>> hello, everyone. welcome to the "journal." coming up on our show, we have just hours to go in europe, but across australia and asia, people are already celebrating the new year. in her new year's address, chancellor merkel says the euro is the foundation of german prosperity, an australian authorities carry out mandatory if evacuation's as queensland province experiences its worst flood in 50 years. it is almosti a na

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ol arthat . t chancellor say determined to mak iogssn the co, especially ith of educatioltconomic policy. to do this, she is depending on e les and efforts of the german people. >> you can watch chancellor merkel's new year' address in full gear on dw-tv coming up in the government of belarus says it is closing in minsk office of security and cooperation. the osce had "fulfilled its n e country. this comes after election observs this month's laslide reelection president

lukeshenko, accusing him of vote rigging. he was also accused of an oosio politicians and demonstrators. the closure is further evidence that the authoritariannt is turning his back on the west after making modest effortso improve relations. wonder why anybody would really want to join the euro, and am looking aesnia, which says wiew currency, and aboutw year an hour's time, the baltic states will adopt the euro and become the 17th member. but it has the financial colors.a really with flying afr of anticipation, estonians can hardly wait for midnight. >>ann estonia had plenty to do in recent weeks.

meet the criteria for membership, the estonian government launched a rigid austerity program, cutting pay focil rvice as well as spending on welfare and pensions. the prime minister defends the measures. >>theupaill ke estonia -- the euro will me toa more attractive for foreign investors because they can trust it more than a small national currency. >> estonian business has lon be pushing for membership. they hope to gain new export opportunities while saving on bookkeeping and currency exchange. buma employees doubt they will see any benefits. >> what is in it for us? we mayveha elfoot the bill for debt-ridden eurozone countries. we are destined to be second-

cls mbs. >> opinion polls showed just under 50% of the population favors adopting the euro, despite concern over the cuen. >> there comes a time to be roan not only a question of comfortable situations. sometimes, it is uncomfortable. >> the central bank has already been taking crown notes out of circulatio they are being shredded d e destined to be recycled. >> 2010 was a pretty exciting year for the equity markets. neheglalinci wri nor the eurozone debt crisis could prevent stocks from climbing. germany's dax iexaid a whopping 16% on the year. not bad, but there were others that have performed even better this year. >> german non-blue-chip stocks

outperformed the dax index in 20. shares soared 184% over the course of the year. it s going by a successful corporate restructuring strategy and a recovery in the advertising industry. the leading advancer on the dax, recording gains of 85%. still, in security define the year stock market action. the dax ended the year at 5957 points. athe beginni of the year, the greek debt crisis kept investors on tenterhooks. come fal the dax sprinted to the finish line. banking shares ended the year down. german financial institutions still hold government bonds and loans of heavily indebted eu countries.

in addition, new stricter banking regulations are set to curb profits. the dax pose a leading decliner was germany's second-largest utility, which hit 27%. although berlin has decided to extend the life of the country's nuclear power plants, rwe share prices hit after the cabinet agreed to introduce a new tax on nuclear fuel. >> most european exchanges were closed today, but wall street is up and running now. we spoke with our tbilisi dw-tv -- we spoke with our dw-tv correspondent and asked him about the mood on this last trading day of the year. >> traders are taking it easy. a big champagne maker, by the way, will ring the closing bell year. i would not be surprised that there will be the one were the other glass even before trading. we do have some bigger movers. borders, the book chain, is delaying payments to some of the

publishers, so that is putting quite some pressure on the upside. on the upside, we have imax. there are rumors that the company mought be -- might be bought by sony or even walt disney. >> looking back at 2010, how did stocks there? >> it has been a pretty good year for wall street. a lot of things went right for investors. there was the chief money policy from the federal reserve, especially in the second half of the year. the weakening of the dollar also helped the big exporting companies here in the united states. the dow jones industrial average up by roughly 11% after blue chips went up almost 19% the year prior. the second year in a row we have seen double-digit gains here on wall street. >> we thank you very much for that update. america's s&p index's on track to have its best december

performance in nearly two decades, but the preeminent index of major u.s. stocks, the dow industrials, are currently up small at 11,578. the euro trading for $1.3369. airbus can look forward to a busy new year. china eastern airlines agreed to buy 50 a-320 aircraft to meet rising demand and lift its competitiveness in the air id it received a significant discount off list price of $3.2 billion. the aircraft will be delivered in stages between 2012 and 2015. this will increase china eastern's capacity by 11%. the airline is one of china's three main state-owned carriers. the country's burgeoning aviation market is expected to offer a lot more opportunities for global airplane manufacturers. >> thank you for that.

