If I say “environmental disaster,” what’s the first thing that pops into your head? Hurricane Katrina, perhaps? How about the South Bronx of New York City? In this video, Majora Carter elaborates on what an impact the politics of race, class, and urban space can have on the environment—something that the rebuilding of New Orleans has brought to the public eye. She took a walk one day with her dog—among the power plants and sewage treatment centres that line the river side of the Bronx and make the waterfront practically inaccessible to residents—and happened upon an empty lot that led down to the river. A few grants and cleanup crews later, she had built the first riverside park the Bronx has seen in over 60 years.


Inner city neighbourhoods can be some of the most polluted places on Earth, and they’re usually densely populated so that it’s hard to find any space to green. Carter’s movement started with empty lots, and they have moved up to the roofs of houses, making them reflective to heat or covering them with grass. Also, since in an urban setting such as the South Bronx, the majority of people don’t use cars as transportation, they have proposed to take out a section of barely-used highway and convert it to green space as well.

Carter gives a really good example of how one Columbian mayor’s transit makeover improved not only the greenness of the city but also reduced littering and lowered its crime rate. If it worked there, then why not in New York?

She also has a lot of other really good things to say.

Watch this video here