Just a little more green.

Majora Carter is a wonderful advocate for creating a 'green' world. I attended her lecture, "Greening our Cities", on February 2nd at the CFL at Luther College. Growing up in the Bronx in New York, she has had many life experiences I have never even imagined. The first thing I noticed about Majora Carter is how comfortable she was in front of this group. She seemed in charge and excited to share her message. This fact made me very excited to learn what she had to tell.

She opened her speech by shouting "Majora is in Decorah!" I thought that was absolutely amazing. This helped her audience feel comfortable because they were able to laugh with her. After this Majora told a few stories about her life which transitioned perfectly into her work in making the Bronx a cleaner place for the cities inhabitants.

In order to help her explain her story, she had a slide show which consisted of pictures, diagrams, videos, and information. She emphazised how we needed to do something about this 'dirty energy economy' where we pollute the earth endlessly. She included facts about how this energy pollution has affected us. Some statistics she stated were: one of four children have asthma, there is a great obesity epidemic, and fossil feul emmissions cause learning disabilities. All of these are very detrimental to our way of life. I think that we, the people of the world, should be wanting to preserve the earth for future generations, not trying to destroy it.

After describing the effects of this pollution, Majora explained some of her solutions to this problem. The best part about her ideas were that in addition to making cities more green, they also provide jobs for people who do not have any. It starts with simply cleaning up a dump, and eventually progresses through making parks and to creating a 'Greenway'. This Greenway is in the process of being built right now in the Bronx. It will provide bike paths, trees and bushes to the people of the Bronx.

Majora Carter has recently created her own organization called the Majora Carter Group. I really encourage everyone to look at her website and see if you can help make a difference in your own community. Doing 'green' things will not hurt the environment, so why not try it? Her lecture really inspired me. Her personal stories and experience made me see the truth in her story. As a speaker she was wonderful. I was very glad to have heard her and I am trying to make my own life too, just a little more green.

Click HERE to visit Majora Carter's Website.