Van Jones - Van Jones is the founder and president Green For All, based in Oakland, California. The mission is to help build an inclusive, green economy - strong enough to lift millions of people out of poverty.
Jones is an advocate, championing "green-collar jobs and opportunities" for disadvantaged people. He is committed to creating "green pathways out of poverty," while greatly expanding the coalition fighting global warming.
Jones has worked to combine solutions to America's two biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. Under the slogan "green-collar jobs, not jails," he is calling for green economic development in urban America.
As an advocate for the toughest urban constituencies and causes, he has won many honors. These include the 1998 Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship.
Van has served on the boards of numerous national environmental organizations. Presently, he is a board member of the National Apollo Alliance, which advocates for clean energy jobs. He is also a founding board member of 1Sky, a national coalition working to avert catastrophic climate change.
In 2007, Van helped the City of Oakland pass a "Green Jobs Corps" proposal; the City allocated funds to train Oakland residents in eco-friendly "green-collar jobs."
At the national level, Van worked successfully in 2007 with U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), U.S. Rep. John Tierney (D-MASS) to pass the Green Jobs Act of 2007. That path-breaking, historic legislation authorized $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs."
Van is also a co-founder of a new national coalition that promotes the idea of a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States.
In 2005, Van produced the "Social Equity Track" for the United Nations' World Environment Day celebration. UNWED 2005 drew dozens of mayors from around the world to San Francisco, where they developed policies promoting the concept of "Green Cities."
In 1996, Van co-founded (with Diana Frappier) the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, now located in Oakland, California. Named for an unsung civil rights heroine, the award-winning Center promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration. The Center, for which Van serves as board president, incubated Green For All in 2007 and spun it off in 2008.
A 1993 Yale Law graduate, Van is also a husband and father. He is proud to champion some of the most hopeful solutions to America's toughest challenges.
Darrell Steinberg - Darrell Steinberg was elected on November 7, 2006 to the California State Senate, representing the 6th District, which includes the capital city of Sacramento, parts of Elk Grove and Citrus Heights.
Steinberg is the chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. He also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Health Committee, the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and Budget Subcommittee No. 2 on Resources. Steinberg also chairs the Senate Select Committee on High School Graduation.
In addition, Steinberg is a Senate appointee to the Wildlife Conservation Board, the California Ocean Protection Council and the Legislative Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism (chair).
In February 2008, Steinberg was selected by his colleagues in the State Senate to be the next Senate President pro Tempore.
Prior to his election to the State Senate, Steinberg served three terms representing the 9th District of the State Assembly, which includes most of the capital city of Sacramento.
He is the author and co-proponent of Proposition 63, the mental health initiative that was approved by voters on November 2, 2004.
Could "green-collar" jobs clean the "dirty-energy economy" and lift people out of poverty?
In the past, job creation and protecting the environment have been, some say, mutually exclusive. But in 2007, the Green Jobs Act and the founding of Green for All, an organization that focuses on green job training, marked the beginning of a movement to redefine economic growth.
Is it possible to reconcile these historic opposites?
Senator Steinberg and Green for All founder Jones talk about green economic development and its potential- The Commonwealth Club of California
