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President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of California congresswoman Hilda Solis to head the Labor Department is a boost to the effort to launch a national “Green Jobs” initiative reports The Wall Street Journal.
Solis was beyond the 2007 “Green Jobs Act”, legislation to provide federal funding for “green collar” job training, “such as energy efficiency retrofit and service, green building construction, and solar panel installation.”
Solis estimated the legislation could create 3 million “green-collar” jobs over the next decade. Other studies have suggested up to 5 million jobs.
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Van Jones, a social and environmental activist, believes a greener economy not only could save the planet, but also must provide pathways out of poverty for America’s disadvantaged communities. A civil rights lawyer from Yale University, Jones started promoting the idea of “green-collar jobs” in 2005 through the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights in Oakland, California. In September 2007, he launched the “Green for All” campaign. Jones recently took time to share his perspectives with Mongabay.com.