Green for All

Green For All is an organization whose stated goal is to build a green economy while simultaneously lifting citizens out of poverty. It is a DC-based group that brings unions and environmentalists together to push for anti-poverty measures and a clean-energy economy. Green For All was co-founded by Van Jones, former head of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Majora Carter former head of Sustainable South Bronx,[1] and was officially launched in September 2007 at the Clinton Global Initiative.[2]

Green For All
Formation2007
Websitewww.GreenforAll.org

The United Steelworkers (USW), the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Green For All and the Blue Green Alliance, a partnership of the USW and Sierra Club, have launched the national Green Jobs for America campaign.[3]

History

Green For All was co-founded by Van Jones and Majora Carter[1] after the two had become increasingly concerned with issues of poverty and crime, as well as the lack of a solid infrastructure for "green" jobs. Rather than approach each issue separately, Jones decided to combine the two in a more unified vision and business model.[4] The organization launched in September 2007 at the Clinton Global Initiative, when Jones appeared to announce Green for All's commitment to securing one billion dollars by 2012 to create "green pathways out of poverty" for 250,000 people in the United States. Jones also added that the Ella Baker Center would continue to run a "Green-Collar Jobs Campaign" regionally and statewide in California.[5]

A major component of the Green For All movement is job security:[6]

You can't take a building you want to weatherize, put it on a ship to China and then have them do it and send it back. So we are going to have to put people to work in this country — weatherizing millions of buildings, putting up solar panels, constructing wind farms. Those green-collar jobs can provide a pathway out of poverty for someone who has not gone to college.

According to a March 26, 2008 press release from United Press International (UPI), the green-collar job sector is growing in the United States, and could include more than 14 million workers by 2017. Although it is difficult to pin down what constitutes a green-collar job, the American Solar Energy Society said there are around 8.5 million U.S. jobs that involve Earth-friendly enterprises and renewable energy sources. This figure could grow by 5 million in the next 10 years according to Jerome Ringo of the Apollo Alliance.[7]

Green For All and other green-energy businesses have been receiving increased press by major publications such as the New York Times,[8] USA Today,[9] Business Week[10] and The Nation,[11] indicating that the growth potential cited by UPI is picking up steam in the public sector as well.

In an interview on CNN on 21 April 2016, hours after the musician Prince's death, Van Jones revealed on CNN that Prince had secretly contributed to the funding of Green for All.[12][13]

In January 2020, Green for All, along with other environmental organizations, groups and individuals, urged a Boston-area transit agency to transition into electric buses and commit to only deploying electric buses by 2030.[14]

The Green Jobs Act of 2007

Green for All was a major proponent of the Green Jobs Act of 2007.[15] The Green Jobs Act, which was inserted into the general 2007 Energy Bill (it is listed as Title X), was passed by both the House and the United States Senate. The Green Jobs Act directs $125 million annually for greening the nation's workforce, including job training for 35,000 people every year. It also authorizes $25 million each year to fund programs like the Oakland Green Jobs Corps.[16]

References
  1. Holloway, Marguerite (2008-12-12). "The Green Power Broker". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-24.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2012-12-14.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Blue Green Alliance | The Blue Green Alliance". Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. Retrieved 2008-07-18.
  4. Walsh, Bryan (2007-11-21). "Bring Eco-Power to the People". Time. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  5. Patel, Ami (2007-10-01). "Green For All has Launched!". It's Getting Hot in Here.
  6. Friedman, Thomas L. (2007-10-17). "The Green-Collar Solution". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  7. http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2008/03/26/upi_newstrack_business/3955/
  8. Greenhouse, Steven (2008-03-26). "Millions of Jobs of a Different Collar". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  9. Bello, Marisol (2007-12-12). "Cities cultivate 2 types of green". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  10. Scanlon, Jessie (2008-02-11). "America's Green Policy Vacuum". Business Week. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  11. Brecher, Jeremy, Tim Costello, and Brendan Smith (2008-03-26). "How Green is Your Collar". The Nation. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  12. Rosenmann, Jessie (2016-04-22). "How Prince Transformed People's Lives Beyond His Music". AlterNet.
  13. "Prince Secretly Funded Solar Tech In Oakland". Fortune. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  14. Commons, Kevin Zolkiewicz / Flickr / Creative. "Groups push Boston-area transit agency to accelerate electric bus transition". Energy News Network. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  15. "H.R. 2847 - 110th Congress". congress.gov. Retrieved 2016-04-23.
  16. "About Green for All," Green for All <http://greenforall.org/our-story/index.html Archived 2008-03-22 at the Wayback Machine>
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