Two big problems, one green solution

The nation's energy woes are worsening, with carbon piling up in the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate, fuel prices soaring, and residents of some Southeast cities unable to find any gas at all due to post-hurricane refinery disruptions.

At the same time, the nation's financial crisis is deepening, with the latest evidence this morning's surprise announcement that troubled North Carolina banking giant Wachovia would be bought by Wells Fargo.

While at first glance these two problems might appear unrelated, a closer examination reveals a clear connection -- and it's that connection that's the subject of a hopeful new book by Green for All founder and president Van Jones. Titled The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, it makes the case for how a "Green New Deal" can jump-start the U.S. economy and restore the planet.

"Van Jones demonstrates conclusively that the best solutions for the survivability of our planet are also the best solutions for everyday Americans," former Vice President and Nobel laureate Al Gore declares on the cover. Another environmental powerhouse, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wrote the book's foreword.

Published by HarperOne, The Green Collar Economy is set to be released this coming Tuesday, Oct. 7. Should his book make the New York Times' bestseller list, Jones would reportedly become the first black man to do so with an environmentally-themed title. For more information, click here.