SXSWORLD

For Majora Carter, Local Efforts Have Global Implications by Scott Schinder "M tant and environmental justice advocate Majora Carter. "The only way to do that is to get in the streets, meeting halls and schools across America, and see how people take in and move through their surroundings and how they interact with others. There is no better way to learn than to be face-to-face with people." y work has always been highly interactive, in that I've always considered people's experience on a day-to-day level," says economic consul- Have to Move, to Live Better") implies, Carter is a strong pro- ponent of the idea that one need not move out of one's own neighborhood in order to live in a better one, and that this concept—which she refers to as "Hometown Security"—has global environmental and economic applications. "You don't have to be political to see that waiting for the U.S. Congress to come to the rescue of ordinary Americans is probably not your best bet," she states. "There is so much that local communities and municipalities and county gov- ernments can do to alter how dollars flow through their local economies. And the more people realize that they can help make those changes, the better we will all be." A lifelong resident of the Hunts Point area of the South Bronx, Carter became active in local environmental and economic issues after gradu- ating from New York University, working with community groups and city and federal agencies to gain funding for a series of community resto- ration projects. In 2001, she founded the non-profit Sustainable South Bronx. During her seven-year stint as its executive director, that organization was instru- mental in the development of Hunts Point Riverside Park and other restoration projects. Sustainable South Bronx also launched the pioneering Bronx Environmental Stewardship program—one of the nation's first urban green-collar job training and placement systems—as well as projects involving fitness, food choices and air quality. Carter's growing visibility and influence were confirmed by a 2008 New York Times profile, which dubbed her "The Green Power Broker," as well as her role as host of the public radio series The Promised Land, which launched in 2009. Along the way, Carter has earned a variety of honors, including winning a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship and being named as one of Essence magazine's 25 Most Influential African-Americans, one of Fast Company's 100 Most Creative People In Business and one of Utne Reader's 50 Visionaries Who Are Changing the World. After leaving Sustainable South Bronx in 2008, Carter founded the As the title of her SXSW Interactive session ("You Don't private green economic consulting firm The Majora Carter Group LLC. In that capacity, Carter advises cities, foundations, universities, busi- nesses and communities on unlocking their economic potential. Carter asserts that the rise of social media has played a positive role in her environmental and economic activism. "It's made it possible for 28 SXSW ORLD / F EBRUAR Y 2011 Majora Carter me to learn how widespread local-solutions thinking has gone," she says. "It inspires me to continue to move this message to the next level, whether I am sitting with a former president, or a Fortune 500 CEO, or a mayor, or a grandmother who has never even touched a computer. When I started this work at the end of the 20th century, it felt like our community and work existed in relative isolation. Now, at the end of the 21st century's first decade, anyone doing local development work knows they are in good company." " There is so much that local communities and municipalities and county governments can do to alter how dollars flow through their local economies. ..." meaningful and communicable. If I can help others create a shared vision of what happy, healthy and hopeful looks like, for themselves and everyone else, then their conversations and choices back home can become more productive. "America's founding principle of equality can best be realized through excited about bringing her message to SXSW for the first time. "The SXSW audience is energized and influential," she notes. "These are people who will go back to their communi- ties and talk about what they've experienced. So it's up to me to make sure that the time I get to spend with them is special, Carter states that she is positive economic activity. And by that I mean jobs. And by jobs, I mean the kind that help people be happy, healthy and hopeful. The idea of equality has evolved over the centuries, and every time we have braved the inevitable social/economic strife to achieve a little more equality, our nation has prospered. Globalization of production in recent decades has undermined our nation's hard-won strides in workers' rights and envi- ronmental protection. But we can vote with our dollars, both on the consumer side and the investment side. And when our vision is clear on the issues we care about, the best choices come naturally." n Majora Carter will participate in the "You Don't Have to Move, to Live Better" session at SXSW Interactive. COURTESY: SUNDANCE CHANNEL

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