Green Daily

In 1974-75, a splendidly bright fellow named John Kreidler figured out that artists were a highly unemployed and underemployed category in the workforce, and that these federal funds could be appropriately used to hire them to work in the community. This was a really good work done by John Kreidler, someone has to take the initiative and work with the government for a certain group to get all the rights and benefits. I and my many such friend groups work at a corporate level but we are always in the motion and efforts of making others educate and aware of Global Warming, Green Jobs, Corporate Social Responsibility, Renewable Energy etc by different ways... Many of us are unaware what these type of industries do, how they work on CSR, Renewable energy, Global Warming, what are the ways of Waste Management and other things... we intensively searched more sites and we are successful of finding such kind of one site named as “JustMeans” …http://www.justmeans.com … JustMeans helps us to learn, share the knowledge, debate on the topics like Organic products, Green Jobs, Corporate Social Responsibility, Development, Energy and the Environment, Ethical Consumption, Politics and Governance, Social Investment, Social Media and Sustainable Business. Even in this recession I am able to find at least 40 to 50 new and quality green jobs on JustMeans site and if we compare with other sites then they have an update of only with 5 to 15 jobs a day. We always educate and spread the benefit of all these to more and more people globally and also want others to do the same, so your one click can save the earth, so please click on http://www.justmeans.com for our people and our planet.

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Van Jones’ new book, The Green Collar Economy, was rushed to publication to capture the interest piqued by recent presidential campaign speeches about green jobs. Although the book has the potential to inspire renewed support in the environmentalist movement his argument would have been stronger with more concrete specifications about how to create this green collar economy.

In the book, he says our two biggest problems can be solved by “greening the ghetto.” It’s a good mantra, but it needs more detail. For example, he wants a “Clean Energy Jobs Bill,” but the number of jobs that should go to the currently unemployed is left undefined. He mentions a cap and trade system, but leaves out any percentages or waiver prices. Neither one of these propositions is necessarily useless, in fact the Clean Energy Jobs Bill is a very good suggestion, but the lack of specificity weakens his arguments.

There are also many solutions presented in The Green Collar Economy which sound promising, but are not as earth-shattering as they appear. Bio-diesel from recycled fat or vegetable oil is a great reuse of a waste product, but there isn’t enough for everyone. Another presented fuel alternative, ethanol, is a bust. It is a clean-burning fuel, but its fabrication requires almost as much energy as it produces, takes away land that could be used to produce food, and creates other environmental problems due to pesticides and destructive farming techniques.

These second-rate solutions may be partially the result of a rushed publication. Given more time, Jones would have likely improved upon them. In The Green Collar Economy, Jones only supports a cap and trade system, a system that would effectively put a paperwork-laden ceiling on our economy. However, in an interview with Amy Goodman after the book's release, Van Jones mentions a carbon tax as a possible solution. A carbon tax is more promising, because it does not restrict growth. In the rush to be relevant, he did not pay enough attention to finding the absolute best strategy.

However, there is more to this book than its flaws. Several of his solutions are sound ideas. Emissions trading, buying organic food, and weatherproofing buildings are just a few of the many good changes he points out. The difficulty with these solutions, and others mentioned in the book, is that they require behavioral change, which is close to impossible. However, another solid suggestion, the green jobs bill does not require behavioral change. It will likely be effective if passed and elements of this proposition are already in the stimulus package.

Overall, the book is imperfect, but worth reading. Van Jones comes up short on new ideas or concrete solutions, and The Green Collar Economy is too full of repeated environmentalist mantras like “one stream recycling” and questionable solutions like the cap and trade system to be truly excellent. However, it is rare to find a book that combines such colossal issues with such effectiveness.

The subtitle, “How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems” is not strictly accurate because the book brings together three problems: climate change, social injustice, and the economic crisis. Van Jones takes a stab at solving these problems together, which is something most classic environmentalists, activists, and economists fail to do.

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