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The ReVisionary Project:David Gottfried is the founder and was the first staff president of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).David interviews Van Jones about one of the greatest efforts of our time.
Very true. Change has to be at a deeper level so that it is well rooted and provides nurture to all the facets of human life. It has to be bigger than ’solar powered mobile’ phone……….it has to be at a community and a perceptual level where every individual wants to contribute to the earth. How to do it practically baffles me??? Maybe one city block a time!!
I agree with Mr. Jones, I work at a community college (Cascadia CC in Bothell Wa) and we have opened a program called Environmental Technologies and Sustaninable Practices. The program open fall 2008 and is full Spring 2009. What is remarkable are the students in the program. They have formed a club, helping non-profits in the Green arena, working with Industry and businesses and becoming leaders of the greening of the world. The faculty and staff are very excited about the program and sustaninability is a foundation of the college, for instance there are 51 acres of reclaimed wetlands at the college. We have the K-16 system involved in the program.
But the students are taking on the leadership and doing remarkable activities. They are going to be the actual leaders of making this very positive change in our way of living.
1. Urban life is largely unsustainable. It requires too many other people to do things for you that you should do for yourself, especially suppling food. In a few years, only the wealthy and extremely poor will live in cities.
2. “Green Jobs” is an oxymoron unless it involves bio-remediation. Propping up the Capitalist system with the promise of “renewable energy” and other politically correct slogans will only worsen the crisis we are in.
3. If Mr. Jones or anyone else is serious about greening the planet, they will call for the immediate creation of an Ecological Works Project Administration. Any individual who wants a full or part-time job (with benefits) would be hired IMMEDIATELY to plant trees and other native plants, pick up garbage, grow organic food, restore watersheds, clean up toxic sites using mushrooms and other bio-remediation techniques, and other projects that actually heal the planet NOW.
I totally agree with Mr. Jones. We need to get away from this binge-and-purge way of living. We need to discover ways of upcycling used goods and reconnecting and paying attention to those things in our society that we turn a blind eye to.
Unlike Joseph Thomas, I think urban life is much more sustainable than rural life considering the vast population of our world. Tight, dense, dynamic and interconnected cities allow for a fantastic interchange of ideas and voices as well as a much lighter human footprint than rural living. Nearby farms and waterways can supply local food and water. We live in a world of specialists, Joseph. This is a great thing because we can focus on what we do best rather than becoming a mediocre Jack-of-all-trades. We need to get used to the notion that we are all interconnected; that we depend on each other.
But I do agree that we do need to start right away with a public works program; planting trees, cleaning up the environment.
Applause for Van Jones Green jobs a positive/conscious step of action.
NYT 8/23/09 had a front page article about “Debating How Much Weed Killer is safe in the water.” Atrazine is popularly used for lawn/golf courses with a DDT blowback for Humans. Clean water for all is a top priority.