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The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems Hardcover – October 7, 2008
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“Steadily—by redefining green—Jones is making sure that our planet and our people will not just survive but also thrive in a clean-energy economy.”
—Leonardo DiCaprio
A New York Times bestseller, The Green Collar Economy by award-winning human rights activist and environmental leader Van Jones delivers a much-needed economic and environmental solution to today’s two most critical problems. With a revised introduction and new afterword by the author—a man who counsels President Barack Obama on environmental policy—The Green Collar Economy and Jones have been highly praised by a multitude of leaders and legislators, including Al Gore, Senator Tom Daschle, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Van Jones was named one of “The World’s 100 Most Influential People of 2009” by Time magazine, and with The Green Collar Economy he offers a wise, necessary, and eminently achievable plan for saving the earth and rescuing working class Americans.
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperOne
- Publication dateOctober 7, 2008
- Dimensions6 x 0.87 x 9 inches
- ISBN-109780061650758
- ISBN-13978-0061650758
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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Review
“[Jones] new book -- which details how an ambitious public spending program on energy efficiency and renewable energy can stimulate the economy and create good jobs for the poor and unemployed -- couldn’t have landed at a better time.” — Washington Post
“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.” — Al Gore
“Van Jones has a unique ability to inspire people of all colors, classes and generations to uplift vulnerable people, while protecting our vulnerable planet. His sparkling intelligence, powerful vision and deep empathy are all on full display in The Green-Collar Economy.” — Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives
“The baton is passed to climate advocate Van Jones who clearly sees that our future must be green and must include everyone. His powerful new book ‘The Green Collar Economy’ shows us how to accomplish it.” — Laurie David, global warming activist
“Van Jones’ authentic and passionate arguments trump the status quo. In The Green Collar Economy he holds the welfare of our neediest people front and center as he lays out a viable plan for the remainder of the 21st century.” — Tavis Smiley, Author, Television and Radio Host
“Pay attention: we are witnessing the debut of a major American voice.” — Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest
“It’s rare that someone with such a gift for speaking is able to convey the energy and excitement of his message equally well in writing. With The Green Collar Economy, Van Jones surpasses all expectations. The country seriously needs his take on the environment and the economy.” — Gavin Newsom, Mayor of San Francisco
“Van Jones reminds us that the worst of times can also be the best of times -- that a nation with an abundance of resources it’s wasting -- beginning with its youth -- has an enormous opportunity to stop foolishly bankrupting itself by chasing resources it is running out of -- like oil.” — Carl Pope, Executive Director Sierra Club
“Jones accomplishes the super heroic feat of linking together the solutions for poverty, the energy crisis, and global warming. Van is a visionary of our times, and one of my personal heroes. Every relevant 21st century leader needs to read Van’s book.” — John Hope Bryant, Founder & CEO, Operation Hope
“Van’s words echo the sentiments of many indigenous communities, who have endured the effects of coal strip mining, uranium mining and mega dams. The Green Collar Economy outlines industrial society’s path towards a just future.” — Winona LaDuke, Native American and environmental activist
“Once in a very long while, a truly original voice enters our national political discussion--and changes the conversation for the better. [...]Van Jones does just that. The Green Collar Economy lets us envision a world in which the Earth and everyday people both thrive.” — Senator Tom Daschle
“In The Green Collar Economy, Van Jones turns conventional environmentalism on its head. Watch out: this book could change everything.” — Larry Brilliant, Google.org
“As the Earth warms and the oceans rise, the civil and human rights agenda must expand. No one has worked harder to level the playing field in the rapidly growing green economy than Van Jones.” — Ben Jealous, President, NAACP
“In The Green-Collar Economy, Van Jones has penned a working man’s manifesto for the solar age. When green solutions finally catch on among everyday folks, Van and this book will deserve the lion’s share of the credit.” — Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus
“The Green Collar Economy is a both a rallying call and a road map for how we can save the planet, reduce our dependency on budget-busting fossil fuels, and bring millions of new jobs to America.” — Fred Krupp, Environmental Defense Fund President and New York Times best-selling co-author of "Earth: The Sequel"
“Van Jones represents a new generation of environmental leader – one who sees the Greening of America as both a moral imperative and a nuts and bolts economic issue. His passion, intelligence, and idealism shine through every page of this must-read book.” — Arianna Huffington
“Brother Van Jones is a visionary who spells out real solutions in black and white - and, of course, green. Van’s vision of a thriving, green economy doesn’t have throw-away things or throw-away people. It’s the kind of environmentalism everyone can get behind.” — Mario Van Peebles, actor and producer, Mario's Green House
“Jones, the head of the non-profit Green For All and the author of the new book The Green-Collar Economy, could represent the future of environmentalism in America and a way for the movement to survive and even thrive through the coming recession. — Time
“In looking at the bigger picture, Jones provides ideas for rebuilding infrastructure and creating alternative energy sources, which would have the double bonus of boosting the economy through increased employment and higher wages while decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels . . . recommended for all libraries.” — Library Journal
“Van Jones is someone who makes you feel like an underachiever, no matter if you’re a NASA scientist or a captain of industry. . . . Echoes of his ideas can be heard among lawmakers from Sacramento to Washington...” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Van Jones has made a national name for himself by finding one solution to three persistent problems: poverty, racial inequality, and the environmental crisis. He wants to solve these problems by creating green jobs filled by the poor and people of color―the groups often left behind during technological advances.” — Boston Globe
“In less than two years, Jones has risen from local grass-roots organizer to shepherd of a national movement to build an inclusive green economy... Jones is making sure that our planet and our people will not just survive but also thrive in a clean-energy economy.” — Leonardo DiCaprio in Time magazine
From the Back Cover
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.
