Social Networking
I first contacted Van Jones in the summer of ’08. He and his wife were expecting their second child and he was not granting interviews at that time. But a few months later, I enjoyed a memorable interview, as Van talked with rapid-fire passion – and occasionally delivered a colorful aside – about his ideas and commitment to the environment, economy and social justice. This gallery shows three social activists I’ve had the honor of interviewing. Publishing dates and titles are on each image.
Van Jones: Green-Collar Leader
by Cesca Janece Waterfield
Van Jones is one of the nation’s most vital minds today, merging goals like creating jobs with environmental protection and restoration. His vision often results in solutions that simultaneously address social inequity and environmental misuse. A Yale Law graduate, he has helped cities create “Green Jobs Corps” to train people in jobs that meet civic and ecological needs, reducing the jobless population while improving and preserving our natural legacy. He is founder of “Green for All,” an organization that promotes clean energy as a means to improved health and better housing. His familiar slogan, “green-collar jobs, not jails,” highlights his dual focus on social equity and environmental consciousness. He’s been honored with many awards and was named a “Young Global Leader” by the World Economic Forum, and a “Next Generation Leader” by the Rockefeller Foundation. Van is married and recently celebrated the birth of his first child, a boy. In October of last year, he released The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can solve our Two Biggest Problems (HarperOne), which has become a New York Times best seller. www.vanjones.net
How did you develop such a passion for environmental activism?
Most people care about all living things and want to protect and promote living systems. I think it’s strange that we get off that path. It isn’t that I offered something new to the conversation. It’s just fundamentally recognizing that anything that is good for the environment is a job. Wind turbines don’t manufacture themselves. We just want to make sure that all these good jobs that need to get done, go to the people who need the jobs. If we can get the jobs to the people who need work, we can fight poverty and pollution at the same time. I came to that viewpoint seeing urban youth without job prospects, without any future, and really thinking that was awful, and wanting to see some kind of alternative. The solar industry is growing, organic food is growing. I can see automatically, that’s something that we should be part of in the African American community.
What are some practical tips that everyone can put into practice to benefit the environment?
Everybody can go online and figure out how they can eat better or save energy. But we need to come up with much more job-generating environmental solutions. People think about those kinds of consumer individual choices, and those are very important. But I think we have to be cooperative citizens at a higher scale. I think everybody should push their schools to serve 25 percent local and organic food in the cafeterias. That would create jobs for local farmers and it would also make the kids healthier. Of course, most school districts will say that it costs too much money. But the reality is we’ll spend the money on [treating] epidemics by giving them cheap lunches. It’s about trying to find collective solutions. I think we should have our utility companies and mayors to support weatherization and energy efficiency in our homes, so we can better afford our energy bill but also cut pollution from the power plants, and cut global warming. Non-toxic insulation, double-pane the glass – all that creates jobs and it’s work that can pay for itself. Those are the solutions I’m excited about. It’s time to go to the next level. We need to start working community wide, with school districts, with utility companies, with mayors, with our neighbors to come up with much more ambitious job-generating environmental solutions.
How far are we from that?
The good news is that Barack Obama has already put [funds] for energy efficiency and weatherization. Here’s the danger: a mayor or governor might get that money and use it just to weatherize for efficiency in public buildings and none of that money will get to the community level. We have a moment of time. We have a president who’s on our side, who believes in us, and that can help solve a lot of problems. It’s not never-neverland stuff. We have to figure out a way to work together.
Do you consider yourself an idealist?
I try to balance idealism with realism. For me, the fact that black people are still here is evidence of the miraculous. We survived our enslavement and Jim Crow and the prison industrial complex and we’re still here, and we’re still a vibrant community culturally, spiritually, even politically. There are miracles everyday. We live in a world that’s made of miracles. If four years ago you said the next president of the United States would be a community organizer from Chicago named Barack Hussein Obama, they would have looked at you like you were crazy. Now he’s the most famous and powerful man in the world. When somebody says [environmental solutions] can’t work, I think they’re the ones who are not realistic. The whole country is awake, and you’ve got people who never got involved in anything in their life and got a black father in the White House. We have a little black girl sleeping in the Lincoln Bedroom every night with hot combs! If we can do that, you mean to tell me we can’t put up solar panels and get off oil? Put up windmills and stop using coal? Put people to work who don’t have jobs? That’s baby stuff compared to what we just saw. The people who deny the human spirit and the miracles all around us, they’re the ones who are unrealistic.
Thank you, Van. Any final words for readers?
Let black people know we’re trying to get a Clean Energy Corps so everyone who wants a job can get a job and if people want to help us, they should go to our Website www.greenforall.org. Sign up for our action team and help us get this thing better.
Date of publication: February 23, 2009
People are understanding that they are the key to their own recovery.
