Center for Diversity & the Environment
The Center for Diversity & the Environment helps diversify the environmental movement through the development of effective and sustainable diversity efforts. This can be achieved by
- developing diversity assessments and strategies for environmental institutions
- producing information that will help diversify the environmental movement
- catalyzing and facilitating efforts to diversify the environmental movement
- providing a home for information and resources that are about diversifying the environmental movement. The information will help others learn from and build upon the progress already made, replicate achievements, and learn from past mistakes.
- informing environmental professionals and entities about important and emerging diversity issues and research in the environmental movement
- connecting those who are starting or continuing diversity efforts with each other
The main vehicle to achieve these goals and objectives is the Center for Diversity & the Environment’s flagship project, the Center for Diversity & the Environment website.
marcelo bonta, executive director
Marcelo speaks and writes passionately about his broad vision of diversifying the environmental movement to audiences around the U.S. He is the founder of the Young Environmental Professionals of Color and the Center for Diversity & the Environment, where he works with environmental institutions to develop comprehensive and effective diversity strategies. Marcelo serves on the Portland/Multnomah Sustainable Development Commission, Orion Grassroots Network Advisory Board, the Land Trust Alliance Diversity Task Force, and the Diverse Partners for Environmental Progress National Council. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program.
Growing up the son of socially-conscious parents in California, Marcelo's childhood role-models were, believe it or not, Marty Stouffer (of Wild America fame), Diego Maradona (of Argentina soccer fame), and MC Hammer (you know, "U Can't Touch This"). Although Marcelo's dreams of being an MC Hammer back up dancer and becoming the best soccer player in the world has somewhat fizzled away over the years, his affinity for living with wildlife and protecting nature has continued. Marcelo previously worked on biodiversity conservation, land use, and policy issues for numerous organizations, including Defenders of Wildlife, the National Park Service, Massachusetts Audubon Society, and the Center for Conservation Medicine. Marcelo received his master's degree from Tufts University and bachelor's degree from Yale University (with the Web Guy! see below). He is a published author in the book, Diversity and the Future of the U.S. Environmental Movement, the Land Trust Alliance's Special 25th Anniversary Issue, Grist Magazine, and the journal, Conservation Biology.
Marcelo's inspiration in making the world a better place lies in his two daughters Stella and Kyra. The latter can be seen in the right-hand image above and on poshbaby.com's website. (What a little model!) Their laughter, joy, honesty and multi-racial make-up provide him with hope that the world can and will be a better and more inclusive place by the time they are adults.
christopher stein, web guy
Chris didn't start out with the idea of becoming a computer geek. In fact in college if you would have told him he would eventually be spending a lot of his time in front of a computer typing code he would have laughed at you. And since he was getting a degree in psychology and playing varsity soccer (along with Marcelo) at Yale that would have been understandable. He was, however, interested in diversity issues and social equality, which led him to work for a New Haven non-profit serving the city's urban youth. While there he learned a lot from the children and families with which he worked and learned a lot about education and leadership (that is where he also met his future wife).
Despite the fact that the non-profit world gave him so much, he drifted away from it for several years and in that time discovered that he might actually be able to make a living combining his interests in photography, video, gadgets and problem solving by learning about multimedia and computers. A master's degree in interactive telecommunications from New York University soon followed.
But the desire to work in education and with youth resurfaced, and he eventually split the difference and became an Assistant Professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (part of the City University of New York system) teaching Multimedia and Computer Information Systems.