Green Options

Editor’s Note: This post is a guest contribution by Frank Sesno, Emmy-award winning journalist and former CNN Bureau Chief. ”Planet Forward” is an innovative, viewer-driven program driven by the power of ideas, as citizens make their case for what they think about the nation’s energy future. The show debuts TONIGHT (8pm), in a primetime PBS special. See Frank Sesno’s last post for CleanTechnica here.

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The word is that Van Jones is soon to be appointed as the Green Czar of the Obama administration. The rumor has been floating around the blogosphere for the last twenty-four hours and although it is yet to be confirmed, here is a summary of what blogs are saying.

George W. Bush sat just a few feet behind Barack Obama during the new President’s Inauguration address, delivered on a frigid yet sunny Washington, D.C. day.  The former President appeared warmly dressed but must have felt a distinct chill in the stern repudiation he was publicly receiving, however eloquently Mr. Obama delivered it.  CNN’s camera showed Bush, wearing his best poker face, flinch ever so slightly when Mr. Obama suggested, “We will restore science to its rightful place.”

It was not difficult to rebut the former President and his policies.  Indeed, many might attribute the Democrats’ sweeping victories last November to Bush’s final approval rating, which was worse than any outgoing President in history (22%, CBS/NYT Poll).  Obama chastised the former President’s policies, in no uncertain terms, on the Economy (”Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered”), Civil Liberties (”we [Americans] reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals”), Education (”our schools fail too many”), Foreign Policy (”each day brings further evidence that the way we use energy strengthen our adversaries…”), and the Environment (”…and threaten our planet.”).  He criticized Bush’s leadership (”a sapping of confidence across our land”), and his claim during the 2000 campaign to be a “uniter, not a divider” (”we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics”).

But what about looking forward?  Obama asked that when future generations look back,

2008 has been a year signifying economic depression culminating in the worst holiday retail season in years. However it has also been a year of entrepreneurs burgeoning a variety of exciting new green businesses. Ecopreneurist has covered many of them over the course of the year. Here is a review of our favorite Ecopreneurs of 2008.

I hope that you had the opportunity to read Jennifer Kaplan’s recent post “Van Jones’ Ecopreneurial Vision.” Talk about a man who is working to inspire a nation!

Van Jones has recently surfaced in America’s Shift to Green Living as a strong advocate for the Green Collar Economy. He is the founding president of Green For All, a U.S. organization that promotes green-collar jobs and opportunities for the disadvantaged. He is also the author of The Green Collar Economy, which has [...]

As we witness a reconfiguring the progressive movement, with some of the strongest contingencies in that movement joining forces to push forward a progressive clean energy agenda, we need leaders and critical thinkers that can help us in the cause—and as evidenced by his new book, Van Jones will undoubtedly be one of those.

In his new book to be released next week, Van Jones lays out a sensible roadmap to solve our long term economic problems. How? By making sustainability the centerpiece of a national renewal. And, if we justify spending hundreds of billions on an economic solution no one completely understands, why can’t we make it an even greater priority to create a sustainable economy that will last us the next thousand years?