SIDEBAR: Wetlands: What they are, why they matter The most biologically diverse of ecosystems, wetlands absorb storm water and include swamps, marshes and bogs. Wetlands are the subject of conservation efforts because they create a buffer against powerful storms, and they’re important to natural wastewater purification. What can you do? Majora says: “In urban areas, plant green rooms or create opportunities for urban forestry – plant more trees, have more green open spaces. Any kind of vegetation keeps your area cooler. You get a better quality of life by doing this kind of horticultural infrastructure.” Interviewed by Cesca Janece Waterfield For revealing and maximizing the relationship between the environment, our economy and social justice, consultant and activist Majora Carter has been called “visionary” and a “genius”. She’s been featured in numerous publications and networks including Time Magazine, the New York Times, CNN, NPR and more. Majora graduated the Bronx High School of Science and then studied film in college, motivated to document the lives of the people she had seen growing up in the South Bronx. After a neighborhood walk with her dog led her to blighted riverfront, Majora worked to bring the South Bronx its first waterfront park in 60 years, showing gifts for raising funds and mobilizing others with her charisma and innovative ideas. In 2001, Majora founded Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx), a non-profit organization that creates comprehensive strategies to “Green the Ghetto.” Two years later, the organization launched one of the first urban green collar training programs in the U.S. She has written and produced TV and radio programs, including vol. two of HBO’s The Black List. In 2008, Majora started a private economic consulting firm, The Majora Carter Group, working with small towns and cities to put green economic tools – and people – to work. Fast Company magazine named her one of the Most Creative People in Business. The National Academy of Sciences appointed Majora to America’s Climate Choices panel. She’s been awarded a Liberty Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the New York Post, the Val-Kill Medal by the Eleanor Roosevelt Society, a Women of Excellence Award by the state of New York, and received a MacArthur “genius” grant. Married for four years to James Chase, she travels the nation and commands substantial fees for speaking and consulting. At its most straightforward, Majora’s career evokes her youthful dream: “Telling the stories of people in my community.” In striving to educate and provide economic, ecological and social solutions, Majora’s community is the world-at-large. You’ve achieved a great deal since starting SSBx ten years ago. What is your focus in 2011? The biggest thing I want to focus on is: How do you create jobs in communities that so desperately need them? We know that the earth is warming right now. We’re not going to be able to stop that trend, unfortunately. But what we can do is prepare our communities for the change. We do that by developing specific businesses that deal primarily in climate adaptation. We know that the sea level is rising. There are going to be a lot more storm surges coming our way. We know that in many cases communities of color are going to be very vulnerable because they’re in areas where there isn’t an enormous amount of vegetation. How does your plan create jobs? People from low-income areas can actually train to do this work. People who are in the criminal justice system, this actually allows [them] to learn a competitive skill that also helps to meet a municipal need. We’re working on developing business plans and models that can employ lots of people in this new economy. I would definitely argue that Dr. King probably wouldn’t be all that thrilled with the state of black America or white America or anything in between right now. It seems as if we’ve not created economic opportunities for people at the lower end of our economic ladder that could provide a living wage job. Our goal is to create jobs around sustainable agriculture, climate adaptation, or reinvigorating the manufacturing sector around recycled materials. What obstacles do you face in reaching this vision? The main obstacle is that we’ve been doing business-as-usual. This kind of project is time-tested. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did a report a few years ago that showed that dollar-for-dollar, this kind of infrastructure project is more cost-effective than the type of hard infrastructure project that cities normally do. What practical steps can each of us take to help? People need to be talking to each other much more than they do, not just about what’s on TV, but about what are some things that are working and what’s not working. What [can we do] to keep a third of our young men and close to a sixth of our young women out of the criminal justice system ? It shouldn’t just be the activists talking about this because we’ve all been touched by having a friend neighbor or cousin in the criminal justice system or been unemployed for a really long time and wondering what’s happened to the American Dream. Dr. King’s vision wasn’t just about making it better for you, but making it better for all of us. So you recommend grass roots organizing? I don’t know if it’s grass roots because when people hear ‘grass roots,’ they think, ‘professional leader.’ That’s not who I want to talk to. I want to talk to regular folks who can be thinking, ‘How can I make this world a better place?’ That’s what I find really exciting. People are starting to understand that they can do things on their own. Are you an idealist? You kind of have to be to be in this business. Otherwise you’re just miserable and you make other people around you miserable. You’ve pointed out some bleak statistics. Are you optimistic? Yeah, absolutely! I don’t think we’ve quite hit rock bottom yet. I’m hopeful that we won’t have to get that low to recognize that there is another way and that we need to do it. It’s going to support municipalities and government in reducing their social services costs. When a person is unemployed or incarcerated, it’s not just that person, it’s that whole community. By creating new opportunities for economic development that actually meet a municipal need, you’re creating new businesses, you’re putting money in someone’s pocket in a legitimate fashion, which makes things better for everybody!
