In 2008, Time Magazine named Van Jones one of its “Heroes of the Environment” for his work as a climate activist dedicated to the creation of an inclusive green economy. In March of 2009, Jones was appointed by President Barack Obama to be Special Adviser for Green Jobs, a new position to develop environmentally-conscious industry and employment around the country.

Jones’ work in the Green movement was derailed in July of 2009 by controversy over his past political activities and allegations of ties to Marxist organizations and 9/11 “Truthers.” Only two months after the scandal broke, Jones gracefully resigned from his post.

No one has been appointed to replace him.

We asked some of America’s leading thinkers and political activists one simple question:

What would the Green Movement look like if Van Jones were still in the White House?

• Dr. Cornel West
• Julian Mocine-McQueen
• Malia Lazu
• Ethan Case
• Chuck Creekmur

Dr. Cornel West: Professor at Princeton University/ prominent intellectual 

“Van Jones means so much to me. He was here at Princeton. I have a great love and great respect for him.

I would say that if Van Jones was in the White House, there would be a strong prophetic voice for poor and working people and a brilliant progressive figure conversant with the constraints of public policy. This unique combination of idealism and realism trumps any vulgar cynicism too often operative in the White House.”

Julian Mocine-McQueen: San Francisco League of Young Voters

“I think that having Van in the White House was an incredible opportunity to have a true visionary help set a course for green economic development and sustainability. Having said that, I truly believe that Van’s values and vision are still represented by many of the president’s advisers and President Obama himself. I think that the political climate, as it exists now, will make it hard for the president to set a really innovative path. The effects of big money and lobbyists are still incredibly strong with or without Van.

I think the only way we’ll be able to see the president act out the vision of someone like Van is to strengthen the people’s movement. Van was cool because he was bringing the people’s voice, but he was only one person. It is our duty as citizens and activists to use our voice and our numbers to demand that the country get serious about prioritizing the transition to a green and just economy.”

Malia Lazu: MIT Fellow leading at the Urban Labs

“The idea that diversity at every level of decision-making will promote a healthy democracy is a core belief of progressive politics. However, diversity only brings benefits when different thinking is given a real voice in the strategic process. There was hope that change in the White House would mean a change on how politics is done. Hires of thoughtful leaders like Van Jones and Patrick Gespard represent a new set of ideas and political solutions that would help invite the most oppressed in this country to be educated and get meaningful employment by rebuilding their communities.

Lobbyists and money heavily influence White House strategy. I do not believe the White House, as an institution, allows for experts like Van Jones to push for a more radical political strategy. Van is a strong leader, who is well-respected in the streets and beltway, I would dare suggest, he is in a better position to influence White House policy now that he is no longer there.”

Ethan Case: Development Director at SustainUS

“I work with SustainUS, a youth-led, volunteer-run group advancing sustainable development through youth empowerment and I have had a growing sense over the past few months that young people are fed up with the state of environmental justice. We need concrete steps toward a future where our generation and our children are not suffering from the devastating effects of poisoned water, dirty air, and climate change. Recently, young environmental leaders like Courtney Hight have openly criticized the president, while Tim DeChristopher and others have called for young people to participate in acts of civil disobedience to communicate the demand for environmental justice to our unresponsive leaders.

If Van Jones were still working for the White House, We might hear the president say something about how the immense cost of environmental inaction now will have a huge impact upon our generation later. We might hear the president talk about how mountain top removal is ruining the health of Appalachian citizens and we might hear the president say that the CO2 we burn today will mean the destruction of millions of homes in Bangladesh and the South Pacific in fifty year’s time.

If Van Jones were still around, we might see an administration upholding environmental justice rather than an administration asking us to wait until after the next election.”

Chuck Creekmur, CEO at Allhiphop.com
“I believe that Van Jones would have changed the face of the Green Movement in the way President Obama changed the way people see the presidency. Through the White House, he would have been able to introduce “being green” to an impoverished or ignorant segment of the population that wouldn’t normally care about the environment.

More importantly, Van Jones is a genius and a trailblazer that has applied his passion to the environmental causes. It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t have the President’s ear, because this is one of the most pressing issues facing our generation.”

The growing issues of our crippling addiction to oil and inefficient energy consumption are not going to solve themselves. It’s about time that President Obama brought some influential thinkers with big ideas to the table. In order to face the issues head-on, the administration needs a green leader who doesn’t just talk, but has the ability to motivate people to act. Who would you nominate to take Van Jones’ position?

This article was originally published by 99problems.org, a project of the League of Young Voters, in collaboration with YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions, of which Van Jones is a former contributing editor.

Check out this inspiring profile of Green For All’s CEO at the Huffington Post .

President Barack Obama said in the State of The Union address for this country to be the leader of the free world in the future, we have got to be prepared now. We can’t wait for other countries to do for us what we have to do for ourselves. That was real talk. Now I have a real question: what are we gonna do?

If the jobs of the future are going to require math and science, are we making sure that our kids are as fluent in math and science as they are in profanity and slang?

If we are going to be competitive with China and Japan, are our kids putting in as much time studying as they are hooping and hanging out?

If clean energy is the wave of the future are we learning what being “green” means? Are we involved in any service projects to improve the environment or conserve energy, or are we starting businesses that are “green” oriented in anyway?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then we are already behind the eight ball and the cue stick is not even chalked up yet.

It’s time to put all the excuses aside, and do what it takes to get things done. It’s not often we have a President who not only understands what we are dealing with, but it not very far removed from going through what we are going through. He can only do his part. We have to step up and do ours.

Van Jones has sure come out punching like a love warrior. He is debating Andrew Morriss at Economist.com. He is arguing that creating green jobs is part of the government’s responsibility. Morriss argues that only the market should dictate. It’s a really interesting debate. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/dgs3EJ

In one of his first appearances since returning to the Center for American Progress, senior fellow Van Jones told attendees of the CAP-Apollo Alliance conference, “Picking a Winner: How to Make the U.S. a Leader in the Clean Energy Economy,” that we now know that the clean energy economy is coming. There are “three key questions that need to be addressed” about the emerging clean energy economy, Jones said, that need to be addressed, but only two already have a “robust policy discussion.

video after the jump.

The NAACP, the oldest and most powerful Civil Rights organization in America, is going to Honor former Green Czar Van Jones with an Image Award. The NAACP is stating that he is a pioneer in the “green collar jobs” with movement. This well deserved award is so ironic as roughly 6 months ago, Fox News Anchor Glenn Beck single handedly caused a furor within the conservative right community that led to Mr. Jones Resignation. Beck took a series of Van’s remarks out of context and blew them out of proportion, leading to unwanted negative attention on the newly appoint ‘czar’ on green economy.

Where the irony lies is that the NAACP Image Awards are aired each year by the Fox Network, and is a prestigious awards show that honors the achievements of people of color and their allies for advancements in the areas, of Music, Movies, Social justice and Civil rights!!! I am sure that Glenn Beck sat in astonishment as the NAACP announced that Van Jones would be receiving the Presidents Award. The Presidents Award is the most prestigious award handed out at the NAACP Image Awards and has been awarded to others such as President Bill Clinton, Muhammad Ali and Ruby Dee just to name a few. Awarding Mr. Jones an award such as this directly counteracts the damage that Glenn Beck and other conservatives have to leverage on many progressives that President Obama has placed in his administration.

Many in the movement, those who fight for green collar jobs, environmental and climate justice and all other aspects of the green movement, felt betrayed and hurt by the resignation of Mr. Jones as their one ally that they trusted left them in the dust. Yet in the end, justice comes full circle the very same network that worked to lead Jones to his resignation will also be showing his return to Glory!!! Don’t you just love Karma? Maybe Glen Beck and others will realize that you can’t keep a “ Good Man Down”!!!!

In addition to Mr. Jones receipt of the Image Award, Mr. Jones will also be joining Princeton and the Center for American Progress. This is return to glory for Mr. Jones, and I cannot wait to see how he will continue to fight for the underserved in his new endeavors. Please tune in on Friday February 26^th at 8pm on FOX network to watch the 41^st NAACP Awards, and the rise of one of America’s Brightest and most influential minds today.

Trash would be converted into electricity at Project Apollo, a renewable energy project proposed for Milwaukee’s north side, developers said Tuesday.

Alliance Federated Energy announced plans to develop a $225 million renewable energy plant that would create 250 construction jobs and 45 full-time jobs. The first phase of the project is expected to be running by 2013.

The plant would use technology developed by Westinghouse Plasma Corp. of Madison, Pa., to convert the waste at high heat into a synthetic gas, or syngas. That, in turn, could be used as a fuel to generate power.

story jacked from Jsonline.com

The first phase of the renewable energy facility is expected to process about 1,200 tons of municipal and industrial waste per day. That would generate 25 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power roughly 20,000 typical homes, according to Alliance Federated Energy. A second phase is envisioned that would generate another 25 megawatts of power, company spokesman Josh Morby said.

