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Former ‘green Czar’ Van Jones on New Film ‘Carbon Nation’
By Kam Williams
Special to The Skanner News
A
nthony “Van” Jones and his twin sis-
ter, Angela, were born on September
20, 1968 in Jackson, Tennessee to
Loretta and the late Willie Jones, a teacher
and principal, respectively. Van graduated
from the University of Tennessee with a
bachelor’s degree in communications and
political science, before earning a Juris
Doctor at Yale Law School.
A clean energy pioneer and author of the
eco-employment best-seller “The Green-
Collar Economy,” he was invited by the
Obama Administration to serve as Green
Czar. But Van decided to resign from the
post in the wake of a relentless, right-wing
smear campaign which accused him of
everything from being a Communist to
signing a petition suggesting that the Bush
Administration had knowingly permitted
the terrorist attacks on 9/11 to transpire.
Jones is currently teaching at Princeton
University, where he holds a joint appoint-
ment at both the center for African-
American Studies and the Woodrow Wilson
School of Public and International Affairs in
the Program for Science, Technology and
environmental Policy. He is
also serving as a Senior
Fellow at the Center for
American Progress and as a
Senior Policy Advisor at
Green for All.
Here, he talks about all of
the above, and about his
appearance in Carbon Nation,
a cautionary documentary
about the consequences of
climate change. The film opens in theaters
in New York City on February 11, and will
open elsewhere around the country later in
the month and in March before becoming
available on DVD in April.
Kam Williams: Hi Van, thanks for the
time.
Van Jones: Thank you.
KW: My readers sent in a lot of questions
for you. I’ll start with Sam Chekwas, who
asks: What interested you in appearing in
Carbon Nation?
VJ: Back in 2007, I met this white guy
[director Peter Byck] with a lot of hair and
a video camera, at a conference that I hap-
pened to be attending for the launch of an
organization called Blacks in Green. I had
never heard of him and Peter had never
heard of me. We just started talking; he
liked what I had to say, so he asked me if I’d
be willing to be in this documentary he was
doing about carbon pollution. I said,
“Sure!” It was kind of a no-brainer.
KW: Before you got interested in envi-
ronmental issues, you started the Bay Area
Police Watch, a San Francisco-based organ-
ization with an emergency hotline and a
lawyer referral service for victims of police
abuse. What inspired that?
VJ: I saw in the ’90s that we were
increasing police power with get tough poli-
cies and 3 strikes laws, but without addi-
tional oversights. I had this radical idea that
the police should obey the law. My view
I had this radical idea that the
police should obey the law.
c
o
m
was that any human system without ade-
quate checks and balances will tend towards
corruption and abuse. That’s why you have
meat inspectors. Not because you hate
butchers, but because of an understanding
of human nature. Similarly, I felt like you
m
u
n
i
t
y
gotta have some oversight
of law enforcement. And
though the rampant racial
injustices throughout the
criminal justice system were
offensive to me and to mil-
lions of other people, I’ve
never drawn a tight circle
around the Black communi-
ty to define the limits of my
moral concern. But that nar-
rative tends to get imposed
on you, if you’re an
African-American activist.
But in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina, we did
create Color of Change, an
organization which focused
on African-Americans in
particular, because we felt
that there was a big gap
there in terms of online
advocacy which had left the
black community particu-
larly vulnerable.
KW: Preston Edwards,
Sr., asks: Where are the jobs in the Green
Economy? In which industries? Who are
some of the larger employers? What are
some of the entry-level jobs?
VJ: There are 80,000 jobs in the
wind energy industry right now. And
you can quadruple that number, if you
have the right policy in place to pro-
mote clean energy. There are about
46,000 jobs supported by the solar
industry right now. That’s fewer than
it should be, too. And you have a
whole other set of jobs in energy-effi-
ciency in buildings and in creating the
“Smart Grid,” as we call it. There’s also
manufacturing smart batteries and bio-fuels,
Those are just the energy jobs. Then we
have the water, food and other industries
which are also experiencing some redirec-
c
a
l
e
n
Van Jones
tion. As far as employers who are hiring,
Vestas is a big wind company, and Solyndra
is a solar power company. But some of these
companies are starting to struggle in the
absence of America’s committing to a
cleaner future by way of Congressional
action. The prospects of green economic
opportunity is going to be determined to a
great extent by politicians arriving at some
sort of bi-partisan resolution.
KW: Ben Thypin asks: How do you
respond to those who say that green jobs
are, at best, limited in their potential impact
in terms of the number of and quality of
jobs created and, at worst, "make-work"
jobs that form just one part of the grand
socialist apparatus designed to crush the pri-
vate sector and, implicitly, all that is patriot-
ic and holy?
d
a
r
F ebruary 2011
B ulletin B oard
if you have an event you want to share
with the community, email it two weeks
in advance to The Skanner at
info@theskanner.com
thursday February 24
Friday February 18
aRe yOu age 55+ aND JOBleSS iN
Seattle – kiNg COuNty? if so, this
job search workshop is for you! 10
a.m. – Noon. Central Building 810
third ave, Suite 150. Seattle and
king County residents only. Space
is limited. to register call 206-233-
7097 or e-mail
tina.inay@seattle.gov.
Wednesday February 23
CeleBRate DiViReSty JOB FaiR:
Reservations are required. to make
reservation for the job fair contact
khenry@bellevue.wa.gov Noon – 3
p.m. Crossroads Community
Center 16000 Ne 10th St. Bellevue.
hiP hOP mOgul RuSSell SimmONS
ReaDS Russell will talk about this
book, “Super Rich: a guide to
having it all.” 7 p.m. — 8:30 p.m.
Central library, 1000 Fourth ave.
Free and open to the public.
Sunday February 27
CultuRal eNgagemeNt Film
SeRieS: in honor of Black history
month: the house we live in, an
episode from the PBS documenta
ry series Race: the Power of an
illusion: Phinney Neighborhood
assoc. Room 1. 6532 Phinney ave.
N. Please RSVP to
katie@phinneycenter.org or call
206-783-2244, 3 – 5 p.m.
Page 2 The Seattle Skanner February 16, 2011
Fitness Fair
liz Davis, who has lost
180 pounds, did a
presentation at a Free
Community health Fair
Feb. 12 at the Nw
african american
museum.
Davis transformed
herself from before her
weight loss to how she
looks now. throughout
her mesmerizing
performance she talked
about how she
gradually changed her
life around by
increasing her exercise
and changing her diet
to include more fruits
and vegetables. in
addition to
presentations on fitness
and nutrition
participants could get
free blood pressure,
cholesterol and glucose
screenings. Free
mammograms, breast
exams and pap tests
were also available by
appointment.