Green Van Jones

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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.
By EB Solomont
Mon, Mar 09 2009 at 10:16 AM EST
Read more: GREEN BUSINESS, GREEN COMPANIES, GREEN ECONOMY


Despite downturn, California's green economy is booming

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." /via mother nature network