Alliance is a Milwaukee-based company that focuses on developing and financing renewable energy projects. The company was founded in 2005, and Apollo is its first announced project.

The location of the project hasn’t been announced, but the developer is planning to locate in Milwaukee.

Asked if the company is considering the former Tower Automotive site in Milwaukee, Morby said, “We have an option on a site that’s approximately 25 acres on the north side of Milwaukee, but we’re in discussions with the DNR on other potential brownfield sites in the city.”

Alliance executives have met with representatives of the state’s Office of Energy Independence to explore funding options for the project, Morby said.

“This commercially proven technology is the ultimate in recycling,” Christopher Maloney, Alliance chief executive, said in a statement. “And we are pleased to be building our first project right here in Wisconsin, a state committed to promoting environmental stewardship and technological innovation.”

Like many renewable energy developments, the project is small, and would generate less than 5% of the electricity being generated from the coal-fired power plant that We Energies opened Tuesday in Oak Creek.

The Apollo announcement was praised by Gov. Jim Doyle, who has been pushing development of more renewable energy in the state.

“We are pleased that AFE has selected Wisconsin for their first renewable energy project,” Doyle said in a statement. “This technology has real potential to help us address the growing need for clean renewable power. Project Apollo will create new clean energy jobs in our state, reduce the need for continued landfilling of our wastes, and reduce greenhouse gases.”

Garbage-to-energy projects in the past have involved incinerators, which raise environmental concerns because of the pollutants released from incinerator smokestacks. But this project would not involve burning trash.

Instead, the process uses plasma, a highly ionized or electrically charged gas. Plasma torches similar to those used in some foundries are used to create intense heat, which then converts solid or liquid wastes into gas.

The company wants to pursue an agreement with an electric utility to buy the power that would be generated at the Milwaukee site.

Alliance said it has received initial commitments from Badger Disposal of Wisconsin to supply about 30% of the waste material needed for the energy project. Badger Disposal is an industrial waste management services company. Discussions are under way concerning the sale of the power and gas.

Alliance Federated Energy said it will work with Aecom Technology Corp., which will handle permitting for the project, as well as CorVal-Ryan, a Minnesota firm, to design and build the facility.

“We believe that plasma gasification technology has the potential to be a major player in the renewable energy market and are excited to be working with AFE on their Apollo Project,” said Bob Cutshall, president of CorVal-Ryan. “We have a number of plasma gasification-based renewable energy projects in design or under construction and see that number growing in the coming years.”

Several plasma gasification facilities are operating around the world, but there are no commercial plants operating yet in the United States, Alliance spokesman Morby said.

A large project using the technology has been proposed to retrofit a Massachusetts coal-fired power plant to burn biomass in addition to coal. Other projects using the technology are in the planning stages in International Falls, Minn.; New Orleans; and Tallahassee, Fla.

Plasma gasification is also being used at an ethanol plant being developed by Illinois-based Coskata in Pennsylvania. In addition, several projects are in development in Asia, including a plant in Japan that converts metal left over from shredded cars into electricity. The technology can use fly ash created by the process of burning coal, as well as industrial waste or household trash, to create gas, Morby said.

A clip from Van Jones’ amazing speech at #Poweshift09.

Follow all of Jayme’s copenhagen coverage at http://youngvoter.org/cop15

Cold, Snowing, 100′s of police, 1000′s of marchers, banners, Amerie on the radio…

Angry, frustrated, trains shut down, young, old, global climate movement.

All words used to describe my experience at the Reclaim Power protest. While folks in the U.S. were safely tucked in their beds, thousands of young people from around the world gathered in the streets of Copenhagen to demand access to the Bella (convention) Center. To demand real policies that will reverse climate change and save planet earth.

It saddened me to see a man, eyes fire-red from being peppered sprayed, snot hanging from his nose, talking about how all he wanted was to have his voice heard. It was at that moment that reality set in. There are millions of people around the world already suffering from climate change. Their frustration is not unlike the thousands of displaced workers in Milwaukee looking for something to put them back to work. These protesters were just trying to express what they know to be right, but don’t have access to do so.

