Provocative, personal, and inspirational, "The Green Collar Economy" is not a dire warning but rather a substantive and viable plan for solving ... read full description
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Aug 20, 2010
Carl
rated it: 
Green Jobs Meets the Solidarity Economy:
A Dynamic Duo for Changing the World
A Review of 'Green Collar Economy:
How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems'
By Van Jones, Harper-Collins, 2008
By Carl Davidson
SolidarityEconomy.Net
It's time to link the newly insurgent U.S. Green Jobs movement with the worldwide efforts for the solidarity economy. Both are answering the call to fight the deepening global recession, and both face commo More...
A Dynamic Duo for Changing the World
A Review of 'Green Collar Economy:
How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems'
By Van Jones, Harper-Collins, 2008
By Carl Davidson
SolidarityEconomy.Net
It's time to link the newly insurgent U.S. Green Jobs movement with the worldwide efforts for the solidarity economy. Both are answering the call to fight the deepening global recession, and both face commo More...
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Feb 26, 2009
sdw
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Van Jones describes the two crises he feels threaten the country: environmental destruction and socio-economic inequality. He feels the solution lies in creating a “green economy” where good blue-collar jobs with a family wage are replaced by an expanding sector of family wage “green-collar” jobs that extend economic opportunities to people of color and those returning from prison. One of his favorite slogans is “Green Jobs, Not Jails.”
Van Jones believes the environmental crisis i More...
Van Jones believes the environmental crisis i More...
Feb 15, 2009
David
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More engaging as a speaker than as a writer, but still an interesting overview on his perspective re potential government and private initiatives to promote economic development in an environmentally friendly manner. Most of the book paints with a broad brush regarding gov't. (especially Bush administration) favoritism toward "problem creators" [fossil fuel burning systems; prison/industrial complex), but eventually he gets around to describing specific examples of (mostly small, loca
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Feb 06, 2012
Oh, the bias. It hurts.
Make no mistake about what this is: the author is a Democrat who put together ~175 pages of Democratic buzzwords for other Democrats to read, agree with, and feel good about themselves. It is utterly lacking in any in-depth, intelligent analysis. I only made it through the introductory chapter before giving up, and even that was a challenge.
I am not a Republican; I don't identify as either liberal or conservative. In fact, I am currently a gradu More...
Make no mistake about what this is: the author is a Democrat who put together ~175 pages of Democratic buzzwords for other Democrats to read, agree with, and feel good about themselves. It is utterly lacking in any in-depth, intelligent analysis. I only made it through the introductory chapter before giving up, and even that was a challenge.
I am not a Republican; I don't identify as either liberal or conservative. In fact, I am currently a gradu More...
Jun 08, 2009
Serena
rated it: 
I hate not finishing a book, but I really couldn't choke through another page of this. I feel like the title is a bit misleading: it is about a potential green collar economy, but what it doesn't tell you (or any of the glowing reviews on the back cover, which in hindsight didn't reference the book at all) is the huge bitter, racial undercurrent that underlies the narrative.
Perhaps I'm being too flippant, because race and environmental responsibility is a legitimate issue that needs More...
Perhaps I'm being too flippant, because race and environmental responsibility is a legitimate issue that needs More...
May 30, 2009
Wendy
rated it: 
Great ideas happening here, but not as implementable as I wish they were or as universal as the author believes them to be.
I wonder about his views on education...
I would recommend it to lots of academics however who sometimes forget to make the connection between revolutionary ideals and the people who cannot always afford to understand or interact with those ideals (throughout western history revolution has always come from the middle class). I appreciated the acknowledgment that More...
I wonder about his views on education...
I would recommend it to lots of academics however who sometimes forget to make the connection between revolutionary ideals and the people who cannot always afford to understand or interact with those ideals (throughout western history revolution has always come from the middle class). I appreciated the acknowledgment that More...
Jun 27, 2010
Phillip
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Van Jones presents a fair yet passionate treatise about America's need to transition to a "Green Collar Economy"(GCE); Van Jones defines GCE as a economy that creates "family-supporting, career track job(s) that directly contributes to preserving or enhancing environmental equality."
The environmental movement has spawned a million books that harp on the same themes: policy change, pollution, global warming and ecological devastation. Van Jones' contribution, be More...
The environmental movement has spawned a million books that harp on the same themes: policy change, pollution, global warming and ecological devastation. Van Jones' contribution, be More...
