A Gift of Hope and Inspiration

The organizations he has founded over the course of the past decade + represent the depth of his dedication to civil rights, environmental justice, and economic revitalization.  In 1996, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, a California NGO working for alternatives to violence. In 2005, he co-founded Color of Change, an advocacy group for African Americans. In 2007, he founded Green For All, a national NGO dedicated to "building an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty".

The man? Van Jones. 

Van Jones visited Detroit on March 25, 2010 to give the keynote address at the Greenation conference. He delivered more than a speech. He delivered a gift so many in Detroit—and throughout Michigan--have been searching for: hope, inspiration, and the understanding that the leadership we are looking for in others actually resides in each and everyone of us.

Van's speech helped all of us in attendance, especially me, (re)embrace the key components of what makes Michigan more than "just another midwest state".  It was Michigan, after all, that served as the shoulders of the country during WWII. It was Michiganders who turned steel into tanks and "....filled the spines of soldiers and statesmen around the world."  It was Michigan that helped to create the middle class, allowing Americans all across this country to buy their own home, take a vacation, and send their kids to college. Van reminded me that Detroit has more resonance than other cities because of the role our citizens played in creating a world-class manufacturing infrastructure and establishing a living wage.  He also pointed out that we are "...ground zero for the blossoming of the new, green economy, for ...the first to fall is the first to rise." 

I feel Detroit rising with every passing day. With the birth of wide spread urban farming; with the embrace of energy efficiency as key to lower energy bills, the decrease in our greenhouse gas emissions, and the creation of real jobs for those who most need them; with the increasing demand for a sound public transportation system. Detroit is on the rise because the people of southeast Michigan care deeply about re-creating, re-newing, and re-building a city whose history touches citizens all across this great nation. 

Detroit and Michigan are also on the rise because, as Van adeptly pointed out, we have an abundance of the three things every community needs:

1. Land: We could fit the city of San Fran or Boston, or even New York into the footprint of Detroit and still have 21 square miles untouched

2. Labor: We have a WORLD CLASS labor force (no doubt!)

3. Love: We all care deeply about this state, these two miraculous peninsulas surrounded by almost 20% of the Earth's fresh surface water. We believe that we will rise again, and we know the world is counting on us to do so.

But, we won't be successful unless we can answer the question posed to Paul Hawken by a small child, a story Van often shares with his audiences:  Hawken was trying to explain to a little girl why some people are poor...."Well, ....they can't find jobs so they don't have money....They can't find work....", Hawken said.  The little girl turned to Hawkin and asked, " Well.... is all the work done?"

The work is far from done.

It will only be complete when we can truly connect the dots, like Green For All is doing through their work with business, government, labor and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry – all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of our agenda. The national League of Conservation Voters is now part of that effort and is proud to partner with Green For All and the Black Eyed Peas on their 2010 The E.N.D. Tour to change the face of environmentalism and educate audiences across the country on the benefits of a clean energy economy.

Thank you, Van Jones, for your vision, dedication, uplifting words and inspiration. And, in the spirit of the Black Eyes Peas, "Let's get it started!"

Posted by Lisa Wozniak, Executive Director