Blue to Green

I’m glad it was brought up in the discussion question post -- I was definitely down after our intro to climate change on Friday. It’s hard to be optimistic about the planet’s future when you consider how many resources and systems we’ve altered and destroyed in a very short period of time.

There was a quote in one of the readings about concerned people who keep the environment in mind. For those who are looking for reasonable ways to effect change – those who are looking for some “sort of medium” – where do they start? If effective environmental action is what we’re after, I think Van Jones has the right vision.

I’m impressed by Van Jones and his work: address two of the biggest problems in the U.S. in order to change the reality of both situations. He’s exactly right, if you’re worried about putting food on the table, it’s unlikely that building solar panels and protecting coral reefs are items high on your to-do list. But instead of focusing on the bleakness of the situations Jones sees opportunity: what if addressing such environmental problems enables you to put food on the table? I hope that his work is met by some success – I am a little skeptical that blue-collar can become entirely green but will remain optimistic. At the very least, the growing green collar job movement challenges the rest of us to think of creative ways to protect the planet. What other creative ideas do people have (or could we think of) in order to address climate change?

**I clicked on the "Dot Earth" section of the NYT and came across this: if you haven't seen it, you may want to check it out. http://www.350.org/