culture

The opportunity we’ve been waiting for is finally here. African Americans have the chance to get on the ground floor of an economic surge that could give our communities the foundation for long-term health, peace and prosperity. And it looks like something we’ve been doing for a very, very long time—it just hasn’t been recognized.…

As a kid growing up in Hobbs, N.M., 27-year-old Juan Reynosa saw the firsthand effects of heavy industry on his local community. “Just growing up there as a child, I saw the mismanagement of these oil industries.” In Hobbs, the smell of gas always filled the air, as a constant reminder that the small town…

When LaDonna Redmond found out, nearly 10 years ago, that her then 1-year-old son had several serious food allergies, she set out to find a healthy diet that would not trigger his allergies. At the time, she knew nothing, and cared nothing, about going green. “It wasn’t that I ignored the environment,” she says. “I…

On Mother’s Day in 2007, Tony Anderson installed a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) in his grandmother’s home. The small change was so meaningful, he says, that he and a fellow Morehouse student Marcus Penny decided they should start changing light bulbs all over Atlanta. They began visiting the homes of low-income families, replacing the…

Daniell Washington is a self-proclaimed water baby. Born and raised in Miami, she’s loved the ocean since she was 6 years old. Now, at 22, she has made it her mission to persuade school-aged kids to love the ocean the way she does. Through seaside scavenger hunts and boat trips to find sharks, Washington wants…

At first glance, recent scenes of Michelle Obama planting a White House garden were captivating because of the backdrop. The thought of berries, herbs, spinach, okra, cucumbers, radishes and sweet potatoes sprouting from the South Lawn of the “People’s House” is enough, on its own, to capture the public imagination. But there was something even…

TR: The Root: Proof Positive Blacks Besides Majora Carter and Van Jones Care about Earth* SPI: Company to Power Office with Bikes; If Productive, Expect Doping Accusations WGBH: African-Americans and the Environment: A Panel Discussion NYT: Green Begets Green: Making Money Will Green the Planet LAT: Totally Biting the DeLorean’s Steez, Engineer Tries to Make Fuel from Trash CT: Obama…

A fifth-generation New Orleanian, John Moore had made up his mind that The Big Easy was behind him. After graduating from Morehouse College in 2005, he settled in Atlanta and had no interest in going back. But Hurricane Katrina gave him a chance to put his experience as an environmental studies fellow at Atlanta’s Southface Energy Institute to…

Know what the problem is with black folks? No imagination. Sounds crazy, I know, but consider black music.Every significant moment in America’s history has been accompanied by its own soundtrack. And black musicians have often written the music and the lyrics. But what’s our soundtrack now? The music industry has imposed the same low expectations…

I’d like to dedicate this record Right here to my main man Johnny Cash, a real American gangsta… Grand Ole Opry, here we come —Snoop Dogg, “My Medicine” There’s long been an assumption that black folks and country music just don’t mix—even though that assumption completely erases from history the music and success of Charley…