Beginning her lecture with something of a riddle, Sustainable South Bronx founder Majora Carter read a mystery quote and asked the attendees to figure out the original speaker: "I have been wondering for a long time why some of our own defense officials do not put more emphasis on finding a good substitute for oil and worry less about where more oil is to come from. Our people are ingenious. New discoveries are all around us, and when we have to make them, we nearly always do… If it is essential to find a substitute for oil or rubber or any other material, I have faith that it can be done, because it has been done in the past."
Murmurs rose up from the Chapel's audience. Al Gore? One of the many other current, prominent environmentalists? Actually, the original speaker was Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948: surprising, especially since Roosevelt's statement could have easily been spoken today. Carter explained that every day she "deals with problems and solutions," attempting in earnest to form bridges between the two. But she admitted that sometimes the connections are so obvious, and it takes someone – or something – from decades past to remind us of solutions for the present.
Carter's parents, both of Caribbean descent, participated in the Great Migration, an African-American movement to large cities immediately following World War I. As such, a phenomenon called "White Flight" occurred, in which whites sold their houses to blacks for inflated prices and, in doing so, devalued the real estate. In addition Robert Moses, an extremely powerful city planner who was nicknamed the "Highway Addict," divided neighborhoods and evicted residents by building major roadways through thriving communities. As a result, the governments began "redlining," or drawing red lines around regions that they denied financial support and investment – the Bronx was such a region.
The consequences of these combined events were devastating. Desperate residents began to commit arson against old buildings for insurance money. Extracurricular programs were withdrawn from schools due to a lack of funds. Tap water ran black with soot and dirt, causing frequent incidences of asthma, diabetes, and obesity. Children used gutted, burned-out shells of buildings as playgrounds. Neighborhoods started to resemble war-torn areas: Carter's brother, who toured in Vietnam, who gunned down in the Bronx when he was caught in the middle of a drug war.
One day Carter, while walking her dog, accidentally strolled into an illegal garbage dump that dead-ended at the Bronx River. She stepped over crushed cans, blown-out tires, and other decrepit pieces of trash. The experience changed her, and she knew that something had to be done. Carter did not want anyone to have to live within such a degraded environment – not her dog, not her friends and family, not her community.
Carter began her transformation of the neighborhood by implementing green measures that involved the community as a whole. The Bronx Environment Stewardship Training (BEST), a program within Carter's company, aims to train people in river and estuary restoration. The program employs many who had been on welfare, providing an 85 percent job placement rate, 10 percent of whom are college students. In addition, many teenage mothers who may have felt that their lives had come to a standstill discovered how much power they actually had in transforming the world around them. Carter's goal is to "turn those marginalized people into the heroes," to have them realize they are "the bridge between communities and businesses. Let them see the value in themselves," she said, "and the value in investing in each other – in support of a green economy."
Carter's programs also invest in smaller, more specific measures. One is crime prevention through environmental design, in which trees and shrubs are trimmed in such a way that allows for maximum street lighting. Another effort is "Eyes on the Street", which encourages the planting of trees as shade for the elderly. Carter also emphasized the potential of green roofs, which she utilized when her building kept getting flooded by stormwater. She installed a spout that led water to irrigate plants; in turn, the plants also "patch up" the roof. Carter's company also teamed up with MIT's Fabrication Laboratories (the "Fab Lab"), which turns seemingly worthless landfill garbage into useful items like tables and chairs.
Today, the garbage dump that began Carter's journey is completely green. It is also the place where she got married.
Tongue partially in cheek, Carter ended her lecture by stating that "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." For example, the New Deal sprang from the Great Depression. It is in the recognition of a threat that we realize the possibilities for a better future. "It is the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death," she concluded. "And he saw a future that was not black or white, or red or yellow, but green."
For more information about Majora Carter's programs and goals, visit www.greenforall.org and www.majoracartergroup.com.
-- by Alex Pure '12
Murmurs rose up from the Chapel's audience. Al Gore? One of the many other current, prominent environmentalists? Actually, the original speaker was Eleanor Roosevelt in 1948: surprising, especially since Roosevelt's statement could have easily been spoken today. Carter explained that every day she "deals with problems and solutions," attempting in earnest to form bridges between the two. But she admitted that sometimes the connections are so obvious, and it takes someone – or something – from decades past to remind us of solutions for the present.
Carter's parents, both of Caribbean descent, participated in the Great Migration, an African-American movement to large cities immediately following World War I. As such, a phenomenon called "White Flight" occurred, in which whites sold their houses to blacks for inflated prices and, in doing so, devalued the real estate. In addition Robert Moses, an extremely powerful city planner who was nicknamed the "Highway Addict," divided neighborhoods and evicted residents by building major roadways through thriving communities. As a result, the governments began "redlining," or drawing red lines around regions that they denied financial support and investment – the Bronx was such a region.
The consequences of these combined events were devastating. Desperate residents began to commit arson against old buildings for insurance money. Extracurricular programs were withdrawn from schools due to a lack of funds. Tap water ran black with soot and dirt, causing frequent incidences of asthma, diabetes, and obesity. Children used gutted, burned-out shells of buildings as playgrounds. Neighborhoods started to resemble war-torn areas: Carter's brother, who toured in Vietnam, who gunned down in the Bronx when he was caught in the middle of a drug war.
One day Carter, while walking her dog, accidentally strolled into an illegal garbage dump that dead-ended at the Bronx River. She stepped over crushed cans, blown-out tires, and other decrepit pieces of trash. The experience changed her, and she knew that something had to be done. Carter did not want anyone to have to live within such a degraded environment – not her dog, not her friends and family, not her community.
Carter began her transformation of the neighborhood by implementing green measures that involved the community as a whole. The Bronx Environment Stewardship Training (BEST), a program within Carter's company, aims to train people in river and estuary restoration. The program employs many who had been on welfare, providing an 85 percent job placement rate, 10 percent of whom are college students. In addition, many teenage mothers who may have felt that their lives had come to a standstill discovered how much power they actually had in transforming the world around them. Carter's goal is to "turn those marginalized people into the heroes," to have them realize they are "the bridge between communities and businesses. Let them see the value in themselves," she said, "and the value in investing in each other – in support of a green economy."
Carter's programs also invest in smaller, more specific measures. One is crime prevention through environmental design, in which trees and shrubs are trimmed in such a way that allows for maximum street lighting. Another effort is "Eyes on the Street", which encourages the planting of trees as shade for the elderly. Carter also emphasized the potential of green roofs, which she utilized when her building kept getting flooded by stormwater. She installed a spout that led water to irrigate plants; in turn, the plants also "patch up" the roof. Carter's company also teamed up with MIT's Fabrication Laboratories (the "Fab Lab"), which turns seemingly worthless landfill garbage into useful items like tables and chairs.
Today, the garbage dump that began Carter's journey is completely green. It is also the place where she got married.
Tongue partially in cheek, Carter ended her lecture by stating that "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." For example, the New Deal sprang from the Great Depression. It is in the recognition of a threat that we realize the possibilities for a better future. "It is the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death," she concluded. "And he saw a future that was not black or white, or red or yellow, but green."
For more information about Majora Carter's programs and goals, visit www.greenforall.org and www.majoracartergroup.com.
-- by Alex Pure '12
