Van Jones To Be Green Jobs Czar?

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Word has it that environmental advocate Van Jones is going to be offered a position in Obama’s cabinet. Not sure yet exactly what it’ll be; some say green jobs czar, but Grist’s source says that’s “an overstatement.”

Title aside, Jones has the necessary chops: He founded the green jobs nonprofit Green for All, and what with all his recent speaking gigs, book tours, and buzz, he’s got the connections. When we interviewed Jones last year, he talked about government’s role in creating a green economy:

MJ: How do we get to the tipping point where the rules change. Does it have to come from the very highest levels?

VJ: The change has got to be top down, bottom up, and inside out. The federal government has to get off the bench. Or frankly the federal government has to put down its pompoms for the polluters and put on the cleats and get on the side of our team trying to solve this problem. That’s critical. Otherwise, we’re going to have patchwork solutions, every state, every city going its own way. We’re not going to win with that. We also have to have bottom-up solutions in terms of communities, cities, mayors, community colleges, local labor unions, local business councils, all in their own ways beginning to move to a cleaner, greener, more sustainable economy.

Read the whole interview.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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