Environmental activist Majora Carter to lecture

Environmental activist Majora Carter, who founded the Sustainable South Bronx, a nonprofit environmental justice solutions organization, will deliver the free community lecture, "Green the Ghetto: How Much it Won't Cost Us," at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 26, on Burt Kahn Court on the Mount Carmel Campus.

Carter founded the Sustainable South Bronx in 2001 after receiving a $1.25 million federal transportation grant to design the South Bronx Greenway, which features 11 miles of bike and pedestrian paths connecting the rivers and neighborhoods to each other and to the rest of the city. This project secured more than $20 million for first-phase construction and now serves as an economic development anchor, storm water management infrastructure and a site for healthy recreation.

Carter has been instrumental in creating riverfront parks, building green roofs and working to remove poorly planned highways to foster positive economic development. She successfully implemented the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program, a pioneering green collar job training and placement system that seeds the community with a skilled workforce that has both a personal and economic stake in the urban environment.

In 2005, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Carter a MacArthur Fellow for transforming the quality of life for South Bronx residents by creating new opportunities for transportation, recreation, nutrition and economic development.

In 2007, she was named as one of Newsweek's "25 to Watch" and as one of Essence Magazine's "25 Most Influential African-Americans." She was named one of the "50 Most Influential Women in New York City" by the New York Post for two consecutive years, and "New York City's Most Influential Environmentalist" by the BBC World Service. She is president of the Majora Carter Group, LLC, a board member of the Wilderness Society and host of the NPR series, "The Promised Land."

The free event is open to the public. For more information about the lecture, please call 203-582-8652.

View a schedule of Fall 2010 events