Author, activist and former Obama administration advisor for green jobs Van Jones will come to campus Nov. 30 to give Students for Ecological and Environmental Development’s annual fall address.
Jones, author of The New York Times bestseller The Green Collar Economy, works to encourage a clean-energy economy and human rights. The founder of Green For All, a national organization that works to provide green jobs to low-income communities, Jones was named as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine in 2009 and currently serves as a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress.
Jones resigned from his position with the White House in 2009, after conservative talk radio and Republican blogs attacked him for signing a petition implying that President George W. Bush had allowed the 9/11 attacks to occur. Jones has since apologized and said that the petition did not reflect his views.
SEED fall speaker co-chair and Weinberg junior Madeleine Steger says that Jones is a good choice for fall speaker because he covers a wide range of topics, which allows him to have a large appeal for Northwestern students.
“We chose Van Jones because he’s pretty young and it’d be an interesting way to get people involved in the environmental movement,” she said. “He also talks about green economy and environmental justice, so it’s other topics and not just straight environmental concerns.”
The speech, titled “Beyond Green Jobs: The Next American Economy,” will be held in the McCormick Auditorium in Norris University Center on Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m., followed by a Q&A and book signing.