SUMMER RAYNE OAKES

In case ya’ll missed it, here’s a play-by-play from the Green Jobs Now call.

We’re looking to plan events in all community for 9.27.08 – The National Green Jobs Action Day. Check it out over at greenjobsnow.com. Good way to get your friends out of the house and onto the streets. Here’s the three type of events that we propose:

• VISUAL EVENT – create a visual statement, like “GREEN JOBS NOW,” or “[Fill in community name] is ready for GREEN JOBS.” Visuals can be props, signs, hardhats, work gear, anything that helps you get your creative swerve on.

• EDUCATIONAL EVENT - throw an event, block party, BBQ, sister salons, open house parties, solution festivals, or anything else that ties in educational materials with good community fun.

• SERVICE EVENT – drive interest by engaging people in service jobs, conservation corps, etc. to roll up their sleeves and get out to volunteer and make a statement. Maybe it involves delivering LCD lightbulbs to low-income areas, planting trees in a local park.

Here’s the goals that we want to achieve at the events:

• 1st Goal: Send a unified message to our elected officials – “We are ready for a green economy!”

• 2nd Goal: Position people of color as drivers in this transition of this green economy.

• 3rd Goal: Build broad support for this transition. We want low income people and people of color as the drivers and in the center of this conversation, but we also want broad network support from churches, unions, rural and inner city areas, and other pivotal players.

Special highlights from the call.

The Honorable D’Army Bailey (Civil Rights Movement)- “On April 4th, 2008 in Memphis Tennessee at the Dream Reborn Conference, I witnessed a terrific interracial gathering and celebration and such a wonderful turnout of young people…It was the young people that led the Civil Rights movement, and it will be the young people that are the engine, the fuel that will lead this movement. They have the independence, the vision, and the energy to push the movement forward.”

Gillian Caldwell (One Sky Campaign)- “Anyone who is tracking of the DNC, ‘energy independence’ and ’5 million green jobs’ is on the tip of everyone’s tongue. It’s a credit to the leadership of Energy Action Coalition, Green for All because they are pushing this into the forefront of this conversation. We are having a significant impact in the national discourse. We are mobilizing a movement to put pressure on decision makers to enact green jobs, moratorium on coal fire plant production, and cap on GHG emissions…We are having an influence in Washington, D.C. The doors are open to us in the Congress and Senate. We will see Climate Policy in 2009, but what will it be? Will it be tepid? Will it be hot? You can get the conversation there…where it needs to be.”

Cathy Zoi (Alliance for Climate Protection) -”100% clean energy needs to be heard in the first 100 days of this election! This will be done through a national energy upgrade (millions of jobs to make it possible for everyday folks); Thousands of megawatts of clean energy from where the fuel is free-the sun, the wind, and the earth; and need a super smart grid – one that is wired from one point to the next – from rural areas to northern areas. We need that political will.”