATION THAT HAVE CRIMINAL RECORDS AND HAVE SPOUSED MANY MARXIST SOCIAL VIEWS. HOWEVER THAT BEING SAID. I BELIEVE BOTH THE RADICAL LEFT AND RIGHT WING POWER MONGERS ARE ONLY CONCERNED WITH JUST THAT”POWER”. I WILL NOT SUPPORT ANY AGENDA WHICH ATTEMPTS TO DIMINISH, CHANGE, UNDERMINE OR INFRINGE ON MY RIGHTS AS A FREE AMERICAN CITIZEN. THIS FREEDOM DOES NOT COME WITHOUT A PRICE, IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE THAT JUST VISIT “ARLINGTON CEMETARY”. WE WILL WORK THIS OUT, THIS IS THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH.
I HAVE SPENT THE LAST FEW DAYS TAKING A HARD LOOK AT THIS CONCEPT ” RED GREEN AND BLUE” OR “VAN JONES GREEN”, HOWEVER ONE WISHES TO REFER TO IT. THE MOST RECENT INFORMATION WAS A RADIO INTERVIEW WITH MR JONES DATED APRIL 2008. TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE OTHER STATEMENTS MR JONES HAS MADE RECENTLY AND IN THE RECENT PAST, I AM DISAPPOINTED TO CONCLUDE THAT MR JONES, HAS MADE HIMSELF INEFFECTUAL AS A LEADER. HIS RADICAL STATEMENTS, CONCERNING CHANGING THE SYSTEM, WHICH I TAKE TO MEAN OUR CURRENT SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. THE STATEMENTS DEMEANING WHITES AS A PEOPLE THAT ARE KILLING OTHER RACES BY SELECTIVLY POLLUTING THEIR LIVING SPACES, THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE “CLEAN COAL” CONCEPT IS ON HIS AGENDA, AS WELL AS THE PRESIDENTS. HIS PAST MEMBERSHIP IN THE RADICAL LEFTIST “STORM MOVEMENT”, HIS STATEMENTS REGARDING “REPARATIONS, RE-DISTRIBUTING WEALTH AND THE CONCEPT OF EC0-CAPITALISM. I DON’T AGREE WITH HIM AND AS FOR TRANSFORMING THE WHOLE SOCIETY. NO, I DON’T THINK SO. I SEE HERE AND IN THE OTHER PIECES OF THE PUZZLE, HEALTHCARE, BILLIONS TO THE BANKS, SPENDING MONEY WE DON’T HAVE, ACORN AND OTHERS THAT HAVE BEEN APPOINTED BY THE PRESIDENT, A PLAN TO CHANGE THE FACE OF THIS COUNTRY BY PUSHING US FAR LEFT OF CENTER. MODERATION IS DEAD, THIS MOVEMENT, SUCH A GREAT CONCEPT, HAS BEEN HIJACKED AS HAVE SO MANY OTHERS HISTORICALLY, BY RADICALS ON THE LEFT. MR JONES HAS SACRIFICED GREEN FOR MEAN. I INTEND TO WRITE THE PRESIDENT AND REQUEST HE DISMISS MR JONES, THEN WRITE MY REPRESENTIVES IN THE CONGRESS AND SENATE TO BE SURE THEY ARE AWARE OF THE RADICAL STATEMENTS THIS GENTLEMAN IS MAKING. I AM VERY CONCERNED THAT THIS GENTLEMAN HAS THE EAR OF MY PRESIDENT AND AM CONFIDENT THAT HE WAS NOT AWARE OF MR JONES RADICAL, VISCOUS,RACIAL, ATTITUDE, TOWARD OUR COUNTRY WHEN HE APPOINTED HIM. A SAD DAY INDEED.