Van Jones & The Green Collar Economy

It was not long before my Williams-Sonoma co-workers noticed my passion for environmental causes. They observed me heating up my organic lunches in our office kitchen, taking online surveys to calculate my carbon footprint, and touting my re-usable Nalgene water bottle to meetings. So when my co-worker, David Schofield, read an article on the environmental movement written by a neighbor of his in Oakland, Van Jones, he was quick to pass it on to me.

To my horror, I learned that according to Van Jones, I was participating in “eco-aparteid,” a phenomenon where only the upper-classes of American society are financially capable of participating in the green movement. As Van Jones pointed out in the article, low-income families can’t afford organic vegetables when they are struggling to buy food at all. Likewise, Prius hybrids, roof-top solar panels, and most other “green” products are accessible only to our country’s elite. His article noted that Chevron defeated a California ballot initiative on green energy by a small margin by targeting urban, African-American communities with ads implying that gas prices would rise. Van Jones pointed out that it is hard to care about global warming when you struggle to pay rent and utilities.

Low-income communities won’t be compelled act on behalf of the environment until the environmental movement can add something to their lives. And, American society will not be able to significantly reduce our environmental impact without involving more segments of our population. What can the green movement offer these people? Van Jones’ answer is jobs. We can hire them to install solar panels, retrofit existing buildings to make them environmentally friendly, and build wind turbines. One solution can address poverty and environmental destruction, two of our country’s biggest challenges.

This week, I had the privilege of hearing Van Jones speak on campus about his vision for a “green collar” economy. Honestly, the speech was shallow in its content. I did not learn much more about his philosophies than I did from that borrowed article. However, seeing Van Jones speak in person gave me insight into his ability to lead this movement, which even a few years ago may have seemed like a lost cause. Van Jones’ personable nature and sense of humor would make his ideas accessible to all kinds of people. Much like President Obama, he has the power to communicate a message of hope to communities of Americans that have long felt forgotten. And given the current economic woes, more and more Americans seem willing to listen.

Having the opportunity to hear many CEOs and business leaders speak already at Haas, I have come to understand how important it is to have a leader with vision. The best organizations are led by men and women who are able to communicate their vision in a compelling, clear voice to diverse employee groups, potential investors, and the media. Conveying their vision, true leaders motivate others to action. The “green jobs” movement is fortunate to have found a motivating visionary.

While I would never underestimate the value of a strong leader, for the green collar economy to become a reality, it needs more. It looks more and more likely that billions of economic stimulus dollars will soon be aimed at building Van Jones’ “green collar” economy, and to make this investment a success we can learn from the strategies of successful businesses. Here are some of my thoughts:

• Mission Statement: Clarify the mission of this investment to facilitate better planning, allocation of funds, and measuring the impact of initiatives.
• Communication: Develop a mechanism to promote communication of best practices for organizations across our large country. Van Jones touted the success of Richmond Solar in training unemployed minorities to install solar panels. Rather than allowing other groups to re-invent the wheel, we should facilitate communication between similar organizations across the country.
• Key Performance Indicators: It is critical to measure the success of any investment. We should define key performance indicators to help us better understand how to most successfully spend government dollars on green infrastructure projects, green collar educational programs, and clean tech research. By comparing KPIs against our mission statement, we can assess the success of each program.
• Process for Planning & Allocation: Companies generally have a budgeting process to allocate funds to capital projects. Ideally, projects are assessed for projected ROI and compatibility with the goals of the organization. Often it seems like government organizations lack this sort of discipline. Rather than throwing money at the sexiest programs, we need to develop a process for balanced allocation of funds to meet our goals.
• Transparency: Ultimately we want to develop a sustainable green economy. Transparency can help us do this. Information on how to apply for government contracts or grants should be readily available to private contractors & non-profit organizations as appropriate. We should be rewarding the best and most creative organizations with government contracts, rather than buddies of government officials.
  

I have long thought it criminal that a nation as rich as ours would allow endemic poverty to persist in our urban communities. At the same time, I could never understand why more Americans were not as passionate about saving the environment as I was. Van Jones brought to my attention the fact that these two national problems are not unrelated. I hope that in the coming years we are able to achieve his vision of saving our planet as we pave a road that will lift Americans out of poverty.

For more information on Van Jones visit his website: http://www.vanjones.net/