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.
About the Author
Van Jones is the founder and former president of Green For All. In March of 2009, he became the special advisor for Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Van Jones lives in the Washington D.C. area with his wife and two sons.
Product details
- ASIN : 0061650757
- Publisher : HarperOne; F First Edition (October 7, 2008)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780061650758
- ISBN-13 : 978-0061650758
- Item Weight : 1.13 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.87 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,127,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,734 in Environmental Policy
- #3,453 in Environmental Economics (Books)
- #5,716 in Environmentalism
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author

Van Jones is a social entrepreneur, CNN political contributor and host of The Messy Truth with Van Jones. Famous for his heart-felt election night coverage, Jones showed up as “the voice of reason” for people in red states and blue throughout the volatile 2016 political season. In response to much civil unrest and energy post election, Jones launched the #Love Army -- a values based movement that is working for an America where everyone counts.
Jones has founded and led numerous social enterprises engaged in social and environmental justice.
These include:
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which promotes criminal justice reform
Color of Change, which works for racial fairness through its over one million members
Rebuild The Dream, a 21st Century "think tank" that champions innovative solutions to fix the U.S. economy and uplift the next generation. which promotes innovative policy solutions.
The Dream Corps, an organization that brings people together to solve America's toughest problems. The Dream Corps' major initiatives are: #YesWeCode, aimed to help 100,000 young women and men from underrepresented backgrounds find success in the tech sector; #cut50, an initiative focused on making communities safer while reducing the number of people in our prisons and jails. And Green For All, which advances environmental solutions that prioritize families and workers living on the frontlines of some of the worst pollution in America.
Magic Labs Media, founded by Jones and where he currently serves as its President.
Jones is a Yale-educated attorney. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, The Green Collar Economy (2008) and Rebuild the Dream (2012). The second book chronicles his journey as an environmental and human rights activist to becoming a White House policy advisor.
He was the main advocate for the Green Jobs Act. Signed into law by George W. Bush in 2007, the Green Jobs Act was the first piece of federal legislation to codify the term “green jobs.” During the Obama Administration, the legislation has resulted in $500 million in national funding for green jobs training.
In 2009, Jones worked as the green jobs advisor to President Barack Obama. In this role, Jones helped to lead the inter-agency process that oversaw the multi-billion dollar investment in skills training and jobs development within the environmental and green energy sectors.
Jones has been honored with numerous awards and spotlighted on several lists of high achievers, including: the World Economic Forum’s “Young Global Leader” designation; Rolling Stone’s 2012 “12 Leaders Who Get Things Done”; TIME’s 2009 “100 Most Influential People in The World”; and the Root's 2014 "The Root 100." In 2017, Van Jones signed a management deal with Roc Nation, becoming the first political commentator & activist in their family. Jones lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife & two children.
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Customers find the book visionary, inspiring, and stimulating. They say it has great ideas and a well-reasoned approach. Readers also describe the writing quality as well-written, articulate, and easy to read.
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Customers find the book visionary, inspiring, and stimulating. They say it has great ideas and a well-reasoned approach. Readers also mention the book is empowering and has great information.
"...Green Collar Economy and Mr. Jones' work in general are so visionary and empowering that some people rightfully consider this book and this kind of..." Read more
"...Packed full if great ideas for rejuvenating our failing economy which is sadly based on oil and coal, Jones offers inspiration as well as expertise..." Read more
"...This book is inspirational reading for every high school and college student who aspires to be an entrepreneur and not just an employee." Read more
"...Excellent ideas, clearly written text - not just the usual rant about how bad things are and may become - concrete ideas to accomplish the results..." Read more
Customers find the writing quality of the book well-written, articulate, and easy to read. They also say the author is passionate, witty, and motivational.
"...Van Jones, you would probably agree that he is such a passionate, witty and motivational public speaker and story teller...." Read more
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"...Excellent ideas, clearly written text - not just the usual rant about how bad things are and may become - concrete ideas to accomplish the results..." Read more
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This is the most important book I've read in the last 15 years! If I were any kind of authority, I would make every single American read the "Green Collar Economy."
So far, most book reviews that I've read do capture several of the most important messages and ideas presented in this comprehensive book, yet most of them fail to emphasize the many complexities discussed and re-examined in the Green Collar Economy. The good news is there is no secret anymore--the green economy is the only aspect of our economy that is growing, in spite of all its obstacles. My guess is that many American readers might be surprised to discover that Van Jones writes not only about the environment, waves of environmental movement, green economy, and global economy, but also masterfully includes such a broad range of topics that are deeply interconnected with our current state of world wide environmental degradation and climate change.