May 10, 2010
Rebecca
rated it:
Perhaps Jones suffers from being too successful, or tapping into a meme that spread faster than publication, as I found the ideas in this book to be pretty obvious. Still, the message is important. We cannot focus on saving the planet without also focusing on saving the people of the planet, especially the poor and minorities who suffer most. Working with minority groups, environmentalists can help create jobs and improve health in these communities. Jobs in the environmental sector, green c
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Dec 15, 2008
J
rated it:
America is facing two monumental problems, according to Van Jones, a Yale graduate, political activist and president of Green For All – an organization that advocates for a, “shift to a clean, green economy can improve the health and well-being of low-income people.” (greenforall.org) Jones says the challenges we face are with our struggling economy, and our increasingly polluted environment. In The Green Collar Economy, he argues that we can solve these two problems at the same time, and notes
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Feb 15, 2009
Dave
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Very well written, very timely, and well balanced. When Van Jones says "Green Collar", he means a lot more than a lot of people assume. Far from just talking about the environmental impact of the job, he covers what a good wage means to people, how important it is to ensure that such jobs help out a broad spectrum of society, and how to help solve other issues such as the high incarceration rate all in one go. His history lesson is an important refresher on many past issues reminds us
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Jan 31, 2009
Katie
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Van Jones talks a lot about the need for invention and investment (by both individuals and the government) to stimulate the economy through the creation of environmental jobs. He also explains the importance of changing the way communities think about environmentalism so that all races and classes are brought into the discussion and are aware of how they can participate. There are some excellent ideas for sustainable change in this book, but a lot of populist ranting is also thrown into the m
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Sep 10, 2010
john
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There's a lot of preaching in this book, from an author whose probably preaching to the choir when you consider someone's already purchasing a book of this title with a quote from Al Gore on the cover, and is probably eco-conscious in their own right, but the last third or so of the book offers several examples of real solutions to the problems we're facing and how local communities might collectively replicate these successful examples of green living/working in their own environments. Good cal
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Oct 01, 2009
Professor
rated it:
Another book I read because it was one of the titles the committee I'm on is considering to be our "One Campus, One Book" title, I found the book an easy read that made some great points. I really would like to see us put our resources into a greener economy-in my mind an "Green Deal" could really change things. Unfortunately, the book was very much "date stamped" as being before the 2008 election and reading it is reading a list of things that *could* happe More...
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Jan 03, 2011
Kirsten
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The author is a little bit odd and doesn't plan anything more than two weeks in advance (my school tried to get him to come and speak), but he does have some good points. He really wrote this more for people who have blue collar type jobs, not those of us in environmental academia.
Really what he's saying is the same thing other economists such as Thomas L. Friedman are saying: go back to school, diversity your skills, etc. Except he sticks the word green in and talks about new gre More...
Really what he's saying is the same thing other economists such as Thomas L. Friedman are saying: go back to school, diversity your skills, etc. Except he sticks the word green in and talks about new gre More...
Jan 03, 2011
Michael
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So: Van Jones. Mr. Jones was appointed to be the "Green Jobs Czar" in the Obama administration, then was forced to resign when it came out that he was a professed communist and a 'truther.' He lasted about six months. Bye-bye, Van.
I am a Green dude myself, so I listened to Mr. Jones give a speech about a month back, and I was impressed. He is smart, funny, and seems like a nice man who cares a great deal about the environment and the poor, so we have that in common. I picke More...
I am a Green dude myself, so I listened to Mr. Jones give a speech about a month back, and I was impressed. He is smart, funny, and seems like a nice man who cares a great deal about the environment and the poor, so we have that in common. I picke More...
Jan 21, 2010
Jamie
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It's disappointing Van Jones was forced to resign from his position as Special Advisor for Green Jobs in the Obama administration because it seems clear to me, after reading The Green Collar Economy, that he has a strong vision for how to implement policies to encourage both job creation and improved environmental quality. While he is sketchy on some of the details, he takes a very holistic approach to solving some of the most pernicious problems of our day, and identifies successful case studi
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Jun 23, 2009
ProgressiveBookClub
rated it:
Review of The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones
By Bill McKibben
Van Jones is, beyond any doubt, one of the rising stars of the American environmental movement and the American civil rights movement. He’s fused the two of them in a new way, and in so doing constructed a powerful political argument for how we might move forward with the twin challenges of preparing the country to fight global warming and pulling our economy out of its dangerous current weakness.
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By Bill McKibben
Van Jones is, beyond any doubt, one of the rising stars of the American environmental movement and the American civil rights movement. He’s fused the two of them in a new way, and in so doing constructed a powerful political argument for how we might move forward with the twin challenges of preparing the country to fight global warming and pulling our economy out of its dangerous current weakness.
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Jul 14, 2009
Mark
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I was unpleasantly surprised after reading this book. The title is extremely misleading. The book centers around two problems, the deteriorating American economy, and the state of the environment. The solution presented is the developing green collar job sector and the industry built around it.
Most of the book is filled with the author lamenting the current condition of the country/economy.
