Earth Equity News

Selling America on 'Green Collar' Jobs. By Lois Romano, WashPost, August 11, 2009. "Van Jones may have one of the hottest assignments in the Obama administration -- selling the notion of a new 'green-collar' economy -- but in a country burdened with a 9.4 percent unemployment rate, it's not easy. How do you tell an unemployed construction worker that it's time to start thinking about installing solar panels instead of aluminum siding? 'I think some of these ideas are complicated for people when they first hear them,' said Jones, senior green jobs adviser to the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Most people 'don't know what retrofitting a building means, or they haven't heard of ... a smart biofuel'... Jones, 40, has been a leader in a growing movement that aims to hit two major social and policy challenges -- the struggling economy and environmental quality -- with one boulder. It's a vision that has been embraced by various industries and advocacy groups intrigued by the promise of thousands of new green jobs as the country invests in energy efficiency and confronts climate change."