From my viewpoint, the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Global warming, increasing unemployment, and escalating wars all the while people around the world are crying, “enough!” And our leaders can’t let go long enough to listen and figure out a way to push the stop button. This, like so many other similar experiences, come down to the same thing…POWER.

No matter how disempowered I might feel right now, I will be up tomorrow to do it all again.

This is a few days old i.e. another epoch in internetz time but I bet when society crashes and we burn our laptops for plastic scented warmth, we’ll kill for the chance to one more snarky blog post, to tag one more pic of the person we were before Nature takes our headphones off and smacks us back to the Ice Age.

By which I mean, is anyone really surprised that not only do we have to confront the awesome, shame-on-us specter of global destruction as a simple truth – we are consuming the world, will we do anything about it? – but also as a classic opportunity for government conspiracy, what we don’t know will kill us, of course the Man is savvy to the fact that famine and hedonism are mutually exclusive and you’ll catch more of us flies if you act like the honey is gonna flowwwww forever.

Turns out “[t]he world is much closer to running out of oil than official estimates admit,” with the United States quite specifically called out for encouraging a false representation of 1.) how much oil is undiscovered [how do they know?!] and 2.) how much we’ve got left in our fields.

Consensus is growing that this roller coaster we call Life™ is already over the hump, we’re hurtling down hill to a NEW epoch the people at the Center for Egregiously Named Memetics call Peak Oil. When you hit Peak Oil, your oil production enters a phase called “terminal decline….” yeah, it looks kinda like this:

Now, I for one am sure the proud business and government leaders of the United States didn’t want to lie about the world’s oil reserves, no, that’s illogical! I’m sure it was a minor lie, really just a fib, that snowballed into a conspiracy, it was out of their hands – really – and now that the truth is out, wow, we can get right down to those “New Energy Solutions” that sound just so neat.

I don’t know about yall, but I say let’s burn it while we got it. It’s a cold Friday in Brooklyn, the leaves are off the trees…you know what would cheer me up?

We tend to do a lot of talking here about greening yourself. Let’s face it, it’s not easy.

A lot of the time, people perceive greening their lifestyles as difficult, financially cumbersome with negligible returns. To reverse a societal norm is damn near impossible, so we’ve got our work cut out for us. This raises an eternally interesting question, however. Does working in an ecofriendly workplace or a green job help one develop a greener personality?

According to a recent NY Times blog, there seems to be no conducive evidence as of yet – research is still relatively new on the subject – but there are many case studies of this actually happening. Take – for instance – a graduate of Solar Richmond, Wayne Gatlin:

“I’m getting greener,” said Mr. Gatlin, who earns far more as a photovoltaics installer for the Berkeley-based Sun Light & Power than he did working security or selling shoes at an Adidas retail store.

“I recycle now,” Mr. Gatlin said. “I ride my bike. This was stuff I wouldn’t do before.”

I can personally say that ever since starting to work at 99Problems.org and The League, I’ve been trying to green my lifestyle with little things: using public transportation whenever possible, bringing my lunch to work in plastic containers rather than paper bags, trying to buy sustainable products… things like that.

What about you? Is your work life conducive to a greener lifestyle?

I am disgusted to learn that Van Jones resigned from his position of Green Jobs czar for the Obama Administration.  I do not know what to think about our country.

I am a Southern Man, born in North Carolina, raised in Mississippi.  My history is slavery, is grits, is catfish and racial distrust, confederate flags and soulful music that hits you in your guts.  I am not an anarchist, and I dare you to come inside the ‘conservative stronghold’ of Mississippi and call me one.  I am no radical, I am a lover of freedom and truth, of intelligence and change meaning growth, meaning the desire to do what is right even in the face of incalculable danger.

I was not born loving America, but it grew on me.  I was born like all organisms, outside of identity, inheriting the genes and attitudes of my forefathers and for that I thank my parents, two beautiful, wonderful Mississippi natives who grew up in a time when family, when community, meant everything.

Sound familiar?  That’s the America we all love, right?  The America that has been co-opted by certain individuals, people who hide behind some cloak of political party, hide behind the walls of commercial entities that, increasingly, appear to me to be the threats and dangers to Truth, to Justice, that we are so afraid of.

America, what have we become?  Honestly, honestly, does anyone think Glenn Beck is the answer?  He sits behind his desk.  His interns – unpaid, low paid, low wage sycophants – develop our news and Glenn Beck adds the fire.  But he is no pastor, this is no religion and this is nothing we can believe in.  His language is the language of oppression, of fear, and I refuse, I absolutely refuse, to be afraid.

