The Green Collar Economy

Starred review from September 29, 2008
As the "ecological crisis nears the boiling point," human rights activist and environmental leader Jones (president of the national organization Green For All) lays out a visionary, meticulous and practical explanation of the two major challenges the U.S. currently faces-massive socioeconomic inequality and imminent ecological catastrophe-and how the current third wave of environmentalism, the "investment" wave, can solve both. If industry players want to take advantage of growing consumer demand for green solutions, they'll have to follow principles of inclusiveness as well as conservation and inventiveness to create "broad opportunity and shared prosperity" for citizens at all levels of society. Rife with statistics, facts and history lessons, Jones introduces a "Green New Deal," a re-imagining of FDR's original New Deal that makes the government "a partner" (as opposed to a "nanny" or "bully") of the people, and sets about defining the principles of a "smart, supportive, reliable" partnership. Jones examines success stories from around the world (included close looks at Chicago and Milwaukee), defines government priorities at national and local levels and offers concrete solutions; one major positive step for any "significant U.S. metropolis" is to "invest massively in constructing buses, light rail cars, and mass-transit projects," creating good jobs while cutting greenhouse gases. With both caution and hope, Jones concludes that "tens of thousands of heroes at every level of human society" will be needed to carry off this third, and perhaps ultimate, green initiative.

October 15, 2008
With climate change, skyrocketing energy costs, and a bad economy on everyone's minds, these two books offer different takes on these circumstances and consequently quite different solutions. While in "The Green Collar Economy", Jones (founder & president, Green for All) addresses ongoing issues of social inequality as well as the environment and arrives at large-scale solutions aimed at both, Makower (executive editor, GreenBiz.com) in "Strategies for the Green Economy" focuses more on improving the "greenness" of individual corporations. By examining case studies of companies' green initiatives and their effects on marketing and consumers, he demonstrates how going green can be a win-win for both the bottom line and the environment.

In looking at the bigger picture, Jones provides ideas for rebuilding infrastructure and creating alternative energy sources, which would have the double bonus of boosting the economy through increased employment and higher wages while decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels. With a blurb by Al Gore and a foreword by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., this is a much more forward-thinking and far-reaching work that considers concrete ways to improve our current situation, rather than offering only rhetoric. Action items and a resource list at the end of the book provide ways for individuals to get involved immediately.

Makower's is a more typical "business" book, looking at specific companies and their approaches to environmentalism. It focuses on corporate success and how to use the environment as a marketing tool rather than on strategies to save the country and the planet. While both books are highly readable and very timely, the big picture presented in "The Green Collar Economy" seems more optimistic and useful than the marketing techniques outlined in "Strategies". "The Green Collar Economy" is recommended for all libraries, while "Strategies" is recommended more specifically for business collections.Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. of Ohio Libs., Oxford

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