Green Economy Expert Event

Northern Arizona University Presents the Provost's Speaker Series:

Challenging America:
Achieving Sustainability and Justice through the Green Collar Economy

Van Jones author of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix our Two Biggest Problems
Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; former Green Jobs Advisor (Obama administration)and Billy Parish Founder, Energy Action Coalition; Clean Energy Corps

March 22, 2010 * 4:00pm
DuBois Ballroom, NAU Campus

Provost Speaker Series brings author of “The Green Collar Economy”

The NAU Provost Speaker Series continues with a themed series focusing on diversity, sustainability and global education.

Van Jones and Billy Parish will appear together in a presentation entitled “Challenging America: Achieving Sustainability and Justice Through the Green Collar Economy” on Monday, March 22 at 4 p.m. in the DuBois Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public, with a reception following.

“From clean-tech companies to sustainable food groups to a robust set of community-based organizations and a university that is beginning to put sustainability into the center of its mission, Flagstaff is better positioned than almost anywhere else in the country to transition to a green economy, and show other communities how,” said Billy Parish.

The series topic is a reflection of efforts by the NAU Task Force on Global Education, charged by the president and the provost to transform Northern Arizona University into a global campus, helping students to become citizens of the world. This event is presented by the Office of the Provost and the Center for International Education and is co-sponsored by the Environmental Caucus.

“Van has been a kind of Johnny Appleseed for the Green Economy movement, inspiring communities to create green-collar jobs and sharing lessons he's learned about what works,” Parish continued. “I'm excited for him to help us bring even more members of our community on board and to hear the most exciting things he's seen emerge across the country, and I'm also looking forward to showing him how much we already have going on here.”

Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. He is the best-selling author of the definitive book on green jobs, The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. Jones co-founded the non-profit institutions Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Green for All, and Color of Change and served as the Green Jobs advisor for the Obama administration in 2009.

Parish is a leading youth organizer on climate change. As founder and coordinator of the Energy Action Coalition, he has traveled throughout the nation, organizing over 50 diverse, youth-led organizations into a joint campaign called The Campus Climate Challenge. Parish lives in Flagstaff, with his wife, Wahleah Johns.

“To have two such important figures talking about these problems in a conversation with Flagstaff students and leaders is an amazing opportunity for the future of our region’s actions and policies on the environment, the economy and social justice,” said Shelley Silbert, chair of the Environmental Caucus and director of Strategic Environmental Initiatives.