Greening Black America: Environmentalists to Watch
If African-Americans are beginning to see the green movement as a path to more jobs, it’s thanks to the efforts of Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins. As CEO of Green for All, a national organization aimed at decreasing poverty through the development of green energy jobs, last year Ellis-Lamkins successfully lobbied to include in the clean energy bill provisions ensuring that low-income communities have access to green jobs created by the proposed legislation. The bill, which promises to reduce pollution and create millions of new jobs in the green sector, is currently awaiting Senate approval. “People told us this was impossible,” says Ellis-Lamkins, 33. “But we spent six months working on this issue. We were like the little engine that could.”
If African-Americans are beginning to see the green movement as a path to more jobs, it’s thanks to the efforts of Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins. As CEO of Green for All, a national organization aimed at decreasing poverty through the development of green energy jobs, last year Ellis-Lamkins successfully lobbied to include in the clean energy bill provisions ensuring that low-income communities have access to green jobs created by the proposed legislation. The bill, which promises to reduce pollution and create millions of new jobs in the green sector, is currently awaiting Senate approval. “People told us this was impossible,” says Ellis-Lamkins, 33. “But we spent six months working on this issue. We were like the little engine that could.”
