Center for Diversity & the Environment

 People
This section highlights inspirational people of color who, either through their position of influence or work, are making strides to diversify the environmental movement.

 

The Paths We Tread: Profiles of the Careers of Minority Environmental Professionals

A Minority Environmental Leadership Development Initiative (MELDI) publication dedicated to highlighting the careers of 80 environmental professionals of color shows that people of color have developed exemplary careers in a wide range of environmental professions. The booklet paints a vivid picture of minorities who have had a life-long interest and love for the environment. The people profiled had their environmental awakenings in many different ways and at different times in their lives. They have also arrived at their current positions by a variety of means. This booklet makes it clear that questions about minority competence and interest in the environmental field are fueled by myths and stereotypes that have little basis in reality. MELDI hopes that this booklet not only highlight the careers of environmental professionals of color but also that the stories it contains serve to provide inspiration and guidance to young people considering careers in the environmental field.

Julian Agyeman, Professor & Chair, Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning Department, Tufts University

Agyeman's areas of expertise and current research interests are in four broad areas: the nexus between the concepts of environmental justice and sustainability and, specifically, the possibility of a "just sustainability"; the potential of the concept of "spacial justice" to contribute to "just sustainability"; the potential in emerging discourses around food justice/sovereignty to contribute to discourses around "just sustainability"; and the extent, complexity and pervasiveness of "rural racism" in Britain, its linkages to wider discourses of belonging, "becoming", continuity and change in racialised spaces and ultimately to discourses of nationhood.

Richard Anderson, Environmental Sustainability Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Majora Carter, Founder, Sustainable South Bronx

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Chief Executive Director, Green For All

Emily Enderle, Legislative Representative, Earthjustice

Carolyn Finney, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley

Iantha Gantt-Wright, Founder & President, The Kenian Group

Van Jones, Founder & Sr. Policy Advisor, Green For All & Sr. Fellow, Center For American Progress

Jones is an advocate for social justice and shared green prosperity. His vision includes ensuring that people from low-income communities and communities of color have access to "green-collar" jobs.

Charles Jordan, Board Chairman Emeritus, The Conservation Fund

Jordan is one of the first African-Americans to chair a national conservation organization.

Angela Park, Founder & Director, Diversity Matters

Jerome Ringo, Senior Executive for Global Strategies, Green Port & Board Member, Apollo Alliance

Jerome Ringo was one of the first African-Americans to chair a national conservation organization, National Wildlife Federation. 

Nina S. Roberts, Associate Professor, Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism, San Francisco State University

Dr. Roberts has a myriad of experiences in the field and is a well known scholar relating to outdoor recreation and cultural connections. In particular, her work revolves around engaging people of color and urban youth in parks and public lands as well as women/girls outdoors. She is the Director of the Pacific Leadership Institute at SF State University (www.pliprograms.org)

Charles F. Sams, Executive Director, Umatilla Tribal Community Foundation & President and CEO, Indian Country Conservancy

Sanjayan, Lead Scientist, The Nature Conservancy

Simran Sethi, Green Journalist

Robert G. Stanton, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, U.S. Department of the Interior

Rhea Suh, Asst. Secretary for Policy, Management and Budget, U.S. Department of the Interior

Dorceta Taylor, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment &

Program Director, Multicultural Environmental Leadership Development Initiative (MELDI)

Greg Wolley, Founder, African American Outdoor Association

Hazel Wong, Senior Policy advisor, The Nature Conservancy