there have been protests across bolivia over a drastic increase in the price of fuel. at least 15 police officers were injured during clashes at a demonstration in the capital. some 20 demonstrators were arrested. last week, the government announced it can no longer afford to subsidize food prices, causing the cost of petrol to drop more than 80%. the president's administration wants to introduce measures aimed at offsetting the fuel price rise, including a 20% hike in the minimum wage. a number of victims of hate depose a cholera epidemic continued to climb. the health industry says more than 3300 people have died since the disease in mid-october. another 150,000 are killed. efforts to contain the epidemic have been hampered by the aftermath of the country's january earthquake that claimed 250,000 lives and devastated

infrastructure. authorities are carrying out mandatory evacuations in parts of northeast australia where floodwaters have yet to peak. queensland is experiencing its worst flooding in half a century after two weeks of torrential rains. an area bigger than france and germany combined, inundated in -- and more than 200,000 people have been affected. major industries like coal mining and sugar production are currently shut dowdamages are se billions. >> the floods have yet to peak in rockhampton, but large parts of the coastal city are already under water. police are ordering residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, forcing them to leave if necessary. further south, in the sugar- producing town of boehner berg, hundreds of families have lost their homes, and many businesses have been damaged. there australian prime minister

personally assess the scale of the disaster on a visit to affected communities. she has pledged to boost government aid to stricken areas. >> we are seeing a magnificent response by all levels of government. >> the damage to property and trade is set to run in the billions. sugar exports have been disrupted by the closure of the court, crops destroyed. now, the authorities main priority is century nobody is harmed by rising floodwaters. these residents were airlifted out of rural mines in a compulsory evacuation. >> there is a lot of hard stuff going on. i think everyone works together, we will manage to keep everybody safe. >> many of the evacuees are being housed in the emergency centers. it could be a week before they

can return home. >> we will be back after a short break. do not go away. >> dw-tv in january. from the motorized coach to the intelligent vehicle of the future. 125 years of automobiles on "made in germany." money is his business. a man at the helm of deutsche bank. powerful and controversial. once a sleepy alpine village, now a top jet set party

destination. a winter fairy tale. january on dw-tv. all broadcast times online. >> people have begun celebrating the start of the new year, 2011. the time when we bring out the old and bring in the new is often a chance to look back and evaluate the events of the 12- month just ending, but it is also a time to move forward, to make decisions and new resolutions about the future. in today's "in depth" report, we look at three young germans for home 2011 promises to be an exciting and challenging year in the worlds of business, music, and space exploration. >> astronauts alexander is 34 and on his way to an exciting future in space. 35-year-old professor janet is grappling with the challenges

posed by market economies. and benjamin, 27, is striking a chord by melding classical piano with synthesized music for computer games. this is the space mission's training hall at the european space agency. the lab is a replica of the international space station. alexander is the only german astronauts in the european team of trainees. he is a geophysicist, but will also carry out experiments related to chemistry, biology, and medicine on board. scientists on the ground will talk him through the procedures. guest is only just starting the training. >> of course, the space station and the lab here are complex systems. every day, i learned things

from experienced scientists, teachers, and trainers. it is great. >> while alexander worked through his pre-mission training, janet is teaching in a lecture hall at the university, born in magdeburg in eastern germany, she became germany's youngest economics professor in 2008. her innovative research is probing the problems that plague market economies and inspiring her students, the economists of tomorrow. >> there are problems that cause markets to fail. it has long been known that these problems occur with respect to environmental resources for climate protection. how can we solve these problems? we are using experimental economic research to investigate, and the method is opening up new perspectives. >> the young pianist is exploring perspectives of a different kind and revolutionizing our listening habits in the process.

