Author’s Note: As you may or may not know, on March 5, 2009, the Minnesota State Capitol played host to Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy and new “Special Advisor on Green Jobs” for the Obama White House. Van gave a speech on an all-inclusive green economy that should be powerful enough to defeat climate change and revitalize the jobs situation in this country. A video of that speech can be found here. While he was visiting, he also met with Minnesota legislators to discuss the future of green jobs in Minnesota. Since I, as an intern on the Conservation Minnesota staff, was fortunate enough to see Van Jones speak in person in February of 2009 (just a few days before he came to Minnesota), I volunteered to write an article about my experience with Jones. It was a very special, powerful, and personally touching evening and I hope that I am able to convey some sense of it in my writing.
Trust Van Jones to know how to start a speech – in this case, choosing to lead his audience in a battle cry: “All for green, green for all!” The chant of thousands of whipped up youngsters fills the conference room at the D.C. Convention Center, along with the stench of “the same Obama t-shirts [we] were wearing on election night” (Van also knows how to crack a joke).
It’s February 2009, and I am just one in a herd of 12,000 passionate young people who have ventured from all over the country to partake in that most hallowed of environmental activist conventions: Power Shift. Over four of the best days of my entire life, I lobbied my congressman for clean energy, escaped without a parking ticket from the National Botanical Gardens, went to a workshop on sustainable rice growing in Southeastern Asia, and played audience to some of the most important actors on the current environmental scene (wearing Conservation Minnesota press credentials the entire time!). In addition to Lisa Jackson (our new EPA director) and Congressman Ed Markey (co-architect of the American Clean Energy and Security Act), I was fortunate enough to witness a speech straight from the mouth of Mr. Green Collar Jobs himself, Van Jones.
I don’t believe there is an article that could do this speech justice (and that’s why there's an embedded YouTube video), but I will do my best to provide a few observations and describe my personal thoughts and feelings on the experience.
After the giggle session was over (like I said, Van’s a comedian), the serious part of the address began with a statement that rang very true for me – I was afraid for a moment that Van was reading my mind! He told us that we were “born for a reason.” I couldn’t believe it – I’ve always felt that it was so (my reason for birth being that I was going to help save the planet). He then proceeded to describe to us the life of a “sensitive” child, from being upset when puppies got kicked to not being able to watch horror movies due to the gruesomeness. Then he asked “am I talking to anybody in here?” I walk around thinking I’m the only one a lot of the time, but I could not be more wrong. The crowd of sensitive, destiny-bound college students absolutely erupted into ear-splitting levels of sound.
Ok, so, Van already had us all pinned as sensitive and born to save the planet. He was clearly a smart guy.
Continuing on with this theme of telling us about ourselves, he tried to make it clear to us just how much power we held in our pockets on any given day. With a laptop and a cell phone, it’s possible for us to sit on a bench and retrieve any piece of knowledge in existence, or to move our lips and speak to somebody on the other side of the world. He said, “The time has come for you to cease to use those technological devices as toys, and use them as tools.”
The empowering words continued… “You are the final hope for humanity, and this country will never be more idealistic than you are. This country will never be more committed to justice than you are. This country will never be more determined, more courageous than you are. You are the final line of defense for unborn generations, for the children of all species. You were born for a reason; you were born for a reason.”
Ok, so apparently we’re sensitive, born to save the planet, and extremely powerful, but what does it all mean? Van is so absolutely convinced that our generation is the one that is going to meet the challenge. What does sensitivity have to do with all that?
He proceeded to explain to us that the green movement has to include everybody. No, seriously, everybody. That means coal miners, oil rig workers, migrant fruit pickers, impoverished communities, women, ethnic minorities, prisoners, and even Rush Limbaugh (well…I suppose that’s taking it a bit far).
Van’s point was that the green movement will not be a success unless social justice comes along with it. Green energy is great, but we still need to be paying attention to a million other aspects of society – the most important being how we treat each other. Green jobs will mean nothing if only some people are benefiting. The green movement is not just about clean energy, but about respect and dignity for all life on earth. Now I understand why Van’s organization is entitled “Green for All”. Green jobs must touch every life for the movement to be a success.
And thus, the importance of sensitivity was finally revealed to us. It is sensitivity that allows our generation to be so accepting, so open, and so idealistic – the kind of generation that can really make “Green for All” happen. That’s why we were born, because, in Van’s words, “it takes a big heart to embrace the children of all species and people of all colors and say, “I hold a vision for you. You may look different, you may be from someplace different, our circumstances may be different, but I’m out here fighting for you, and I wanna stand with you, and I wanna work with you, and I wanna listen to you. It’s the love in your heart that will give you that power. The love in your heart is stronger than a bomb; it’s stronger than a bullet.”
If you really think about it, that’s what the green movement is about – love for all people, love for all species. It’s about protecting our resources for future generations while providing jobs for everybody, all at the same time. It’s about doing our best for our planet, and making sure nobody gets left behind. It’s about not standing AGAINST anyone – it’s about standing WITH coal miners and auto workers and garbage collectors and oil executives, and finding a solution that benefits all of us. That’s green jobs as it was meant to be.
Van left us with some final words that, again, rang especially true for a determined girl like me: “Don’t back down.” Once again, that’s meant for all of us – we should not back down until we have accomplished creating a new green economy that is better for everyone. We should not accept that anyone will be worse off (in the long term) due to green jobs. We should keep fighting until this world is the way it was meant to be.
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