The Green Collar Economy (Van Jones) - HarperOne - 2008 - 237 pages

Van Jones provides numerous examples and suggestions for actual solutions to current environmental problems, especially regarding creation of green industry jobs.  However, when written in 2008, he seemed to believe that there were political solutions to many of the problems.  I wonder what Jones thinks now after spending just six months in the Obama administration.  I must confess that I had never heard of Jones until he resigned under pressure from right-wing ideologues.  I suppose that he was pressured by politicos within the administration but I am disappointed that he succumbed to such pressure.  After reading his book, I would not have expected that result.  In January 2009, this country reached the pinnacle of optimism regarding political "green" solutions.  That optimism has largely been destroyed by archaic Senate rules and the disastrous SCOTUS decision in Citizens United.  I think that we have now spun the political wheels for another two years and I fear that the real green revolution will not start unless the world experiences a series of ecological disasters that snap us to attention.  I hate to think that it will take a Climate Change Pearl Harbor/9-11 before anything happens.  I was glad to see that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote the foreword to the book.  I have followed him and his movement since his Air America days.  It was unfortunate that RFK Jr. used Iceland as an example of a successful green economy.  I am sure that the wingnuts have used that analogy to lambaste him.  Since I never watch the FOX channel or the Drudge-like blogs, I manage to avoid that kind of pain.  Mr. Jones has written an important book and a roadmap that could save the worldwide ecology if enough responsible humans can find the road. [JAM 11/28/2010]