National organization, Green for All, is partnering with PUSH Buffalo
Green for All, is partnering with People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) to develop a "Green Jobs for Buffalo" Program. Green For All, headed by Green Jobs champion, Van Jones, J.D., up until March 2009, has continued to thrive under the leadership of Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO.
"When we talk about a green economy, no place is pushing us more clearly forward in the right direction, than Buffalo", said Ellis-Lamkins.
PUSH has focused its efforts in establishing a Green Development Zone to create a national model of urban revitalization by concentrating strategic investments in green-design housing rehabilitation, environmental sustainability projects on vacant land, community gardens, and other urban agriculture projects.
The Massachusetts Avenue Project is partnering with PUSH to provide local economic opportunities, access to healthy food, and social-change education.
Green Jobs for Buffalo will address community development needs and yield positive results for people, for the planet, and for profits. It will promote equitable opportunities and benefits, environmental restoration and protection, and economic growth and prosperity.
Green for All will work with PUSH to maximize opportunities for public investment in Green Jobs for Buffalo. Watch this terrific video from Green for All, feel the Buffalo pride, and support PUSH and its partners:
Visit Green for All to see: In Buffalo, Green For All Launches a Policy Proposal to Green the Community Reinvestment Act
Earlier posts about PUSH Buffalo are here.
Showing posts with label Van Jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Van Jones. Show all posts
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Sunday, June 7, 2009
JOBS: Buffalo's Blues, DC's Green Hope
Buffalo, the third-poorest city in the nation, has the blue-collar blues, due to more lost jobs as described in today's Buffalo News commentary and business reports below.
However, there is hope for Buffalo and other cities willing to invest in going Green and taking bold steps towards creating a clean energy economy. Hope springs from Washington DC, as conveyed by Van Jones, White House Special Advisor on Green Jobs, in a video interview below.
GM’s decline is sobering at the corner bar - 6/7/2009
"I stopped in to chat about the GM bankruptcy—the Tonawanda plant was saved, but layoffs will hack the work force to barely 600. It is a skeletal remnant of the 4,350 who toiled there 20 years ago, overspilling into neighborhood bars and businesses.", writes Don Esmond. "Technology and cheap Third World labor and miserable management and outdated union rules hacked away the plant’s jobs and buckled the neighborhood businesses that fed off of the behemoth. The left-behind feeling lingers like a bad aftertaste. Around here, GM’s bankruptcy merely confirmed the obvious." Read the full commentary in The Buffalo News.
Economy’s new math doesn’t add up - 6/7/2009
We're losing Old Economy jobs faster than we're gaining New Economy jobs
"The news that bankrupt General Motors Corp. would cut upwards of 260 jobs at its Tonawanda Engine Plant—as much as 30 percent of its remaining work force—was further evidence that the loss of 20th Century jobs continues unabated.", writes David Robinson. "We’ve lost 2 percent of our service jobs over the last year, while 4.5 percent of our factory jobs have vanished. That equates to losing an average of 50 manufacturing jobs a week over the last year." Read the full report in The Buffalo News.
Local auto parts suppliers shift gears - 6/7/2009
Parts makers are cutting back, trying to find new customers
"The General Motors Corp. bankruptcy filing last week sent shock waves through the web of Western New York companies that supply the auto maker with parts and services.", writes Matt Glynn. Some 75-85 % of every GM automobile consists of components made by company suppliers, and these suppliers are equally dependent on GM. Read the full report in The Buffalo News.
Got Hope?
The writing is on the wall, and it is carved in stone. It is time for a permanent change in the way we do business...a Big Change, a Transformation.
We can manufacture fuel-efficient vehicles, hybrid cars and future electric cars here in America. We can manufacture parts for wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal systems and we can install these power sources to provide clean, renewable energy. We can upgrade our long-neglected railroad infrastructure (high-speed rail to NYC?). We can construct and retrofit homes and buildings to be more energy efficient. We can waste less, and save money. We can pollute less, and protect public health and the planet. Doing all of this will require new jobs that are good for both the economy and the environment, spark innovation, lift people out of poverty and put Americans back to work.
