Van Jones, Esq. the innovative eco-activist founder of the Ella Baker Center was recently featured in an article by New York Times columnists Tom Friedman which brought to light the fact that eco-sustainability is necessary and a viable alternative in socio-economically depressed communities. Jones proposes that “Green Collar” jobs be put into place throughout these communities and that they be staffed by teenagers with few educational and job opportunities, and who might otherwise be left out of the 21st Century work force.
Jones’s idea is to retrofit “buildings all across America with solar panels, insulation and other weatherizing materials.”This labor is to be carried out by disinfranchised American youth because these ”are manual-labor jobs that can’t be outsourced”.
Jones’s rallying cry to disaffected American youth (primarily African American and Latino) is: “You can make more money if you put down that handgun and pick up a caulk gun.”
Another activist that has made great strides in educating the general populace is Majora Carter the vibrant founder of Sustainable South Bronx. Majora, a native of the South Bronx, was an artist (she has an MFA degree) and decided that she needed to speak out and act against the deforrestation and polution of her native South Bronx (NY). After her initial protest she went on to found Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 and since then she has been a major player in empowering local people residing in the Bronx to be stewards and sustainability soldiers of the natural world making up their communities.
Majora became even more respected by the greater world when she publicly called to task former Vice-President and nuveau-eco warrior Al Gore at TED for shunning her idea concerning a grassroots global-warming strategy. Listen to Majora’s powerful talk at TED:
