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Nov 20, 2007

"Sometimes our fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that those branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it, we know it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Green the Ghetto

Sustainability is often the privilege of the already privileged: earth-friendly office towers and hybrid cars don't come cheap. By that measure, the South Bronx, one of the poorest and most polluted areas in the U.S., should be among the last to embrace environmental stewardship. Thanks to Majora Carter, it might be one of the first. Carter is founder of Sustainable South Bronx, a community organization devoted to urban renewal and environmental justice. The center helps community members find jobs in the local environmental economy, like river management or brownfield restoration, and also works to persuade property owners to install green roofs—carpets of shrubs, crops, and wildflowers—in place of conventional tar roofs. Carter's 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.