Van Jones has Hope about new jobs. He is now the White House Special Advisor on Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Jones' hope is supported by President Obama's promise to create 5 million Green-collar jobs over the next 10 years, pledging $60 billion from the $800 billion stimulus package to invest in clean energy and research for environmentally-friendly technologies, $5 billion to weatherize homes and save energy, and $500 million for green-job training.
Watch and listen to a video interview with Van Jones about Green Jobs that was aired recently on PBS:
However, there is hope for Buffalo and other cities willing to invest in going Green and taking bold steps towards creating a clean energy economy. Hope springs from Washington DC, as conveyed by Van Jones, White House Special Advisor on Green Jobs, in a video interview below.
GM’s decline is sobering at the corner bar - 6/7/2009
"I stopped in to chat about the GM bankruptcy—the Tonawanda plant was saved, but layoffs will hack the work force to barely 600. It is a skeletal remnant of the 4,350 who toiled there 20 years ago, overspilling into neighborhood bars and businesses.", writes Don Esmond. "Technology and cheap Third World labor and miserable management and outdated union rules hacked away the plant’s jobs and buckled the neighborhood businesses that fed off of the behemoth. The left-behind feeling lingers like a bad aftertaste. Around here, GM’s bankruptcy merely confirmed the obvious." Read the full commentary in The Buffalo News.
Economy’s new math doesn’t add up - 6/7/2009
We're losing Old Economy jobs faster than we're gaining New Economy jobs
"The news that bankrupt General Motors Corp. would cut upwards of 260 jobs at its Tonawanda Engine Plant—as much as 30 percent of its remaining work force—was further evidence that the loss of 20th Century jobs continues unabated.", writes David Robinson. "We’ve lost 2 percent of our service jobs over the last year, while 4.5 percent of our factory jobs have vanished. That equates to losing an average of 50 manufacturing jobs a week over the last year." Read the full report in The Buffalo News.
Local auto parts suppliers shift gears - 6/7/2009
Parts makers are cutting back, trying to find new customers
"The General Motors Corp. bankruptcy filing last week sent shock waves through the web of Western New York companies that supply the auto maker with parts and services.", writes Matt Glynn. Some 75-85 % of every GM automobile consists of components made by company suppliers, and these suppliers are equally dependent on GM. Read the full report in The Buffalo News.
Got Hope?
The writing is on the wall, and it is carved in stone. It is time for a permanent change in the way we do business...a Big Change, a Transformation.
We can manufacture fuel-efficient vehicles, hybrid cars and future electric cars here in America. We can manufacture parts for wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal systems and we can install these power sources to provide clean, renewable energy. We can upgrade our long-neglected railroad infrastructure (high-speed rail to NYC?). We can construct and retrofit homes and buildings to be more energy efficient. We can waste less, and save money. We can pollute less, and protect public health and the planet. Doing all of this will require new jobs that are good for both the economy and the environment, spark innovation, lift people out of poverty and put Americans back to work.
Van Jones has Hope about new jobs. He is now the White House Special Advisor on Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. Jones' hope is supported by President Obama's promise to create 5 million Green-collar jobs over the next 10 years, pledging $60 billion from the $800 billion stimulus package to invest in clean energy and research for environmentally-friendly technologies, $5 billion to weatherize homes and save energy, and $500 million for green-job training.
Watch and listen to a video interview with Van Jones about Green Jobs that was aired recently on PBS:
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Van Jones: Obama's Green Jobs Adviser
March 10, 2009 -- U.S.NEWS.comAuthor, activist and think tank fellow Van Jones will be joining the Obama administration next week as a special adviser on green jobs, reported the White House Council on Environmental Quality today. Jones will work with agencies and departments to advance the administration's climate and energy initiatives, with a special focus on improving vulnerable communities, according to a White House statement. Jones is the founder of "Green For All," an environmental group dedicated to bringing green jobs to the disadvantaged, and the author of "The Green Collar Economy." The full story is here.
