Majora Carter, a nationally known environmental crusader for underserved communities, will be at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on Sept. 22 to talk about "Greening the Ghetto," her fight for environmental justice in South Bronx.
The lecture is at 4:00 p.m. in the McCarty Auditorium, Room 109, of the Art + Architecture Building.
Free and open to the public, this lecture is part of the Robert B. Church III Memorial Lecture Series organized each semester by the College of Architecture and Design. Carter is the Church lecturer — the highlight presenter — of the series this fall.
Born and raised in South Bronx, Carter founded Sustainable South Bronx, a movement that advocates for environmental justice through sustainable environmental and economic development projects.
A cinema studies major, Carter’s passion was sparked on a visit home from college when she saw how her community had become dumping grounds for polluting infrastructure. She began Sustainable South Bronx shortly after and ever since has been fighting to improve the quality of life — economically and environmentally — for people of her community and others like it.
Through Sustainable South Bronx, she aims to alleviate poverty and improve the environment through sustainable development. She views this as a route out of poverty and a way to create healthier and greener communities. She has been instrumental in creating riverfront parks, building green roofs, working to remove poorly planned highways in favor of positive economic development.
Her work has been noted in numerous books and celebrated with awards from the National Audubon Society, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Resources Defense Council and the American Institute for Architects among others. She is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow and was named one of Essence Magazine’s 25 Most Influential African-Americans in 2007 and one of the New York Post’s Most Influential New York City Women for the past two years.
While her work and focus started in South Bronx, she is extending her efforts to include other cities, foundations, universities, businesses and communities around the world.
This lecture qualifies for continuing architectural education credit. The lecture series also is viewable over the Internet both live and in archive form. See the College of Architecture and Design’s Web site, http://www.arch.utk.edu.