I am America.  I am some small and burning part of it, and I am flawed, I am self centered but I try to uphold the greatest tradition, the most beautiful idea of which humanity ever conceived: the belief in Honor.
It’s just a word, and unfortunately, sadly, rarely heard today.  Honor in my mind is as archaic as woven battle tapestries and the Edge of the World and we have pushed them both aside to embrace a superficial, artificial cult of manipulated truth.

What use is honor when a man who stood up truly is cast aside by his own leaders?  This is supposed to be Van Jones, and I have gotten distracted.  I am so sad.  I do not understand where we went wrong, why we can’t change, but know – I know this personally, from all my years of being – that shame, gut wrenched embarrassment, is often my most effective tutor.  And so I write this now, a nothing call out to the anti-void which is the Internet (the point where having everything, horrifically, means nothing) and to my ancestors, to all the Pattons and Furrs who made me, to my brothers and cousins, to my loved ones and friends, to those who hate me, who laugh at me, who do not know me and do not care: please stop.

We have to stop what we are doing.  What we are doing is disgraceful.  Glenn Beck is not my enemy, but he is a banner man for all the lies, for all the manipulations that sprout the weeds in our eternal garden.

Two years ago the name Van Jones meant nothing to me.  I was a democrat, a liberal thinker, and I knew humanity was pillaging our world and that was wrong.  That was dishonorable, a curse on our own family, a shameful and disgraceful act that would, in time, reveal to any thinking creature – plant, animal, alien or future human if we’re lucky – that, for some sad span of years, my people lost their way and became brutes, became unchecked predators in what was/will be our Earth’s night.

I knew these things because they felt true to me.  The debate about ideology often forgets that each child born is a tabula rasa, free to develop some sense of rightness with the guidance of his or her surrounding.  What the world showed me is its landscape, torn by our hands and tools; its elements, ripped and changed by our pursuit of power; its balance, the delicate eternal cycle of Life disrupted, undone.  I saw and see those things and know my part, know my own thirst for power and see it as an alcoholic man watches his whiskey: savior and satan inside the same package.

Any man who wishes to can, in the company of his compatriots, cast my image as a freak, as the Other, and we have truly shown our hatred of the Other.  I do not write to change you.  I write to ask you, where is your own Honor?

There was a time – for most of time, indeed, outside of time and before our conception of its ticking – when Honor didn’t have to be a word.  The duty to protect ones family, to love ones neighbors, to create shelter from the storm, that all was honor.  The instinctive defense of the young, protection of the old, relation to the Just, that all was honor.  There was a time when men who looked for answers, felt the peoples’ suffering, were held up as heroes.

In this, our modern day and age, we think ourselves above it all.  We are taking this world for granted, and I am shamed.  I am shamed and stricken.  Van Jones is a symbol and a focus for my realization that we are brushing aside our heroes.

President Obama, shame on you.  Your victory is not the idle play of poll numbers and thinktanks; the only real victory now will be humanity’s conquest of our shameful lust for conquest.  We have come full circle and now confront Life’s abyss. No man can call himself a man who will not stare, with wide stretched eyes, into the time of lies that we are living.

The world is failing.  No, we are killing the world.  Honor did not depart us; we have cast out honor, in favor of political punditry, biased accusations.  We are shaming ourselves, we should all grow out our hair, refuse to bathe, as it is mockery of our inner sickness that we’ve progressed and can cosmetically paint ourselves beatific.

If Glenn Beck feels he is right, he is mistaken.  I know that as an honorable man. Glenn Beck will never save us, but Van Jones might have.  And if he is the man of honor I believe him to be, he will keep fighting, indeed, has said he will not stop, and I believe him.

I hope that I will fight as well.  Sometimes a man must feel the wall at his back; must look around and see no friend, feel no warm admiration, and must dare all for that which he thinks right.

I do not know if I have it inside me.  I do not feel fated; I am the blank slate, the Southern man who felt the sunshine of true love cast by parents and grew in it.  I have been lucky, I feel that I can see both sides of our true story, and I know the future is unwritten, but the lines that I lay down – be they significant or paltry – I will write with honor, because I know that the world needs us, that humans are nothing if not of earth, that we came from it and will die in it, fertilize the soil with purity or be cast as trash on trash.

I am not afraid, but I am sad.

Oh well, our spirit lives.

