A Conversation With Majora Carter

"Majora Carter is no ordinary environmental leader. For starters: She's a woman, she's black, and she's not afraid to publicly challenge Al Gore. In 2005, she was honored with a MacArthur "genius grant" for her work with Sustainable South Bronx, a group she founded to mobilize grassroots environmental activism among New York City's poorest and most environmentally oppressed citizens...

Sustainable South Bronx has raised millions to help clean up existing facilities, block new ones, create "green-collar" jobs, and build a five-mile corridor of landscaped bike paths that will replace brownfields, landfills, and prison barges.

Grist's Amanda Griscom Little met with Carter at her South Bronx headquarters where they discussed the origins of Carter's activism, the reasons she doesn't consider herself a tree-hugger, and the challenge of instilling hope in a depressed community."