If you already saw or heard Van Jones, you would probably agree that he is such a passionate, witty and motivational public speaker and story teller. Yet, in my view, he is even better as a scholar who writes for people of all educational backgrounds. Green Collar Economy and Mr. Jones' work in general are so visionary and empowering that some people rightfully consider this book and this kind of community activism centered on social and environmental justice to be one of the pillars of the 21st century. Another surprise for many American readers might be the fact that Van Jones does not talk much about individual actions and solutions. The well preserved myth that all solutions are individual and that our societies are nothing more but a sum of individuals has to be challenged now more than ever. We need our government to come up with solutions, we need collective actions and global actions. Individual efforts are not unimportant, yet they will not be sufficient to win the battle against the climate change and its devastating effects. There is no coincidence that the governments of 184 countries have signed, ratified and acted upon the Kyotto Protocol. Shamefully, the U.S. is not among these countries, nor are our representatives actively participating in Poland where even more than 180 countries prepare for the next international treaty to be signed next year in Copenhagen.
Almost every responsible politician, every local environmental activist, and every concerned member of our community can find something so very profound, courageous and inspirational in the Green Collar Economy. Many of us environmental activists struggle to understand the big picture and often find ourselves unable to overcome many divisions within the movement, commonly dominated by white members. Van Jones offers his profound wisdom and viable solutions--if we are to truly embrace the green revolution and save all life on this planet, we have to achieve social justice in that process. "War time" type of mobilization that is absolutely needed now cannot happen by exclusion and repetition of our historically observed patterns of injustice. People of color and low income community members need jobs, hope and motivation, so they have to be given the new clean energy jobs first. We cannot continue to treat our planet as a space where we can indefinitely extract and drill, and dump toxic materials where predominantly communities of color and low income people live. We cannot continue to direct all beneficial effects of environmental stewardship to materially rich, white, and socially favored communities, if we want everyone to work together to solve the deepest global crisis recorded in our written history. Such a crisis cannot be resolved by any individual, group, government, or even a group of countries. Van Jones offers powerful and memorable metaphors to illustrate this point reemphasizing that we just cannot continue to fight and exploit each other when we are all in the same sinking boat. Emphasizing the idea that "humanity might not survive on the planet," and expecting people of color, and low income groups to drop everything and start working on environmental issues does not work. It does not work because these members of our community (and the world community) have been on the brink of survival on a daily basis for at least several long centuries. It does not work because so far in our class, color, and gender-divided world the major benefits of processes that we call technological progress have never gone to these disadvantaged communities. What might work is to read very slowly, carefully, and think deeply in order to find solutions similar to what is presented in the chapter about the environmental stewardship of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples of the world. In addition, if most Americans saw "When the Levees Broke," a Spike Lee film, and read the Chapter about New Orleans hit by Katrina included in this book, after reading this with a clear mind and open heart, we should make a resolution to never repeat our social cruelty and paralysis. These two chapters are truly outstanding.
Based on my educational background I would like to bring up questions of the self-destructive, human destructive, and all life destructive nature of capitalism, while also emphasizing the important role that women must play. Women's engagement becomes even more critical from the perspective of our organic connection with nature, in life-preservation, and potential for reestablishment of harmony needed on this planet. Working on our own liberation as human liberation, women and working people have a potential to better understand what is at stake and how to fight for our survival on Earth. Van Jones does not use this kind of terminology, nor provides an in-depth analysis of the current stage of capitalism and global economy. As we all know quite well, these discussions can further divide people along political views and persuasions. Instead, the author discusses in-depth how we might enable ourselves to overcome some important dividing factors in order to work together.
I am convinced that this book will mark our entire époque. My only critique is related to the lack of discussion about major reasons for U.S. absence from international efforts to combat climate change. The U.S. imperialist role in the environmental destruction overseas is not included much, either. The world only needs the U.S. to do its own share in reversing these devastating environmental impacts. The share should be proportional to what we as Americans and our governments create world-wide.
The incoming administration already has a plan for action outlined in the Green Collar Economy. If we as a society took this platform seriously and implemented it, we could as well ensure our prolonged presence on this beautiful planet. Moreover, our generations would not be ashamed when we look our children and grandchildren in the eye. If nothing more, we have a chance to live the remaining times as responsible and mature inhabitants of the world. Van Jones does not give false hopes in the most positive outcome. His hope is hope of a cautious, wise, visionary. Many might think that this book still contains utopian ideas. If these ideas and practical proposals become utopian, it will be because of the very nature of our inhumane and eco-destructive societies, not because of the author's naïve attitude. I must confess that I wept reading the last chapter and swore to myself and future generations to work alongside "Green for All" in my own limited capacity.
This book is inspirational reading for every high school and college student who aspires to be an entrepreneur and not just an employee.
Top reviews from other countries
Furthermore, the author repeatedly plugs organic food, even though organic food is actually worse for the environment than food produced by non-organic means. This is one of many instances in which he opts to base his views on gut feelings rather than rigorous scientific investigation.
The main result of this book was that it made me realise Barack Obama does not have a strong grasp of environmental issues, since he gave Van Jones a job.








