Al Gore & Van Jones Tell It Like It Is (Regarding Wind Energy & Jobs)

May 29th, 2012 by Zachary Shahan

Here are some truly excellent comments from Al Gore and Van Jones about wind energy and jobs in the US. A must watch:

Some of my favorite lines:

“… the irony is Ohio is one of the highest states in terms of wind production jobs, and John Boehner, ‘Hello, it’s your state that’s going to be hurt!'”
“… [the GOP is] in hock to the oil and coal companies. The fossil fuel industry has made it their mission to try kill renewable energy.”
“And here’s the other thing: the more wind and solar we use, the faster the price of electricity from wind and solar comes down…. The more coal and oil we use, the more it goes up in price.”
“The Koch brothers are just a symptom and a symbol… this is the intersection of dirty energy and dirty money.”
“Energy reform is being held up so far by our failure to get democracy reform done.“
“There will be millions of green jobs on planet Earth,… they’ll just be in Asia.” (Note: there already are millions of green jobs around the world.)

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Tags: al gore, gore, quickies, Van Jones, Wind Energy Jobs, wind energy production tax credit, wind energy PTC, Wind PTC

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Captivation

Wow, Al Gore & Van Jones in the same room! The Massive IQ waves sent some of my tea cups into a rattle.
- Captivation
  
  Note – Lest my comment be mistaken for sarcasm, I wish to clarify by saying that these two are always in top form and always an inspiration to me. But the Tea cups seem to rattle when these guys discuss renewable energy. Infact anything to do with Tea has to be clamped down. I keep the Teabags in a metal container with a tight lid. The Teaspoons are always kept in the dark, courtesy of my utensil drawer. And the Teacups themselves are complete closet cases. I’d hate to think what would happen if I ever had a Tea party and Gore or Van Jones suddenly started advocating common sense.
  - http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
    
    if i didn’t know you, i would have thought it was initially. wise to clarify for others.
- Ross
  
  Not content with inventing the Internet, Al is going to save the world too
  - Captivation
    
    Al Gore never claimed to have “invented” the internet. However, the fact that Al was part of the group that got the early Internet financed should not be overlooked. It’s not enough to say he was just lucky and happened to be at the right place/right time. Only a visionary can see the future and seize the future. George Bush was still confused about the “Internets” years after Gore got the thing funded.
    - Ross
      
      You are right.
      - Captivation
        
        Sorry that I failed to capture the subtlety of your original remark. My personal world seems to have been invaded by climate deniers and my senses are more numbed than usual. The general Al Gore Algorithm ( :)) seems to be…
        
        Step 1: Claim Al Gore says/does… (place meaningless comment here)
        Step 2: Repeat Step 1 until fingers get soar.
    - Ross
      
      You are right.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan