Super Eco

Photo credit: USA.gov

Born in 1966, Majora Carter was raised, and continues to live, in the South Bronx of New York. Growing up in a time when America's cities were emptying into the suburbs, many of the buildings in her neighborhood were abandoned by the time she was ten years old. An eco-activist and ecofeminist, Majora believes that moving out of your neighborhood to live in a better one is a notion which has lasting environmental and economic implications that span the globe.

Majora graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1984, earned her BA from Wesleyan University in 1988 and graduated from New York University with an MFA in 1997. In an emotionally charged presentation entitled An Urban Tale, Majora details her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx -- and shows how minority neighborhoods suffer most from flawed urban policy. "Places like the South Bronx exist because of environmental racism," she says. "We understand that this is the reality, we acknowledge it but we don't give people a way out." She also states, " "I'm an environmentalist. I do environmental justice." Majora has dedicated herself to making a difference in the South Bronx and hopes that success there will inspire and facilitate the conversion of ailing urban environments into sustainable functioning ecosystems across the nation.

Majora Carter is a 2006 MacArthur “genius” Fellow, rated as one of Essence Magazine’s 25 most influential African-Americans. She has been hailed by the NY Post as one NY’s 50 Most Influential Women for the past 2 years, she is a co-host of the Green on Sundance Channel. She is a board member of the Wilderness Society, and is recording a special National Public Radio series called “The Promised Land” for 2009 release.  She is currently president of the green-collar economic consulting company, The Majora Carter Group, LLC.

Notable Eco Activity

In her role as environmental activist she fought and won a vigorous campaign to block a planned waste facility that would have diverted 40 percent of New York's municipal waste into the South Bronx. In 2001 after the defeat of this measure she founded the non-profit environmental justice solutions corporation, Sustainable South Bronx, a foundation that addresses land-use, energy, transportation, water & waste policy and education to advance the environmental and economic rebirth of the South Bronx. SSBx hopes to act as a template for renewal of urban areas nationwide. In 2003, SSBx opened the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program (BEST): one of the nation’s first urban green-collar job training and placement systems, it is a community-based program that provides green-collar training for locals. The BEST program, With an 85% employment rate focusing on urban environmental stewardship involving anything from green roof installation to retrofitting buildings to boost their efficiency, has proved to be extraordinarily successful. 

Famous Quotes

"Green the ghetto!"

"If power plants, waste handling, chemical plants and transport systems were located in wealthy areas as quickly and easily as in poor areas, we would have had a clean, green economy decades ago."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

• Majora Carter Details

  • Birth Date

    1966

  • Born In

    United States

  • Home Page

    Unavailable

  • Lives In

    United States

  • Organizations

    Unavailable

  • Occupation

    Environmental Activist