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Articles by Van Jones

Van Jones is the founding president of Rebuild the Dream, an initiative to restore good jobs and economic opportunity. He worked as the green jobs advisor to the Obama White House in 2009. Previously, he cofounded three organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change, and Green For All.

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  • A hearing in the House shows promise

    Hooray! Hooray! Finally!

    Yesterday, some House Democrats finally "connected the dots" on ways to solve two of the nation's biggest problems: failing American job security and global climate security.

    By addressing both issues simultaneously, these congressional leaders may re-energize the anti-poverty movement -- and transform the debate on global warming.

    U.S. Representatives Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) both sit on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Speaker Nancy Pelosi appointed the committee. Markey is the chair.

    Yesterday the Select Committee held a special hearing, entitled: "Economic Impacts of Global Warming: Green Collar Jobs."

    (I was happy to provide testimony [PDF] at the hearing, along with Elsa Barboza [PDF] of SCOPE in Los Angeles and Jerome Ringo [PDF] of the Apollo Alliance.)

    At the special hearing, Congresswoman Solis addressed the importance of using green collar jobs both as a way to curb global warming and as a pathway out of poverty.

    Van Jones Politics

  • Where are low-income and minority greens in the media?

    Once again this year, the spring season brought a flood of green-themed magazines to super-market checkout stands and airport news racks all across the country.

    And once again, the faces of non-white and non-affluent Americans were almost entirely missing.

    Our new environmental movement is rapidly gaining visibility and momentum. That is very good news. Life-or-death ecological issues finally are starting to get the attention they so urgently deserve. And we can all celebrate that.

    But now we would be wise to start paying closer attention to the kind of coverage that we as environmentalists are getting. Because I see a disturbing pattern of exclusivity that is starting to set in. And that kind of elitism can sow the seeds for a very dangerous, populist backlash, down the line.

    To see what I mean, just flip through the pages of Vanity Fair's recent green issue (the one with Leo DiCaprio and that cute polar bear cub on the cover).

    Van Jones Culture