Enviro Orgs Looking To Add Diversity

When Jerome C. Ringo joined the board of the National Wildlife Federation in 1995, he was the only African-American at the meetings. Mr. Ringo, now president of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of environmental, labor and business groups, says that even today, he is often the only environmentalist in the room who is not white. “We’re not where we were, but we’re not where we want to be,” Mr. Ringo said of the environmental movement’s efforts to diversify. National environmental organizations have traditionally drawn their membership from the white and affluent, and have faced criticism for focusing more on protecting resources than protecting people. But with a black president committed to environmental issues in the White House and a need to achieve broader public support for initiatives like federal legislation to address global warming, many environmentalists say they feel pressure to diversify the movement further, both in membership and at higher levels of leadership. “Our groups are not as diverse as we’d like, but every one of the major groups has diversity as a top priority,” said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “There’s great commitment to making the environmental movement representative of what the country is.”...NY Times

While you're at it, how about adding some diversity of ideas.