Review

Van Jones is an environmental and social justice activist. He argues that for too long environmentalists have ignored social justice issues, and have in some cases made the lives of the poor worse by driving polluters into low income areas. The result has been that the poor, and their advocates, have sometimes stood with the polluters in opposing environmental protection.

He believes that we can change this, and that the road to a green collar economy is the way to do it. ‘Green collar’ means ‘blue collar’ applied to environmentally sound projects. For example, making existing homes and businesses more energy efficient by caulking windows and seams, adding insulation, etc. On a larger scale, we should ensure that new manufacturing jobs are not only created here in the US, but that emphasis should be placed on ensuring that those most in need of jobs, and job training, have access to those jobs.

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