Seeger, Van Jones Embrace the Way of the Gun
Courtesy of This Old House
If you watched the inauguration, you noticed the steady stream of
old-timers who did their bit on the stage; at one point, I
half-expected The Who to get up there and rip off a chorus of
"Degeneration" to scattered applause. But when 89 year old Pete Seeger came out, I rubbed my eyes; Seeger, an inspiration for at least three generations, still around? I had seen him at the Clearwater Festival some 20 years ago, and he has lost little of his magic or gusto, literally running off the stage when he was done. As such, I was surprised to learn that Seeger has recently teamed up with Van Jones to support gun-running in urban neighborhoods.
The pair's enthusiasm is reserved for a particular make and model - the caulk gun.
Seeger had been reading about Van Jones, a civil right leader and environmentalist who's intent on greening the ghetto, and supports his premise for finding jobs for poor young people while reducing everyone's carbon footprint. This is where the caulk gun comes in; Jones has suggested that 20 percent to 30 percent of a home's energy is lost to leaky doors and windows. Also the author of The Green-Collar Economy, Jones is primarily targeting the economic underclass who have largely been left out of the environmental movement to date, suggesting disadvantaged kids might be better off dropping the handguns and raising the caulk gun, the underlying premise being there's millions to be made in the eco-technological transition. Carry that tune and blow them away.Record Online
