For the inspiration of Majora Carter,Environmental Justice Activist
we give thanks! Environmental justice [means that] no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other.
~ Majora Carter
Growing up in the South Bronx, New York, Majora Carter saw the disparity of racism & poverty and how they affected the environment and people's health. She has been reconstructing change there and for other urban areas for decades with her Greening The Ghetto Movement.
Race and class are extremely reliable indicators as to where one might find the good stuff, like parks and trees, and where one might find the bad stuff, like power plants and waste facilities. ~ Majora Carter
Majora Carter grew up in South Bronx attending Head Start early education and elementary schools forllowed by a science based high school there. After attending college, she returned and through the help of her dog and a bit of seed money, was able to discover and build a park access to waterfront in the South bronx for the first time in sixty years. This launched her lifetime work of urban, environmental, social reconstructionism he carries on to this day. From the University of Tennessee's Website: "With her inspired ideas and fierce persistence, Carter managed to bring the South Bronx its first open-waterfront park in 60 years. She was one of the first of six speakers on the prestigious TEDTalks series. Carter’s confidence, energy and intensely emotional delivery make her talks themselves a force of nature. In 2005, Carter was awarded a 2005 John D. and Katherine T. McArthur Foundation Fellow “genius” grant. Her company, the Majora Carter Group is putting the green economy and green economic tools to use, unlocking the potential of every place — from urban cities and rural communities, to universities, government projects, businesses and corporations – and everywhere else in between."
As a black person in America, I am twice as likely as a white person to live in an area where air pollution poses the greatest risk to my health. I am five times more likely to live within walking distance of a power plant or chemical facility - which I do. ~ Majora Carter
Here's a YouTube video featuring Majora Carter's
2006 Ted Talk, Greening The Ghetto:
"It's time to stop building the shopping malls, the prisons, the stadiums and other tributes to all of our collective failures. It is time that we start building living monuments to hope and possibility." ~ Majora Carter
Thank you ted Talks and web pages onMajora Carter; we thank them for educating us and for the pictures!
Look her up and read, read, read for yourself! Majora Carter Group Website Ted Talks AZQuotes
