The Green Gap
The economic potential associated with greening the country is nothing to scoff at. Studies have shown that if the United States were to make a meaningful investment in clean energy and efficiency, 40 million new jobs could be created by 2030, making one in five jobs in the country some shade of green. But most people working in green technology today fit the environmentalist stereotype -- white college graduates who drive Priuses and buy organic -- and without a conscious effort, this new green economic sector stands a chance of passing by low-income people of color, much like the dot com boom did.
The economic potential associated with greening the country is nothing to scoff at. Studies have shown that if the United States were to make a meaningful investment in clean energy and efficiency, 40 million new jobs could be created by 2030, making one in five jobs in the country some shade of green. But most people working in green technology today fit the environmentalist stereotype -- white college graduates who drive Priuses and buy organic -- and without a conscious effort, this new green economic sector stands a chance of passing by low-income people of color, much like the dot com boom did. Projects like Richmond BUILD are now laying the groundwork to prevent that from happening yet again.
At the forefront of this convergence of green economic development and social-justice work is Van Jones, co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, an Oakland-based organization that works to keep urban youth out of jail. Jones soon realized that young people in Oakland needed opportunities to escape the poverty and violence in the city, and he saw great potential for jobs in the green economy. "I had to think long and hard about what kind of jobs I thought were legitimate jobs for the young people I want to fight for," Jones says. "We came up with the slogan ?Green Jobs Not Jails.' Then all of a sudden everybody started calling me an environmentalist."
But for Jones, "environmentalism" is "almost too narrow to refer to the changes that need to happen as environmental changes." He says, "We're going to have to have a major shift in the U.S. economy and U.S. culture in order to not just achieve sustainability but to achieve survivability." Over the past few years, he and other young eco-equity advocates have helped bring that message into the national spotlight. Jones, a charismatic spokesperson, has traveled the country to talk to groups ranging from the NAACP to congressional staffs. In September 2007, he announced he was leaving his post at the Ella Baker Center to launch Green For All, a new, national organization to promote green jobs and environmental justice.
