An impressive array of environmental activists and groups came together in Atlanta at the end of September for a powerful conference to address the dearth of diversity in the green community. The multitude of African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native-American environmentalists that gathered in the Hilton Atlanta Airport Hotel for the conference, called “Breaking the Color Barrier in the Great American Outdoors,” served as a powerful thrashing of the myth that environmental activism is the exclusive preserve of white people.

The conference was organized by Greening Youth Foundation board member Audrey Peterman and her husband Frank Peterman, the founders of Earthwise Productions, an environmental consulting firm. Numerous panels and roundtables during the three-day conference addressed such issues as the role of public lands in modern society, educational experiences in the outdoors and how grassroots organizations can grow and thrive in the current economic climate. Conference attendees also got a chance to visit the MLK Jr. National Historic Site near downtown Atlanta, hike the trail at the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area and go canoeing in the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area.

GYF Executive Director Angelou Ezeilo said the conference was a thrilling testimonial of the many environmental activists around the nation who are doing important work that has long gone unrecognized by the general public and the mainstream media. Ezeilo was a panelist at the conference’s workshop on the plight of grassroots organizations, which was ably moderated by GYF Operations Director James Ezeilo.

Generation We speaks at town hall meeting

One of the conference highlights was a town hall meeting focusing on the concerns and perspective of young adults, sometimes referred to as Generation We. Youth delegates from a half dozen organizations spoke to the audience about the focus of the environmental work they are doing. They also got a chance to direct questions to a prestigious panel of public officials, including Bob Stanton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and David Vela, Southeast Regional Director of the National Park Service. The youth delegation included Greening Youth Foundation’s Green Corps members—young adults who help implement the GYF program at schools across metro Atlanta. The Green Corps members were also given scholarships by the National Park Service to work at the conference, assisting speakers, helping to set up sessions and conducting surveys of conference attendees.

Angelou Ezeilo said she was proud of the presentation made by GYF’s Green Corps members at the town hall meeting.

“They rose to the occasion,” Ezeilo said. “They presented themselves well as the next generation of environmental leaders. In fact, their questions were so on point and well thought out that they were the only group of young people that stumped the directors.”

The Breaking the Color Barrier conference will be held every other year.