Unfortunately the author never delves into exactly how to apply the stated solution to t More...
Most of the book is filled with the author lamenting the current condition of the country/economy.
Unfortunately the author never delves into exactly how to apply the stated solution to t More...
Oct 27, 2008
Franklin
rated it: 
A "green-collar economy" might sound appealing at first. After all, environmentalists have been fighting for years against reactionaries who claim that measures to protect people and ecology from pollution would cost lots of jobs. But this book is not just an argument that the right kinds of environmental programs can help people of color and the poor. Its main argument is for a "New Deal 2.0." In the process, Van Jones rewrites history to support an argument for class co
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May 26, 2009
Benjamin
rated it:
I first heard about this book while listening to NPR a few months ago. Van Jones sounded like he had devised one of the greatest solutions to poverty and racial equality that can be adopted by all Americans with the benefit of generating wealth for everyone. Then he said that the bravest thing he had ever seen in his life was Nancy Polosi standing up to Big Oil and "drill, baby, drill" in the summer of 2008. After the nausea subsided, I still decided that I should give the book a chanc
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Jan 03, 2011
Lauren
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This book got on my nerves endlessly. Van Jones alternates each chapter with comments on the Green Movement and criticisms of its focus on the white elite. I have to rant about this one! I felt that he was extremely small minded and used small individual cases to "prove" that blacks are left out of the Green Movement. His argument? Most black people, because they are impoverished, simply cannot afford to buy a Prius and are therefore excluded and later criticized for their "lack o
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Nov 11, 2008
Dale
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Van Jones is an environmental and social justice activist. He argues that for too long environmentalists have ignored social justice issues, and have in some cases made the lives of the poor worse by driving polluters into low income areas. The result has been that the poor, and their advocates, have sometimes stood with the polluters in opposing environmental protection.
He believes that we can change this, and that the road to a green collar economy is the way to do it. 'Green colla More...
He believes that we can change this, and that the road to a green collar economy is the way to do it. 'Green colla More...
Feb 04, 2009
Emily
rated it:
I've been an environmentalist...oh, pretty much since birth. And this book is the first thing to ever give me hope on that front. It will probably make you want to get involved with the green enconomy, but don't let that scare you-- everyone should read this book right now. My only complaint is that it seems like it was written really quickly. But, it's about a pressing issue, so I'll let that slide.
May 01, 2011
Robert
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What Jones really nails in this book is the need for a new social contract in America, which has to come from a holistic unity between the environmental stewardship and economic justice camps. Many got this already, but after Jones there is no excuse for not getting it. Put another way, Jones does much to position the socially-blind environmentalist and polluter-dependent jobs advocate as behind the times in the contemporary discourse on the nation's challenges.
The book was not w More...
The book was not w More...
Feb 07, 2012
Miquixote
rated it:
This guy resigned from Obama's cabinet. No surprise now that Obama has betrayed the Green Collar Economy. So much for America leading the Green Technology revolution. It was a nice idea Van... greening things would have saved the economy for the middle and lower classes too, but I guess financial capital didn't care because their profits are still going up.
Anyhow, the green revolution is pretty much the last breath of capitalism, when it inevitably and finally happens. Why? Because ' More...
Anyhow, the green revolution is pretty much the last breath of capitalism, when it inevitably and finally happens. Why? Because ' More...
Jan 31, 2010
Carl
rated it:
A great primer on how to consolidate different popular movements in this country. As far as 'solve the climate crisis' books go this one is all pragmatism and hope rather than 'the sky is burnin' fear-mongering. Strange to read a book written after he became the 'green jobs czar' to Prez. Obama and after Glen Beck called him a socialist, and had him outed.
Aug 11, 2011
Stan
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'The Green Collar Economy' is a vital reminder of where we should be heading in this country. I also enjoy hearing from an eco-conscious leftist that speaks about the importance of solutions over complaints. Too often we define ourselves by what we are against and fail to realize we are all responsible in building solutions to that which we despise.
Aug 18, 2009
Nancy
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Subtitled "How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems" I heard the author speak at the U of M - fascinating! A very hopeful book about our present day socioeconomic and environmental crises. Our parents and grandparents solved difficult problems of their generations for us - can we do less for future generations?
Jul 15, 2009
I feel that this book is suma appropriate for the times. WIth the current recession and environmental dilemma, do we focus on economy and the well being of our nation or do we focus on the well being of earth and the survivability of our species??? Well, Van Jones does an awesome job of combining the two. Check it out!
Jul 12, 2009
Brittany
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I think that if I weren't a hypercritical law student this would have been fantastic. For the most part, I appreciate what he is saying and recommend reading it despite my anxiety about he is appropriating the ideas, and riding on the backs of the efforts, of many before him with not so much as a nod of the head. :\
