The Benwood Foundation made this beautiful video of Majora’s recent visit to Chattanooga to speak at the foundation’s George T. Hunter lecture series – we think it might give you an idea of what goes on.

(Many thanks to CreateHere,  who uploaded this video onto youtube – makes it so much easier to share! You can also check out the video Benwood Foundaiton’s Facebook page – if you’re not already following Benwood Foundation or CreateHere, you should! Especially if you’re from Chattanooga, but even if you’re not. They’re great organizations doing great things for their city.)

It was really something to visit these communities – folks were so open and willing to really consider how environmental justice impacted their lives. Keep an eye on Chattanooga, great things are happening in the heartland!

“I’m interested in what I like to call the “triple bottom line” that sustainable development can produce. Developments that have the potential to create positive returns for all concerned: the developers, government and the community where these projects go up… There’s enough precedent out there to show that a sustainable, community-friendly development can still make a fortune.”

In an emotionally charged talk, MacArthur-winning activist Majora Carter details her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx — and shows how minority neighborhoods suffer most from flawed urban policy.

www.good.is/shows/inventions

If you could invent anything, what would it be? Majora Carter, an environmental justice advocate and founder of the Majora Carter Group –a green-collar economic consulting firm, suggested a Love Virus. While the concept may seem full of good intentions, it is a rather practical and beneficial virus for the kind of work Majora Carter is involved in. As president of the Majora Carter Group and former executive director of the Sustainable South Bronx, a substantial barrier to green-collar economic projects is getting different sectors of business, community groups, and government agencies to find the considerable value in each other and a common goal through green-economic resources.

By fixing the “empathy-deficit” of business leaders, community organizers, and government bureaucrats, the Love Virus could provide the much-needed impetus for the profound mental transformation needed for essential environmental change. A virus that infects people with love, an infectious, low-grade ecstasy, sounds like an affliction we could definitely use.
What’s your invention?

Animation by David Lamps
Directed by Max Joseph
Produced by Eve Marson
Edited by Simon Hawkins
Music by Alan Wilkis