What are the biggest fallacies about the green economy in the mainstream media?
That poor people don’t care about the environment. That green can and should cost more, or that green always costs more. And that you can’t alleviate poverty and support the environment at the same time. But if you look at grassroots projects that invest in poor people—like the program that I pioneered at Sustainable South Bronx called B.E.S.T. (Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training)—you can see that the same people who are written off by most segments of society can blossom in remarkable ways. B.E.S.T. is one of the first green jobs training programs in the country, and gives folks on the fringes, like single moms, or ex-convicts, the tools of operating within the environmental restoration field, such as wetland restoration, cleaning contaminated land, urban forestry management, and green roof installation. Tell me about a B.E.S.T. student who stood out to you. One of my favorite stories is of a young man who came through our program, a really sweet guy who had deep dimples and lik
