Cross-posted at MotherTalkers.
Hey all,
I am consulting for an environmental organization in Oakland called Green For All. I am helping the group spread the word on a new book by Green For All’s founder and president Van Jones.
If he sounds familiar that is because he spoke at Netroots Nation and in fact, NN is helping spread the word on his book, too. To read more about this dynamic speaker, check out his story in Time magazine.
Jones started Green For All with a simple premise: Create green collar jobs and both the environment and the economy will benefit. As Jones illustrates in his first book, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, being an environmentalist and a capitalist does not have to be an oxymoron. In fact, part of our economic crisis is due to job creation and wages remaining stagnant while people continue to rely on an increasingly precious resource: oil.
Jones lays out specific policy changes and inspirational anecdotes of what people are doing on the grassroots level to help this country become more energy efficient and make money. I was struck by how much his book read like someone-we-know's Crashing the Gate with a call for a new environmental grassroots movement and depiction of many colorful characters attempting to make a difference in their communities. He used a lot of examples from historical to recent major events like the current economic crisis and the fallout of Hurricane Katrina, making this a timely read for anyone interested in the environment, poverty and progressive politics.
In many ways, Jones is the perfect evangelist to launch this new environmental movement. He is pragmatic in his approach to global warming, tying economic prosperity with environmentalism. Also, if he were to make the bestseller list he would become the first African-American man with an environmental book to do so, a feat worth mentioning as he does blast the environmental movement in its current incarnation for leaving behind the poor and people of color.
If you are interested, you can pre-order the Green Collar Economy as its official release date is this Tuesday, October 7. Thanks all!