Van Jones at the Green Living Show
Recently I made my annual trip down to the Green Living Show. As I have written elsewhere, I saw 'green' friends, inspiring talks and ate some tasty food.
I had chance to see Van Jones—former Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to President Obama—speak at the show. Van Jones is an amazing speaker with an important message—let's blend our economic and ecological goals and ensure that we do not, in his words, "throw away" anyone in the process. This means making sure that no group in society is unable to obtain green goods, green jobs or be able to live in healthy, green neighbourhoods.
Jones went on at length about the “wacky” rules that govern our companies and the products and services we buy every day. While not everyone is aware of these rules, people who have been paying attention have long known that our subsidies, taxes and regulations frequently encourage bad behaviour (i.e. pollute for free) and discourage good behaviour (i.e. taking transit or eating local). Van Jones said that every person in the room, even if they don’t like it or don’t know how to do it, needs to get engaged politically to make sure the new green economy wins out sooner rather than later.
Jeff Rubin, former CIBC Chief Economist, spoke about peak oil and what we need to do to prepare for much higher (and relatively permanent) oil prices.
Jeff Rubin at the Green Living Show
The thing is, Van Jones gave almost the same talk at the Green Living Show a few years ago. As for Jeff Rubin, he wrote extensively about peak oil in his book over a year ago and echoes a message that experts like David Hughes have been talking about for years. I have heard these same ideas over and over again. They just seem to be coming from greater numbers of credible people, often with high profiles.
This repetition, whether it is about our “wacky” rules or the end of our ‘cheap’ oil supply, is not necessarily a bad thing. While it does not provide me with new material to plug you in to a cutting edge idea, I am thinking that this could very well be a good thing. We know what we need to do. We have known for a long time exactly what we need to do. Getting the signals right and creating a society that is less dependent on fossil fuels are major components to building a healthier, more stable world. The more we hit upon good ideas that have yet to be widely recognized or implemented, the more we need to ensure that everyone has heard about them and are empowered to make them real.
Should Van Jones keep giving the same talk? Sure. Should Jeff Rubin keep spreading the peak oil message? Absolutely. So long as people haven’t heard about our “wacky” rules or realize that we have run for too long on cheap energy or have yet to be inspired by these great speakers, Jones and Rubin and all of the other green experts spreading these ideas need to keep doing exactly what they are doing. The rest of us who are already engaged may need to be reminded from time to time to step back and make sure that everyone is included and that we are focusing on the greatest leverage points as we push forward with the greening of our society.
What we should not do is wander around wondering what it is we need to accomplish, lose sight of the signal changes that will truly usher in a new economy, and least of all, give up. We know what to do. Let’s get it done.
Image Credit: Green Living / Rafal Andronowski
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