Environmental Activist Tag

Diversity, Environmental Justice, Interview / 30.07.2009

[caption id="attachment_543" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Tanya Fields"]Tanya Fields[/caption] Too many of us presume that nature is out there, far away in a National Park or in some distant foreign land. Many of us who live in cities especially never truly realize that nature is all around us every day of our lives. We probably take for granted the importance of fresh drinking water, clean air and access to nutritious sustainably produced food. Tanya Fields aims to change that. -- Formerly a hip-hop artist and spoken word poet, Fields now works as the operations manager of the Majora Carter Group, a green-economic development organization in New York City. In her Bronx neighborhood Fields has started a community garden to provide healthy dietary choices for her community and give her family a natural setting to engage in an active lifestyle outdoors.  She’s also fighting for social justice in an effort to claim the environmental rights of people disenfranchised by a legacy of racial discrimination and urban poverty. Introduced to the Joy Trip Project by Chagents, an online social network sponsored by the outdoor footwear and apparel brand Timberland, Fields tells her story in this interview.