A Van With A Plan: An Interview With Van Jones

Big business has finally realized that there's lots of money to be made in the transition to a clean-energy economy. Van Jones wants to make sure working-class and minority Americans realize it too. Though his work is focused on Oakland, CA -- he successfully fought for a "Green Jobs Corps" youth training program in the city and is pushing to make Oakland a "Green Enterprise Zone" -- Jones is seen as a rising national star whose ideas could bridge the gap between movements that have too long regarded each other with wary skepticism. When I reached him by phone, he emphasized the potential for a broad-based green coalition and chided "eco-elites" for failing to reach out.