Este hombre salvaría a los osos polares (y a los niños pobres)

Pronto escribo algún post sobre mis primeras semanas en Washington DC. Pero mientras tanto os dejo con esta entrevista que vale la pena leer. Éste hombre tiene buenas ideas.

AN INTERVIEW WITH VAN JONES
"The green movement has to become a rainbow-colored movement in order to be successful"
Maria José Viñas, special to Mongabay.com

June 23, 2008

Van Jones, a social and environmental activist, believes a greener economy not only could save the planet, but also must provide pathways out of poverty for America's disadvantaged communities. A civil rights lawyer from Yale University, Jones started promoting the idea of "green-collar jobs" in 2005 through the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California. In September 2007, he launched the "Green for All" campaign. Jones recently took time to share his perspectives with Mongabay.com.

Mongabay: The green-collar jobs initiative is a hot topic these days. The Democratic presidential candidates have cited it, and you and your organization have been promoting your campaign in many newspapers, radio and TV stations. But do you think politicians and the public have an accurate idea of what a green job is?

Van Jones: Well, I think we are all still figuring out exactly what a green-collar job is. It's a term that has captured people's imaginations. Now everybody, from MIT to the Apollo Alliance to us, the Green for All campaign, are working to sharpen the definition. The current definition is that it's a blue-collar job that is graded to better respect the environment. It's a job where your wealth is not taking away from the communities or the planet's health. Once you start trying to drill down, you have to decide how green is green, how much it's going to be "green-washing" and what job is worth the name in terms of compensation, in terms of career, in terms of advancement options and benefits. So now the real work begins to refine the definition, and we're excited about that.

Mongabay: And what's your campaign's current description?

Van Jones: For us, a green-collar job has to be a living-wage job and it has to be a real upper-mobility pathway. We don't believe the country needs "solar sweatshop jobs" or a "Walmart wind industry." We want to make sure that we have equal opportunity, which means creating real diversity from the beginning in this new economy. We want to make sure people have labor rights, so they can organize themselves and get the best possible deal. And we want to make sure these jobs represent an end to poverty.

El resto de la entrevista, aquí.