at the berlin philharmonic hall, he performs computer game soundtracks on the piano. ♪ he is playing the work of the young japanese composer, matsu, whose music for video games is widely respected in japan. the most people think video games. i read somewhere that they are bad for my children and that from an educational standpoint. most people think of shooting games, but i want to show the video game music is a rich resource. >> a soundtrack as he motioned to a video game, but benjamin

consciously avoids showing missiles from the games. he feels the music should stand alone. >> these are really wonderful moving melodies. they fit the characters in scituate -- and situations in the game precisely and give the whole game a soul. >> meanwhile, alexander is alpracticing the approach to the iss aboard the russian capsule. >> you take off on the tip, the very end of a rocket. then, it is a two-day flight to the space station, and it gets park for half a year and can be used as an emergency escape vehicle in case something should go wrong. >> alexander's goal is to support astronauts working on the iss.

it is a big step for him. >> like the apollo astronauts, we will be able to see the earth from space. we will see that in reality, the planet is a small, fragile spaceship, and we are all on a moving through the universe. seen from that angle, the conflicts from the earth and the damage we cost to the environment seems senseless. the perspective we gained through space travel is important to us, and it is important that we as astronauts passed his perspective on to others. dam it to train for the mission, he has got to get what first. at the bottom of a large indoor pool, used to simulate the weightless environment of space. back in her lap, janet has given individuals a brief period -- back in her lap.

asian invest money either to maximize profits for themselves or to promote the common good in a joint project. when isolated, each individual opts to maximize their profit, but as soon as video conferencing is used to bring them together, something surprising happens -- all of them are ready to invest in the common good. >> should we then agree that everyone will give it their all? let's go for it. >> those who have seen and spoken with one another about making an investment were surprisingly quick to commit their money to a joint project. >> the risk involved, but we do have to trust each other a bit. you will earn more if you stay on board. should we give it our all? >> everyone cooperated each round. from an economic standpoint, they are achieving something like efficiency. that means they arrive at a situation which is the best possible outcome for everyone, and that is what we want to do. we have to remember that

resources are scarce, and we have to make the most out of the few that we have. >> benjamin wants to break boundaries with his music, by lowering the barriers between classical and popular music, and above all, between generations. his efforts have earned him an invitation to tokyo. ♪ >> was to use video game music to get people back into the concert hall and get them interested in classical music and to perhaps offer something new to older people who already have an appreciation of classical music. >> the idea is a success in tokyo, where his concert sold out within hours. for now, the engine and is

concentrating on completing his music studies, but he appears well on course for a big breakthrough once he is done. janet also has plans. she wants to join forces with narrow biologists to analyze what happens in the brain when financial decisions are made. alexander is continuing preparations for his first mission. he has still got some time before his 2014 lift off into space. >> thanks for joining us for the last show -- the last "in depth"show in 2010. coming up, you can see the new year's address of the german chancellor, but for now, that wraps up the "journal" at this hour. on behalf of everyone here at dw-tv in berlin, i would like to wish you a very happy and healthy new year for 2011. stay tuned.

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>> hinojosa: she is a leader of the green movement who's worked tirelessly to bring green spaces and green jobs to the inner city. social justice and environmental activist majora carter. i'm maria hinojosa, this is one on one. majora carter, welcome to our program. >> thank you for having me. >> hinojosa: so okay, you are a genius, award winning... important to say straight up at the front. i know, you're like, "no, no, no!" you are a woman of the south bronx. >> yes. >> hinojosa: and when people think of the south bronx, they think of blown out buildings,

