Much of your book is about collective action, and nowhere is that needed more than in communities of color that have been hard hit by environmental degradation. Tell us about the Sioux people in the Dakotas.

The Rosewood Sioux reservation in South Dakota has an unemployment rate of about 80 to 90 percent. About five percent of that population is without electricity. In an effort to tackle that problem, the tribal council is talking to this company called NativeEnergy. It is a company that is highly visible at green festivals. It uses wind energy. They say it is so windy there that cows have to stand at an angle.

But can that one company solve the environmental crisis of the nation?

There is enough data to show that just the four states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Texas could provide enough wind energy to power the entire United States' grid, if money were invested in the project. In fact, with way less money, we could transition to renewable energy.

NativeEnergy relies on wind energy. By investing in so-called green tags, I can buy wind energy.

Why would I do that if I'm nowhere near the Dakotas?

Well you're offsetting, like what we do at the Green Festival (which brings together green economy exhibits, workshops and activities for kids). We try to offset all carbon energy that we put into the environment through the electricity that is used and through people's transportation to and from the event. So we purchase the carbon offset, and companies like NativeEnergy then use that money to invest in some kind of carbon offset. Some of them do tree planting -- even though tree planting isn't always as good as renewable energy.

What's going on is there is a massive shift of capital toward renewable energy and away from fossil fuels. We're at a breaking point historically where electricity from renewable energy is starting to be priced competitive with coal. Coal-powered power plants are the single worst contributor to climate change in the United States. So what we're trying to do is make renewable energy prices competitive with coal.

But how do you persuade people that this is something worth looking into?

What's going on now is people are realizing that you can invest money and get a good return on your investment. This dispels the myth pumped into our heads by big energy corporations that it will cost jobs to save the environment. It turns out now when you look at the data that you can create more jobs investing in the green economy than in investing in the old polluted economy.

So-called progressive and environmental politics are famous for not addressing communities of color. The University of California did a study in 2006 saying it was actually African Americans and Latinos that were much more aware of environmental degradation than whites and Asians, because they live with it.

That critique has been incorporated into the Green Movement. We just started a program where we have a contract with the city government to create service learning for the public high schools. We're also developing with San Francisco City College a Green Careers department on its Evans Street Campus. It's on the side of town that has more pollution, where housing values are lower, where toxic waste gets dumped.

Raquel Pinderhughes, a professor at San Francisco State Univ., did a very detailed study of "green-collar" jobs that are much like blue-collar jobs in that you don't need a college education to land one of those jobs. They just require basic social skills: show up on time, have a work ethic, and know how to handle some basic tools. These are good jobs, where there is a possibility for advancement. There's no glass ceiling. And you tend to work with cool people who care about the environment and about social justice.

Green-collar jobs are a small sector and the demand is still pretty slim. In 10 years, there'll be a ton of green jobs, but right now there isn't.

They actually exist right now. We have about 500 green companies that we have contracts with and I have people calling me all the time saying, "Dude, send me some people. I'm expanding. I need to hire more people." But the education system is narrowly focused and not meeting the needs of the expanding green economy.