van jones
Treehuggers proclaim the threat of environmental catastrophe with rapturous religiosity. The eyes of Valley capitalists bulge at the windfall that awaits who can find a renewable energy solution cheaper than fossil fuels. But
East Bay community activist Van Jones is preaching the sermon of jobs, and that's what will win the popular and political will to build the kind of modern, clean-energy infrastructure California and the rest of the country so desperately need. Says Jones:
Say a bunch of guys in the carpenter's union don't know how to work with bamboo. Well, here are some young people who have been trained to work with bamboo. Suddenly, rather than them being in the back of the line for the less-skilled blue-collar jobs, these kids have the advantage.
But that raises the question of whether these "green-collar" workers will enjoy the benefits their "blue-collar" grandparents did. And what will happen when they've tiled all available roofs with photovoltaic cells?
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Valleywag