fire, garbage, pollution. when you look at the south bronx, you see what? >> possibility, promise, some of the world's most beautiful people... >> hinojosa: hmm! >> ...all sorts of assets that are just waiting to be developed and recognized as such. >> hinojosa: but when you were growing up in the south bronx... >> uh! >> hinojosa: ...one of ten kids, okay? >> ( laughing ) yeah. >> hinojosa: what were you seeing around you? >> i was seeing, you know, the burned-out shells of buildings. i did see, you know, crack heads who lived across the street from me in a burned out shell. i did see my neighborhood played out larger than life on television about being, like, the worst place in the world and nothing good could come of it, because that's where crime and prostitution and all these awful things were, and so that's what i saw, you know, as a kid. >> hinojosa: what does that do to a kid? >> ( sighs deeply ) >> hinojosa: i mean, profoundly, what does it do to you when you, every day to get to school, you've got to walk by the crack

addicts, and the garbage that's not collected, and the broken sidewalks, and the... >> it makes you feel as though there's something wrong with you, just inherently. like, you know, god wouldn't have allowed you to be born here unless there was something wrong with you, and i spent a lot of my early years, you know, trying to figure out, "how am i going to get out of this place?" and for me, it was education. and once i did, you know, i went to the bronx high school of science and then later on to wesleyan university, education was it. and i spent a lot of time trying to completely disassociate myself from my own roots. >> hinojosa: what did that look like for you? what... you know, when you try... >> ( laughing ) >> hinojosa: ...you know, "where are you from?" "well, i'm from northern manhattan." >> ( laughing ) no, i... i would say, "well, i'm from new york," and try to change the subject. and then they go, "but where?" you know? and i'd say, "well, it's in the bronx. it's really close to manhattan. ( laughing ) i was so bad! and you know, god forbid, you

know, if i was pushed far enough and it was clear that i was from the south bronx, and... because often, people were not kind-- they weren't. like, i remember hearing stuff, like, when i... gosh, my 11th grade high school studies class-- you know, mister... i won't say his name-- but anyway, you know, like, basically making these jokes about the south bronx. >> hinojosa: wow. >> and i was just like... and i was an "a" student in his class, and still could not bring myself to defend or support... i mean, i didn't... i didn't have it in me to do that. >> hinojosa: because... did you really like the south bronx? >> no, i hated it too. i just didn't want, you know, folks to... i didn't want it associated with me, but i also didn't want to hear it, either. so... but it was... it was definitely a tough thing. >> hinojosa: and you were not an activist when you... i mean, there were a lot of activists in the south bronx. that was not you. >> no, i was... i was acting my way to get out. that was my path. >> hinojosa: and when you would see these activists saying, you know, "protect the south bronx, clean it up, do something," as a

kid, what were... >> as a kid, i honestly didn't see that many of them, because i guess it was just like an older generation that did that, but as i got older, you know, it was just sort of like, "there's nothing here to protect. there's nothing here; i mean, i'm out of here. like, if anybody with a brain should go," and that's the way that i felt. >> hinojosa: and then what ends up happening is you go to college; you do, you get away, you go to wesleyan, you come back, you're living at home. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: you were supposed to be far away from the south bronx; you end up coming back home. >> yeah, i only came home, you know, because i was broke, literally. i started graduate school and i had no money; like, my program was that tough. it was english with a concentration in creative writing, and the only place that i could afford was my parent's... an extra bedroom in my parent's house. and i stayed there for two years, like, literally, and all i did was go from my house to the subway. you know, it's like i knew nothing about the neighborhood; i didn't care. and it wasn't until i actually got a part-time job working at a

local community development corporation up the street, and just kind of got to know my neighborhood a little bit more. i, like, discovered that there were, like, artists there. there were people who did really cool things, and, like, loved themselves and loved each other, and i was like, "oh, my gosh... this... there... this is my neighborhood. how did i not see that before?" and then the thing that really kept me there, though, starting to understand the environmental issues that were happening in the community. we got word that the city was planning on building a huge waste facility on our waterfront, and it kind of clicked something in me, where i realized that, "oh, wait a second-- we've got a huge amount of these waste facilities here." didn't really know that before, and discovered that this one would have brought an additional 40% of the city's, you know, waste to our waterfront. we were already handling about 40%. >> hinojosa: so a lot of people are like, "waste treatment facility," they don't even know... so... being in the south bronx, you have seen, you have lived around them. >> yeah, i just thought... >> hinojosa: what do they look

