Van Jones on Growing Green Jobs for Social Justice
Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2008-03-26 15:07
Once again, we’re excited to see 1994 Echoing Green Fellow Van Jones getting great press in The New York Times. The article explores the question of what is a "green-collar" worker..vs a blue-collar worker or vs an enviromental scientistic. In today’s front page article on the growth of jobs in the green economy, Van talks about the ways environmentally-friendly jobs also fight economic inequality through what he calls “pathways out of poverty.”
“The green economy needs Ph.D.’s and Ph.-do’s,” he said. “We need people who are highly educated at the theoretical level, and we need people who are highly educated at the level of skilled labor.”
He sees green jobs as providing a career ladder. Some workers might start at $10 an hour inspecting homes for energy-efficient light bulbs. Then they might become $18-an-hour workers installing solar panels and eventually $25-an-hour solar-team managers. Eventually they might become $40-an-hour electricians or carpenters who do energy-minded renovations.
Find out more about Van’s current project, Green For All (www.GreenForAll.org) and be sure to check out their recently launched publication on Green-Collar job creation.
