So Fresh and So Green

Photo Credit: Reuters, Van Jones, former special advisor for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, arrives at the 41st Annual NAACP Image Awards

What eventually will happen, big picture, is that 5% of the country will have an experience like mine, lose a job because of something on Facebook or something.

And then 10%, and then it will be 15% and then it will stop because enough people will have seen it and enough people had it happen to them to too a friend that there will be a completely different level of wisdom that will emerge in society.

That’s the long-term. ~Van Jones

Also present in this Shirley Sherrod saga are echoes of what lead to the “resignation” of Van Jones, the green jobs promoter and former White House adviser after a high tech lynching from Glenn Beck and the right wing/conservative media. (more…)

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Today is the birthday of sofreshandsogreen.com. My bouncing baby blog is a 1 year old and that’s thanks to you guys. It’s also my birthday and for me it’s been quite a journey because at times I may teach, or even preach, but I learn as you learn. I’ve had the opportunity to connect with so many great folks out there and I’m glad I could be a part of educating, informing and entertaining. (more…)

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At many times in my life I’ve been a grammar cop, but most of those times I was just being a stickler for language. It means a lot to me but in the grand scheme of things it isn’t as important that “conversate” and “irregardless” are not worlds as it is important that we have the clear and correct language to name events like BP’s oil spill what it is. (more…)

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Former White House environmental adviser and Green For All founder Van Jones recently spoke in the very green city of Seattle, Washington, a far friendlier place than the other Washington he joked. You can watch the full speech, which is worth it, at worldchanging.com

I’m starting his book The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems and I can’t wait to share what I’ve learned as I go along.

Here’s a quote from the speech he made in Seattle on May 27th. This is the kind of stuff that made me a believer in the first place and now I’m inspired all over again. Here’s his much needed take on BP’s massive oil leak. (more…)

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I like to think it’s Earth Day Every Day on this site and while I realize treehugger.com will probably have some great stuff today for you as usual, I’ve decided to give you something you can’t get there- what I’ve learned about Earth Day.

As I’ve written before I grew up with a love of nature and science but I’ve considered that as a Black person interested in the environment I may have gotten into this in a different way than The Great Majora Carter and The Great Van Jones. As a teen I was able to take my love of nature into the classroom. In high school I was desperate to avoid chemistry class. It seemed hard and uninteresting. I managed to get Environmental Science class which I took for a year.

Finally, my chance to study this and get credit for it. My first class didn’t disappoint. My teacher was a young, cool white dude with cool, young white dude hair- I know you know what that is. He came in with (more…)

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Photo Credit: Getty Images

Van Jones is an American treasure…Van’s vision, in short, is a vision for America restored to its place as the definitive world economic leader. ~Benjamin Todd Jealous”

This Friday the NAACP is holding their 41st Image Awards. Slated to receive the President’s Award from NAACP from its president and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous is The Great Van Jones. That’s him in the pic above caressing a solar panel.

It seems there is no better move for this organization to make than to support the green jobs promoter who is still under attack by right wingers and Fox News. (more…)

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I don’t much care for this Glenn Beck character and when I say that I really mean it. I only knew who he was maybe last year. It seemed to me his rocket to fame shot up inexplicably fast, faster than Beyonce’s fame, and even more out of nowhere for me. I never intended for this website to be a home for this guy, Jay-Z or the Mrs., and yet here we are….

Apparently this fiery right wing FOX News “talk” show host is secretly Al Gore, a treehugging hippie liberal.

Maybe that’s an exaggeration about both parties, but according to a recent Mother Jones article Beck has views that are clearly contrary to those of his most loyal viewers and his on air persona. These revelations are from a recent interview Beck did with USA Weekend.

You’d be an idiot not to notice the temperature change” ~Glenn Beck

Not only is Glenn Beck a believer in climate change but he also believes it’s a problem and in part manmade.

There’s nothing wrong with (more…)

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I didn’t start out as an environmentalist.

I started out helping urban kids in trouble and I burned out, going to way too many funerals and court cases that turned out badly.

I was just trying to get my own health back.

I went to these retreat Centers in Marin County, and it was a different world.

They had all this organic food and solar panels and hybrid cars, and I was like — why don’t they have this in my neighborhood?

I thought, if we had these kind of jobs and services in Oakland, we’d probably have less violence. (more…)

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