like? what do they sound like? what do they smell like? >> oh, gross. you know, there's... with 60,000 diesel truck trips that go through the area because of all the food, you know, distribution place. i mean, it's... we have the world's largest food distribution center in my neighborhood; of course, the food is just trucked in and trucked out, which means, like, huge fumes... >> hinojosa: huge trucks. >> huge fumes and trucks. you don't get the good food; we just get the diesel pollution. we've got two different kinds of sewage treatment plants-- one that, like, most of the bronx's sewage literally goes to it. there's a huge methane flame that's burnt, because they burn off all the methane that comes off the sewage, and i remember-- and you can see it from my house-- and i just thought there was, like, this big fire burning down on the waterfront every day of my life. and then there's a sewage pelletizing plant; takes the sewage sludge and cooks it with a bunch of chemicals, and it smells like rotten eggs and decaying bodies. >> hinojosa: ugh! >> and this has an impact on people's health. i mean, we've got one of the country's highest asthma rates, and we also know now that all that fossil fuel emissions in the proximity to it causes

learning disabilities in young kids. we now know that that-- the kids that don't do well in schools that are already in poor neighborhoods where there're poor schools to begin with-- have a better chance of going on to jail than on to higher education. >> hinojosa: so you're at this wonderful organization, the point... >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: ...which is amazing in the south bronx, and you hear about this waste treatment facility, and you get upset? >> yeah. >> hinojosa: and you're figuring that all of your neighbors are going to get really upset too. >> i figured. >> hinojosa: and what happened, actually? >> many people would look at me like, "honey, this is the south bronx; this is what happens here." and, you know, i had a little education; i had a little distance where i realized that, you know what? everybody doesn't have to... everybody doesn't live like this, and everybody doesn't have to live like this-- and no one should live like this. >> hinojosa: and at that moment, you basically said, "i'm stepping up to the plate; this is my issue"? >> yeah, and i also had some really amazing people in my life who really supported me to do

that. you know, some great mentors-- yolanda garcia from... the founder of we stay/ nos quedamos, who, you know, looks at me, you know, as sort of like a new... part of the... a new generation, and it was just like i was going to be one of the leaders in it, whether or not i wanted to be. ( laughing ) she was... ooh, it was incredible. and i was incredibly shy; i didn't want to talk in front of people, and she was just like, "you need to speak from your heart, because this is your community," and i'll never forget that for as long as i live. >> hinojosa: when you, you know, at that point, when you're trying to get your community active and you're seeing that there's a lot of apathy-- it's a predominantly african-american and latino community... >> yeah. >> hinojosa: ...you know, people have this question, "well, do the folks who live there... do they get it?" i mean, there's... on the one hand, they're like, "look, this is just who we are; we're going to continue to be dumped on, there's nothing we can do"... >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: and then there's almost a sense of, "they don't get it; they don't understand." >> well, you know, if you start talking about the environment, you know, as if it only exists in the rain forests or, you know, up in the arctic circle,

then no, they're not going to get that. that's very far removed from our existence. >> hinojosa: and that kind of environment, chances are they may not even get to. >> precisely-- but if you start talking to them in terms... meeting them where they are and helping them understand, like, how this... whatever was happening right there was impacting them. like for example, when we help people make the connection between their children's public health in particular and the coming waste facilities, and the fact that there was already a whole bunch there, suddenly people were just like, "oh, is this pollution? oh, it's particulate matter that's smaller than 2.5 microns? that must be really small-- and that's what going into my kid's lungs, and that's what's making me have to take my child to the emergency room twice a month? oh, no, no, no. we're... what do we need to do? what petition to sign?" >> hinojosa: it clicks. >> "who do i need to talk to?" then they understood it, and then later on, it was kind of like, you know, people started to think, "okay, this is great," you know, "we are actually seeing some movement," you know? like, they start to see how our

