The Africana Studies Program and the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia hosted a visit from Van Jones on October 21st, 2008 at the Stein Auditorium in Nesbitt Hall. Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy, spoke about his book and how caring about the environment will increase jobs.
Jones is the founding president of the organization Green For All and a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress. His new book has made him the first African American environmentalist to make the New York Times Bestseller List.
Dr. Kali Gross, assistant professor of history and director of Africana Studies, introduced Jones. She especially thanked the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences — Dr. Donna Murasko — for partly sponsoring the event and then listed a few of the many accomplishments by Jones.
Jones is an activist for social change. In 1996, he co-founded the Ella Baker Agency, which created centers to help young criminals. He also has been very vocal about helping to create environmentally friendly jobs, also known as the "Social Equity Track". The Social Equity Track recognizes and supports environmental opportunity and equality for people of all incomes, races, and backgrounds. This has helped spark global movements such as the Green Jobs Act, which gave $125 million towards funding for training future environmentally friendly employees. He has also been named one of Time Magazine's environmental heroes. "Van Jones is a man of principle and actions," Gross said. He "speaks truth to those in power and poverty."
Jones took the stage, humbled by Gross's words. He had a very comical demeanor as he began to talk about his book. "I learned not to publish a book during an election year," Jones said. Although he had difficulty getting much press on the book, it spread by word-of-mouth. Within four days, the book went from having sold 3,000 copies to reaching #12 on the New York Times Bestseller List.
"Let's make sure a lot of people get to play this time," Jones explained about trying to bring green solutions to the poor. However, to do this, a dilemma must be resolved: Should we use fossil fuels and destroy the earth or stop using fossil fuels and wreck the economy?
Jones explained that these are false choices and that we should "invent and invest our way out." He described our society as a "vulture society" — we are living off the dead. "We go back to the earth, like vampires, to suck out more oil," Jones quoted from his book. "If we pull death from the ground, we'll reek from the sky." He stressed that our habits of using "dead" materials such as oil will only serve to hurt our planet and the people on it.
Jones went on to say that alternative choices for oil can be found in geothermal energy. The millions of people who do not have jobs right now can help build an environmentally friendly economy. Focus should be put towards training these people because most green employers cannot find enough people trained to do green collar work. "It is important to rehonor and recognize skilled labor," Jones explained. "You shouldn't have to go to college to have a good job and feed your family."
Equal opportunity for environmental justice is another key aspect needed to go green. This would mean that everyone has equal protection from toxins. Unfortunately, the current situation has these toxins dumped in poor communities. Jones explained that if there was no race or class division, there would be a green economy.
Jones also touched on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He explained that King was a global hero because he marched and died to racially integrate the "old economy" and to make sure it had a place for everyone. Jones argues that there should be a place for everyone in the "new economy," too.
The government is on the wrong side of an environmentally friendly economy. It is on the side of "trouble makers" by investing billions in oil. These polluters are allowed to pollute the earth for free, which makes it harder to get the green economy to take off.
"This is about more than changing light bulbs," Jones said. "It's about changing laws." The market has "wacky rules" because it costs more to be green-friendly. "If we keep doing what we're doing, we're gonna be broke," Jones quipped.
Jones also touched on Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth. "Al Gore's predictions for 20 years are happening now," Jones warned. "Go to the weather channel. It has the scariest stuff on TV." He described how there are tornados in Atlanta, how Arkansas and Idaho are under water, and how other areas have hurricanes and droughts.
Jones explained that we should move clean energy elections around scientists working on the clean energy strategies. "There's no such thing as American oil," Jones said. "It's all sold to other countries." In the time it takes to drill oil, we can have a clean energy power grid. "The world is competing for a drop of oil. The sun, wind, and air are free."
If the country is re-wired there will be a full-employment system. "We've been running our country on assumptions, not production. We have to go back to an economy that is building instead of borrowing," Jones said. If the United States and other countries were eco-friendly, we could have partners around the world instead of staying "on a suicidal pathway."
"We can take America forward," Jones said.
