Eco-populism

A very smart interview with Van Jones on the link between anti-poverty programs and green ecological stimulus initiatives:

“As we move toward a sustainable economy, if we do not take care to minimize the pain and maximize the gain for the poor, they will join forces with the polluters to derail the green revolution.”

Preach it.

A good time to explain things?

Yes, the first day of the rest of your blog happens to be April 15? Come on… these ideas don’t come from nowhere. Will you believe in coincidence? Can we permit the actuality of ends and beginnings to coexist with the idea that there can be context and meaning to saving and conserving and recycling? Well, what about waiting, considering, pondering implications and consequences without being stifled by them; is this green? The seeming paradox – of at once letting go of something and grasping it more fully, without falling victim to the edgy marketing that we pass off as normal until we’re up to our necks and breathing becomes labored and our attentions dull –  is elemental to understanding the question of the day, the query of the year-y, the risque feeler of of the era, What does Green mean?

We’re going to call in the experts and break it down, lift up the skirt of what it means to be green and try to get everybody to look, and see.