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Quote by Van Jones

“We are trying to reinvigorate our stagnant energy sector, to create avenues for new wealth. Clean energy innovation, job creation and energy independence should be common ground for all Americans.”

Quote by Van Jones

Author

Van Jones is a civil rights advocate and political activist, born on September 20, 1968. He is known for his involvement in social and environmental justice movements, particularly in the fight against climate change and racial inequality. more

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“I would argue that we have a patriotic duty to move toward energy independence and clean energy. It is a matter of national security - energy security, climate security, economic security, job security, everything.”

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Author:Van Jones

“Little kids sing a song called "America the Beautiful." They sing a song called "This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land." To me, those songs are not just nice little ditties. They are marching orders. They are commandments that we must protect America's beauty from the clear-cutters, the strip-miners, the oil spillers. They are pledges we have made. They are promises to keep.”

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“Environmentalists and clean energy champions should stop telling people that we are working for "sustainability," which nobody understands.”

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Author:Van Jones

“We should tell people we are working to protect our country. We are working to make America stronger for the long run.”

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“We should stop calling ourselves environmentalists - and just call ourselves patriots.”

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Author:Van Jones

“Back in 2007, I met this white guy [director Peter Byck] with a lot of hair and a video camera, at a conference that I happened to be attending for the launch of an organization called Blacks in Green. I had never heard of him and Peter had never heard of me. We just started talking; he liked what I had to say, so he asked me if I'd be willing to be in this documentary he was doing about carbon pollution. I said, "Sure!" It was kind of a no-brainer.”

“I saw in the Nineties that we were increasing police power with get tough policies and 3 strikes laws, but without additional oversights.”

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Author:Van Jones

“I had this radical idea that the police should obey the law. My view was that any human system without adequate checks and balances will tend towards corruption and abuse. That's why you have meat inspectors. Not because you hate butchers, but because of an understanding of human nature.”

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Author:Van Jones

“Though the rampant racial injustices throughout the criminal justice system were offensive to me and to millions of other people, I've never drawn a tight circle around the black community to define the limits of my moral concern. But that narrative tends to get imposed on you, if you're an African-American activist.”

“In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we did create Color of Change, an organization which focused on African-Americans in particular, because we felt that there was a big gap there in terms of online advocacy which had left the black community particularly vulnerable.”

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Author:Van Jones