VJ for EJ!

***UPDATE: Van Jones' talk postponed till early next semester; will post with details as they're announced.***

Ok, so I’ll be honest. I haven’t read Van Jones’ new book yet – it dropped October 7 – but it’s on my shelf, ready to crack open as soon as finals are over. If you want some reviews, you can find a few here and here (and here if you’re kind of obsessed with how new media/network culture is the future). Despite my not having read the book, I wanted to write a quick, somewhat timely, post to say two things, that are pretty much just one thing.

One, Van Jones is tight. He was pioneering the green jobs movement for a decade and a half -- way before the economy careened off a cliff and Al Gore somehow convinced the mainstream that melting ice caps are bad news (polar) bears. Now everyone is jumping on board because, really, what could be sexier than environmentalism + economic stimulus + a deliberate and strategic effort to un-whitewash the green movement? Yeah, exactly.*

And, he’s homegrown. Right in our own backyard of Oakland, he founded Green For All to build the movement for a green economy and, previously, co-founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights helping to lift disadvantaged communities up by building community and integrating them into the growing green infrastructure. He is also a founding board member of the Apollo Alliance, which is doing awesome work bringing together everyone from unions to conservationists to shape progressive policy from the ground up. (I heard Co-Director and Boalt alum Kate Gordon speak a couple months ago at a CCELP talk and was very impressed.)

Two, go to his talk on Tuesday, December 2 sponsored by the Berkeley Energy and Resources Collaborative! It’s our last day of classes – there is no better way to celebrate than to listen to a brilliant, inspiringly entrepreneurial guy talk about issues way more interesting and relevant than claim preclusion. I bet my little green fake-sigg water bottle on it. And if you missed Majora Carter’s inspiring talk on her environmental justice work a couple weeks ago, you definitely owe it to yourself to get your EJ fix. (In the meantime, you should also check out her TED talk if you haven’t already.)

*Well, actually, for an interesting alternate view, check out this article from the Economist. If you don’t have free market tendencies, you’ll disagree immediately. Even if you do, it’s easily rebuttable on a number of counts that I’ll go into at a later date…