The Green Collar Economy

How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems

The first book from acclaimed social justice and environmental activist Van Jones, The Green Collar Economy delivers a real solution that both rescues our economy and saves the environment.

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Provocative, personal, and inspirational, The Green Collar Economy is not a dire warning but rather a substantive and viable plan for solving the biggest issues facing the country--the failing economy and our devastated environment. From a distance, it appears that these two problems are separate, but when we look closer, the connection becomes unmistakable.

"This book illustrates the link between the struggle to restore the environment and the need to revive the US economy. Van Jones demonstrates conclusively that the best solutions for the survivability of our planet are also the best solutions for everyday Americans."

- Vice President Al Gore

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In The Green Collar Economy, acclaimed activist and political advisor Van Jones delivers a real solution that both rescues our economy and saves the environment. The economy is built on and powered almost exclusively by oil, natural gas, and coal, all fast-diminishing nonrenewable resources. As supplies disappear, the price of energy climbs and nearly everything becomes more expensive. With costs and unemployment soaring, the economy stalls. Not only that, when we burn these fuels, the greenhouse gases they create overheat the atmosphere. As the headlines make clear, total climate chaos looms over us. The bottom line: we cannot continue with business as usual. We cannot drill and burn our way out of these dual dilemmas.

Instead, Van Jones illustrates how we can invent and invest our way out of the pollution-based grey economy and into the healthy new green economy. Built by a broad coalition deeply rooted in the lives and struggles of ordinary people, this path has the practical benefit of both cutting energy prices and generating enough work to pull the U.S. economy out of its present death spiral.

Rachel Carson’s 1963 landmark book Silent Spring was the pivotal ecological examination of the last century. Now, rising above the impenetrable debate over the environment and the economy, Van Jones’s The Green Collar Economy delivers a timely and essential call to action for this new century.

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Published by HarperOne

ISBN: 978-0-06-165075-8

Price: $25.95 (Hardcover)

Available: October 7, 2008

About Van

photo by Richard Hume, courtesy of Experience Life magazine

Van Jones is the founder and president of Green For All, a national advocacy organization based in Oakland, California. Green For All is committed to building an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty. Van is a tireless advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities" for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.

Van's advocacy for the toughest urban constituencies and causes has earned him many honors. These include: the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award; the International Ashoka Fellowship; selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader;" the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship; Elle Magazine Green Award 2008; George Lucas Foundation's "Daring Dozen 2008;" Hunt Prime Mover Award 2008; Campaign for America's Future "Paul Wellstone Award 2008;" recognition by Time Magazine as a "Hero of the Environment 2008;" and Global Green USA "Community Environmental Leadership" Award.

Van also co-founded both the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Color of Change. Both organizations are committed to equal justice and opportunity for low-income people and people of color. He is a board member of 1Sky, the Apollo Alliance, and Ella Baker Center. In the past, he has served on the boards of the National Apollo Alliance, Social Ventures Network, Rainforest Action Network, Bioneers and Julia Butterfly Hill's "Circle of Life" organization. He is a Fellow at IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences). Van is also a Senior Fellow with Center for American Progress (CAP).