Here’s your GTFO MOMENT of the day:

According to a recent report published by New Scientist, the economic downturn may be doing good work for the climate. Before you call bullshiz on it, check out some of the connections the report, released by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, has found:

• CO2 emissions have grown at a slower rate this year than in recent years as “fossil fuel consumption decreased globally for the first time since 1992″
• Biofuels counted for 2.5 percent of global fuel consumption this year, as developing nations start to embrace them.

Definitely provides some food for thought.

Countless men and women across the country will agree with this one: your first ride was your first love. You probably remember it as junky and cheap, prone to breaking down every morning, but you loved it just the same. Let’s face it: even though it probably guzzled gas like Gatorade and needed to be started just the right way or else it might have blown up, it was still yours. In the near future, 16 year olds will remember the first time they plugged their car in, rather than the first time they filled up the gas tank.

Let’s hear about some electric cars and green jobs, after the jump!

When I say electric car, bells and whistles go off. I automatically think of a car no bigger than my shower that is as fast as a skateboard being pulled by a golf cart. But some crazy changes have happened in the past 10 years to completely revamp the way Americans get around, making the institution of the automobile cheaper, more environmentally friendly and basically.. cooler.

In the picture above, you’ll see what’s called a Tesla S Model. Named for eccentric scientist Nikola Tesla, who revamped the study of electricity, it’s an American car, run completely by electricity that is both stylish, fast and.. well, out of my price range. It’s about as fast as a Porsche and costs about $50,000.

But some news just came out today: in what can be called huge news on the green jobs front, Nissan is opening up an electric car plant in Tennessee, that will reinvigorate the economy of the area by investing in green technologies. This could mean that an affordable, ecofriendly car could be in homes nationwide relatively soon… at least, that’s what President Obama is pushing for. Here’s a quote from a recent speech he delivered at an Electric Car Research Center in California:

It won’t come without cost, nor will it be easy. We’ve got 240 million cars already on the road. We’ve got to upgrade the world’s largest energy grid while it’s already in use. And other countries aren’t standing around and waiting for us; they are forging ahead with their own bold energy plans.

But we have faced tough challenges before. And at our best, we have never relied on hope and chance alone. Time and again, we have tapped those great American resources: industriousness and ingenuity.

President Obama has invested $2 billion into the research and development of new electric vehicles, so the era of the cool electric car may be closer than we ever imagined.

The League was there on the scene at Power Shift 2009 and we want to congratulate all the participants for the biggest, most inspiring energy conference yet. Van Jones was on the scene, The Roots were on the scene…for a few days D.C. was the home of ten thousand kids from across the country, and the passion and inspiration we saw is all the motivation we need to know that Green Jobs are the way of the future, and we’ve got to spread the word.

So, without further ado, we present LYVEF’s Power Shift 2009 coverage.

Astronauts can see trash in the ocean from space? That’s insane. We have got to get up for our planet, make a stand like this ol’ world deserves. We’re not just gonna talk at you, though; this week we’ll be bringing you info you can use to start tipping the balance from pollution to people power.

This is our world, and we gotta stand up in the greatest tradition of American society; stand up for change when it seems impossible, when all the odds are against us. The world is at stake, and everything that we have is imperiled. There’s never been a more important moment to be on the right side of history!

President Obama is tackling our nation’s economic troubles from the top, but we have to work from the ground up, empowering our communities and shouldering the burden of recovery together.

The Green Jobs movement is founded upon the notion that the health of our nation, the health of our economy, depends upon the health of our planet. Urban revitalization and industrial efficiency go hand in hand. As Taili Thompson says, the Green Jobs movement is a holistic approach that will give back as much as we put into it.

Every now and then I try to remind myself that, at the end of the day, the action of social change is where the rubber hits the road.

Thought and talk are important; through communication, we can motivate each other, make our movement a hundred or a hundred thousand people strong. But what we all need — from each other, and ourselves — is action.

Well first of all, Xzibit’s At the Speed of Life is one of the dopest albums of all time!!! And its ill because this economy and the environment seem to be moving in the wrong way at the speed of light..but as Van says there is a solution. Some of ya’ll might have heard, ya boy Obama just wrote a 800 Billion dollar check to help turn this thing around. So listen up..THAT IS YOUR MONEY! Check out greenforall.org/recovery to learn about the money for green jobs in the bill and see the tool kit for some tips on how you, yes you, can put it to work in your communities.