Daily Score Blog

Van Jones' new book , The Green Collar Economy, is a prescription for a sustainable stimulus package that can fix the two big problems of our day: economic exclusion and economic recession, and a dangerous addiction to fossil fuels that's choking the climate.

As a civil-rights lawyer and community activist, Jones has a voice that stands out in the chorus calling for climate change solutions as well as the chorus across the street crying out for social justice and equality. At the core of his message is the idea that the good jobs we need to cut climate-warming pollution can also keep marginalized youth out of jail and put them on solid career tracks. "We have a chance to connect the people who most need work with the work that most needs to be done." These are green collar jobs. And to make it work, Jones insists, those two choruses-and others as well-will need to walk across the street and start harmonizing for the first time.

This New York Time Magazine article on green venture capital makes me simultaneously hopeful and nervous.

Kleiner Perkins is one of the giants of venture capital, having scored with some far-sighted early bets on high-tech firms such as Google.  Now, the firm is setting its sights on "green tech" -- technologies that can save energy, produce renewable power, or reduce pollution and emissions. 

Having such deep pockets turning their attention to clean energy seems like a very good thing.  And to my eyes, Kleiner seems to have gotten one important point right:  much of the technology we need to transform the energy system is already out there.   Says Kleiner elder statesman Bill Joy:

"Our overarching thesis...was that a lot of stuff had already been developed, but there were things that were not yet commercialized because thy had been frozen by the low price of oil.  The innovation had occurred, but they hadn't been deployed."

This is a point that greenies have been making for decades:  cleaner tech is already on the shelf, but structural impediments (including the subsidies we lavish on fossil fuels) have prevented them from taking off.  And it's wonderful to see that idea going mainstream.

Still, I do get a bit nervous about some of the energy technologies that the article touts as "green."