"We can make what is good for poor black kids good for the polar bears and good for the country," said Van Jones in a New York Times article. Jones was a speaker at the Bioneers conference in San Rafael, California and spoke to nearly 3,000 people, giving what he called
"the PowerPoint presentation Al Gore would do if he were black."
Coupling green technologies with applications for the poor can be a win for everyone. Rather than making going green a province of the upper middle class and trend chasing movie stars, programs can connect disadvantaged communities with the opportunities offered by the growing green-collar job market. PVC installation, wind farm construction, building insulation and weather roofing all require large amounts of labor. Youth could receive training through a proposal in Congress to allocate $120 million to train 30,000 across the US to learn trades in the clean energy sector. The Green Jobs Act would provide trained, skilled installers for millions of solar panels, weatherize homes and commercial buildings, manufacture bio-fuels and build and maintain wind farms and more. Jones refers to this training as"green pathways out of poverty." Currently, the US has no coherent strategy for training enough workers to meet the growing labor demand in the green and clean energy sectors.
Ultimately going green must benefit everyday American workers, not just those who can pay the premium price for a hybrid car or organic food. Jones quotes Majora Carter (Executive Director of Sustainable South Bronx) as saying that "the nation should invest billions of dollars into 'greening the ghetto.' The return in energy savings would be enormous and the return in lives saved from violence would be incalculable." View her powerful video.
10.23.2007
The Presentation Al Gore would do if he were black
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