[SustainableTompkins] A Tree Grows in the Bronx: Majora Carter is cleaning up the borough

[Daniel Roth]

http://www.goodmagazine.com/issue001/A_Tree_Grows_in_the_Bronx


A Tree Grows in the Bronx
Majora Carter is cleaning up the borough.

words by Adam M. Bright

pictures by Oliver Laude

Sustainability is all too often the privilege of the already privileged:
earth-friendly office towers and hybrid cars don¹t come cheap. By that
measure, the South Bronx, one of the poorest and most polluted urban areas
in the U.S., should be one of the last to embrace environmental stewardship.
Thanks to Majora Carter, it might be one of the first.

Carter, 39, is the founder and executive director of Sustainable South
Bronx, a community organization devoted to urban renewal and environmental
justice. ³There is absolutely a perception on some level,² says Carter,
³that ¹It¹s already so bad in the South Bronx, are they really going to
notice if it gets worse?¹² For decades, the area has served as a place to
quarantine New York City¹s power plants, scrap-metal yards, and
sewage-treatment centers.

³They¹re the kind of projects that capture the city¹s imagination.²

Carter hopes to replace some of these polluters with environmentally
friendly businesses that employ South Bronx residents. SSB runs a
three-month training program to prepare community members for jobs in the
local environmental economy, like river management or brownfield
restoration-coaxing back a healthy ecosystem in areas that have suffered
contamination. The organization also works to persuade property owners to
install green roofs - carpets of shrubs, crops, and wildflowers - in place
of conventional tar roofs. Green roofs last longer, conserve energy, and
purify the air - they also provide ³green-collar² jobs for local residents.
³These are not only meaningful things that have an impact on the quality of
life of people who live here,² says Carter, ³but they¹re the kind of
projects that capture the city¹s imagination about what the city can be.²

Her most ambitious project is to convince city authorities to build a
state-of-the-art recycling complex in a location where, in 2012, a new power
plant is planned. It¹s all part of her mission to make the South Bronx the
inspiration for a new wave of sustainability. ³Until everybody can afford a
green roof, we¹re not going to rest,² says Carter. ³If we¹re not doing it
here, as far as I¹m concerned, we¹re completely short-shrifting our
responsibility as a nation.³


Sincerely,

Daniel Roth
(518) 727-6723

Executive Committee
US Partnership for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
www.uspartnership.org

Graduate Student
Adult and Extension Education
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14850