This past Thursday, despite a bad cold, being unable to breathe, and a pounding headache, I got myself out to Waltham (which, I might add, does not seem so different from Watertown, where I got lost first. Neither have street signs) at 8 am to check out the Bentley Leadership Forum for social entrepreneurship, with Van Jones as the morning keynote speaker. And though I felt awful, I was so glad I did!
Van Jones is the author of the Green Collar Economy. He's also the creator of Green for All, which Green on the Inside supports. A few years ago, I didn't know who he was, though I should have. Now he is the Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. His mission is to link clean energy to the need for jobs, thereby creating green jobs and healing both the economy and the environment. Right on. I already believed his work to be excellent, and his address was wonderful. However, what I had not imagined was the fact that he is superbly hilarious. I mean really funny. You could tell he just really loved being up there and having an audience, in a very likable way. But even more so, could go off on bizarre hilarious tangents, make everyone crack up (I had tears in my eyes at one point) and still come back to his point brilliantly and succinctly. He answered a lot of questions about green power, green jobs, and how the plans he has would work. I was left inspired and very impressed. (He's also very, very handsome.)
His arguments were dead on, but with my foggy mind and stuffed sinuses, I couldn't completely remember enough to convey the strategies here just yet. I know some of it included the concept of driving down costs for solar so it's "as cheap as paint", creating the smart grid for electric cars to run off of solar (yes!) and creating ecological opportunities for work and health in all sectors. He spoke about the Clean Air Act as an example of "fear mongering" that we experience today from oil and big polluters, and gave a great example (I may try to put it in here later, or just ask me about it! Say, "gum wrapper"!) of how the system currently works, and why we shouldn't accept it. I personally thought it was amazing, but also was feeling like we need an even bigger vision- not just one that keeps cars on the road, sprawl sprawling, and roads expanding. What's going to happen to the car? To public transit with this model? To communities? What's the real vision this administration has for the country longterm- even if it's not quite politically smart to disclose...yet? Because while we can't run on oil forever, the model of newer American cities is failing, and we need to look at how our communities are built and how they will be built in the future around clean energy.
Finally, Van made a really terrific suggestion. He said, "Here's what you do- If you live in China, leave your village, leave your language. Go crowd yourself in a megacity, and make crap for us that we'll buy. Then lend us money so we can buy more crap! It'll work out great for everybody."
Go here to watch the whole thing.
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