Black America, Green Economy

The movement to transition America to a broad-based green economy includes a wide range of people and related initiatives, including reducing fossil fuel and energy consumption; lowering greenhouse gas emissions; reducing carbon emissions, landfills, deforestation and the nation’s carbon footprint; and producing less trash, among other steps.

The green (or environmental) movement still is small in comparison to the total population, but is growing in cities large and small, suburbia, rural America and among ethnic groups, including African Americans and pioneers in the movement like Van Jones, former White House green jobs advisor, founder of 1Sky and Green For All and currently a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress.

In his book “The Green Collar Economy,” Jones wrote that alliances of all kinds must be formed to create a green economy, which he calls a Green Growth Alliance made up of five key partners: labor, social justice activists, environmentalists, students and faith organizations.

“This economy will be designed to maximize well-being, not necessarily wealth. The growth we seek will be in steadily improving the quality of life, not steadily increasing the quantity of goods consumed,” explained Jones. “…the green movement must attract and include the majority of all people. The messaging must make it plain to the country that we envision a clean-energy future in which everyone has a place – and a stake.” The environmental movement was once thought (and some still think) to be a concern of the affluent and white population. However, the environment is and should be everyone’s concern, and African Americans are no exception.

“African Americans want a safe and healthy environment just as much as the next American,” explained Dr. Michael Dorsey, assistant professor of Dartmouth College’s Environmental Studies Program and the director of the Climate Justice Research Project. “What African Americans do differ on is instead of dreams of happy and healthy whales and pandas, African Americans do want toxic-free neighborhoods … crave safe parks for our children to play, free from toxic gunfire and toxic air and water pollution.”

Others across the country echo those sentiments and have begun (and continue) to blaze their own green trails. African Americans have established green companies and organizations; some with a caveat that is environmental justice. Not only are they interested in a green economy, but fair and just one.

One such warrior is Majora Carter who in 2001 founded Sustainable South Bronx, a nonprofit green collar job training and placement systems whose mission is to “achieve environmental justice through economically sustainable projects informed by community needs.” She is now president of the Majora Carter Group LLC and she advises organizations around the world on finding green-collar economic possibilities.

Another soldier in the green movement is Naomi Davis, founder and president of Blacks In Green in Chicago. B.I.G is described as “a trade association that works to foster and sustain green, neighborhood-owned businesses in black communities whose focus is to recreate community wealth by cultivating next generations of engineers and new generations of green manufacturers.”
When Davis began her journey, it was to help black people but not necessarily to be green. “I wasn’t looking at it from the standpoint of how do we save the earth. I was focused on saving black communities,” she explained. “Saving the earth was an issue revealed to me as I was doing this research. I began to understand the risk that the planet was in. I knew that green jobs or the green economy was going to explode.”

Brenda Palms Barber, CEO of North Lawndale Employment Network in Chicago, has taken the real-world notion of green and used it to benefit ex-offenders. More specifically, she has created an apiary that produces honey for Beeline products, a honey-based skin care line and for all natural honey. The products, which are made with locally produced natural ingredients, are produced, manufactured and sold by ex-offenders.

“I didn’t land on bees initially. It was about a need to create jobs,” said Barber. “There were a number of other ideas that I played with because I wanted to make sure that whatever we did, it was going to help our nonprofit be a sustainable one.”

Another African American making a green difference is Bianca Alexander, a lawyer who left her job at a major movie studio to promote the green lifestyle. She and her husband created an entire media platform around green living called “Conscious Living TV” and the Soul of Green based in Chicago but accessible online at Consciouslivingtv.com. The Soul of Green is a TV show and online community dedicated to highlighting the people, stories and issues at the heart of the urban sustainability movement, including social justice, economic empowerment, culture and health.

“It’s basically a lifestyle show that looks at the latest and greatest trends in eco-friendly living,” explained Alexander whose purpose is very simple. “We want to make living sustainably accessible. (Ask people) what one thing can you do that works for you? If you just did that thing, each of us … could turn the worst effects of global warming around.”

In the spirit of the work being done by Davis, Barber and Alexander, there is a growing number of African Americans across the country who are deeply involved in the green movement and dedicated to developing a green economy – and making sure African Americans are at the front of the line for jobs.

Moleska Smith is a freelance writer and marketing professional who has written for various publications.