Here is the announcement from Van Jones. Below is a video of Van Jones addressing PowerShift 2009 on March 1st:
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Congressional Testimony on Green Jobs
Van Jones, J.D., and President of Green For All, testified recently about Green Jobs before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. He spoke about how the twin crises facing our nation, the economic catastrophe and climate change, are linked and could undermine our nation's security. He believes that creating green jobs will rescue the American economy, save energy and money, and help fight poverty and global warming pollution at the same time. A video containing portions of his testimony is here.
In his written testimony, Van Jones referred to the Green Recovery report which showed how $100 billion of smartly invested and leveraged federal dollars can create two million new jobs in the next two years. The report also showed that the same amount of money invested in energy efficiency and renewable energy actually creates FOUR TIMES as many jobs as the same money invested in the oil industry.
His written testimony states, "Furthermore, investments in renewable energy will help create economies of scale, which will drive down the price of these technologies – and they will level the playing field with the subsidized fossil fuel industry. In the long run, smart policy and investment will drive down prices for clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources. But if we cling to the old, carbon-intensive energy technologies, then the price we all pay – in volatile economic costs, in climate disruption and in threats to our national security – will continue to climb. And the poor will be hit – first and worst – by every one of those rising costs. A well thought out shift to a clean energy economy offers more work, more wealth and better health to disadvantaged communities than does any plausible, business-as-usual scenario."
Congress failed to appropriate the funds necessary for the Green Jobs Act of 2007 that would have made money available for green job training across the country. Jones' testimony states, "When it comes to rhetoric about green jobs, we are experiencing a bubble. But when it comes to advancing meaningful, federal legislation for green jobs, we are still in a bowl. As someone who gives a lot of speeches, myself, let me say: messages and inspiration are important. But the American people cannot eat political sound-bites. They cannot take shelter under slogans. People need real job training, real service opportunities and real jobs – right now, desperately. As you consider the upcoming economic recovery package, I urge you and your colleagues to seek full funding – and more – for the Green Jobs Act."
Van Jones also urged Congress to go beyond the Green Jobs Act and create something bolder: a Clean Energy Corps to retrofit millions of buildings, to give community service opportunities, job training and employment to hundreds of thousands of people. His Green For All organization and others are developing a proposal for that initiative which will be submitted for the Congressional committee’s review.
The full written testimony by Van Jones is here, and the Green Recovery report is here.
In his written testimony, Van Jones referred to the Green Recovery report which showed how $100 billion of smartly invested and leveraged federal dollars can create two million new jobs in the next two years. The report also showed that the same amount of money invested in energy efficiency and renewable energy actually creates FOUR TIMES as many jobs as the same money invested in the oil industry.
His written testimony states, "Furthermore, investments in renewable energy will help create economies of scale, which will drive down the price of these technologies – and they will level the playing field with the subsidized fossil fuel industry. In the long run, smart policy and investment will drive down prices for clean, renewable, homegrown energy sources. But if we cling to the old, carbon-intensive energy technologies, then the price we all pay – in volatile economic costs, in climate disruption and in threats to our national security – will continue to climb. And the poor will be hit – first and worst – by every one of those rising costs. A well thought out shift to a clean energy economy offers more work, more wealth and better health to disadvantaged communities than does any plausible, business-as-usual scenario."
Congress failed to appropriate the funds necessary for the Green Jobs Act of 2007 that would have made money available for green job training across the country. Jones' testimony states, "When it comes to rhetoric about green jobs, we are experiencing a bubble. But when it comes to advancing meaningful, federal legislation for green jobs, we are still in a bowl. As someone who gives a lot of speeches, myself, let me say: messages and inspiration are important. But the American people cannot eat political sound-bites. They cannot take shelter under slogans. People need real job training, real service opportunities and real jobs – right now, desperately. As you consider the upcoming economic recovery package, I urge you and your colleagues to seek full funding – and more – for the Green Jobs Act."
Van Jones also urged Congress to go beyond the Green Jobs Act and create something bolder: a Clean Energy Corps to retrofit millions of buildings, to give community service opportunities, job training and employment to hundreds of thousands of people. His Green For All organization and others are developing a proposal for that initiative which will be submitted for the Congressional committee’s review.
The full written testimony by Van Jones is here, and the Green Recovery report is here.
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