If you look at my career over the past twenty years, I've always been trying to look around corners for low-income communities of color.

I do feel kind of like I have a split identity in that there's Van Jones, who has this big public role and tries to inspire millions of people to do new stuff together. And then there's just me: a pretty quiet, shy, retiring person.

If we keep pulling death from the ground, we will reap death from the skies.

If people leave your coalition, whose fault is it? It's your fault. You have to build a coalition that's attractive to people.

In countries where there are real civil wars, people go through a lot, and we should be willing to go through a lot to help them.

To make sure we aren't training people for jobs that don't exist, the government should provide companies with loans or loan guarantees. And the government should also directly employ people to do things like coastal restoration, land restoration, reforestation and similar programs that absorb carbon and protect America's beauty.

Hatred of the people who hate you, that is the opposite of being the enemy. I want to fight fire with water wherever I can.