Originally posted at The Seminal.
I've written about how much of a relief it is that adults have been put back in charge of our energy policy. Perhaps I was caught up in the excitement of the appointments, but I neglected to mention Congressman Ed Markey, who chairs the select committee on energy independence and global warming. Senator Markey is a great ally on many issues I'm passionate about, but on energy policy in particular, he is likely the very best person for the job. Fortunately, he is now the chair of the energy and environment subcommittee as well. Advocates of a sustainable energy policy are very much looking forward to working with Congressman Markey to move green legislation quickly in the 111th Congress.
To that end, Markey has provided us with a preview of what is to come by inviting noted green collar economy educator/activist Van Jones to testify before the select committee this afternoon.
Some highlights of Jones' inspiring testimony and video of his opening remarks, are below.
The 111th Congress will be in the history books. 100 years from now students will study this Congress, and they will ask one question, 'were you able to solve the problem?'
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You have the opportunity now to turn this breakdown into a breakthrough.
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Let us seize the opportunity to abandon the idea that we can forever be the most important economy in the world based on consumption, based on consumerism, based on credit cards. Lets get back to building rather than borrowing in the United States.
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When you are building a green economy you don't just count what you spend, you count what you save.
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We have an opportunity to connect the people who most need work with the work that most needs to be done, and fight pollution and poverty at the same time.
Update: Climate Progress points us to an excellent New Yorker profile of Van Jones, which offers a glimpse into how Jones became such a compelling speaker:
He spends a lot of time listening to speeches–the way most people download Coltrane or Mozart, he’s got Churchill and Martin Luther King on his iPod.
"Ronald Reagan I admire greatly," he once told me. "You look at what he gets away with in a speech–unbelievable. He’s able to take fairly complex prose and convey it in such a natural and conversational way that the beauty of the language and the power of the language are there, but you stay comfortable. That’s very hard to do."
Phrases like those quoted above do exactly that: Van Jones boils down very complicated policy ideas to their essence, making them accessible to a broad audience. Given Jones' primary message - that the political fight for sustainable energy and environmental policies cannot be won without winning over and incorporating lower-income and urban constituencies - it appears likely that this style was developed intentionally. Joseph Romm explains:
Lincoln didn’t become our most eloquent President through happenstance. He consciously decided to educate himself in rhetoric. Indeed, much as Van Jones listens to Churchill and Martin Luther King, Lincoln studied, listen to, memorized, and recited the works of the greatest master of rhetoric in the English language — William Shakespeare.
Anyone who wants to master the art of persuasion would be wise to study the great orators and communicators, folks like Lincoln, Kennedy, Churchill (and yes, Reagan). It is becoming increasingly clear that Van Jones deserves to be added to that list.