Van Jones on Growing Green Jobs for Social Justice

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.