advocacy paid off, and that, i think, was a really powerful thing. and later on, we wanted to see even more, and then it's like, "well, what do you want in your community?" and it was some bizarre thing, because so many times, i think, in poor communities of any color, we're not often asked what we want. you know, we know, on some level, how to fight, because that's what we do. you know, it's just a part of, like, being in our own culture. it's like, you know, like, being in a place that's hostile to our very existence, because there are forces at play that things are done... you know, that that's where you put the pollution, and that's where you put the bad schools. this is where all these things happen, and so we're used to having things done to us, but on some level, we had to recognize that there were things that we needed to really step up and recognize what we wanted, ourselves. >> hinojosa: so this connection, you know, a lot of times when you hear people talk about environment-- the environmental movement-- it is; you're looking at parks, you're looking at, you know, the arctic, you're looking at these things. how do... what... how does the conversation need to change so

that people understand it is our environment, wherever we live? >> people really only need three things: something to love, something to do, something to feel hopeful about. that doesn't change for anybody-- i don't care how rich or how poor you are-- and that also has everything to do with, like, how... the kind of environment you want to live in-- and environment not just being, you know, going someplace, but it's like everything around you. it takes into account, you know, what kind of walk do you have on your way to work? you know, what kind of food do you buy? you know, where do you recreate? you know, what kind of job do you have? and when we start helping people see that all of these have everything to do, you know, with the environment, right? like, our pollution-based economy, you know, helped dictate that there were poor communities-- poor communities of color-- that were always at the negative end, you know, of what that meant. like, we weren't the ones making lots of money from these crazy technologies, and the pollution, and the trucks that may carry goods that we can't get in our own communities; but we were the ones who were breathing it in, and getting sick, and getting all sorts of cancers and stuff like that.

>> hinojosa: so a term like "environmental racism"? >> mm-hmm-- no, actually, i don't like to use "environmental racism"... >> >> hinojosa: because? >> because when people who might be, or, i think on some level we all are, hear of that word, they have... especially when it's in relation to the environment, they'll think, "well, that's not me," and it shuts you down. when you say something like... >> hinojosa: "it's their problem; it's their community..." >> exactly, like, "i didn't do that; i'm not a racist." but if you say things like, "everyone deserves environmental justice," then everyone deserves the right to live in a place that's not disproportionately impacted by lots of polluting facilities, and that we should have some environmental benefits. nobody could disagree with that, especially when you start to make the claim that if you... if folks don't have that, then sooner or later, it's going to affect everybody. and people can... everybody can figure that out. >> hinojosa: because, actually, the south bronx is very close to manhattan. >> hmm, interesting! >> hinojosa: ( laughing ) we all do breath in the same air. >> yeah! >> hinojosa: you had an amazing experience-- and i've been up there with you-- that your dog,

who was a little... who was a stray, ends up leading you all this back way, and you end up finding that there's a riverfront... >> yeah. >> hinojosa: ...in the bronx-- in the south bronx. >> mm-hmm. my dog... it was around the time we were just really early on in the stages of fighting against the waste facility, and i got a dog at the same time. and i kept getting these notices to see if we wanted to restore, and asking community groups to work on these... to get these grants to restore the bronx river. and i knew there was a bronx river-- there was a parkway called the bronx river parkway. it went through my... you know, past my neighborhood. never occurred to me that we could get to the river, because so many polluted facilities. my dog-- actually it was a she, xena... >> hinojosa: oh, ooh! >> ...that's okay. she's a big girl, but she's about 80 pounds, and she literally... i would go jogging with her, and she pulled me into what i thought was an abandoned dump, and it turns out that it was, in fact, a dock that was disgusting. but at the end of it that was the river, and i realized, "oh, my gosh," like, "we could have a waterfront park here," and literally ran home, wrote the proposal, and it grew into this

amazing, amazing thing that we were able to leverage that tiny, little $10,000 grant, like, tons of times over, and we got a $3 million park that was debuted in 2006. >> hinojosa: what i want to know about is how did you figure... okay, "i'm from the south bronx, but i am going to challenge all of these people. i'm going to take them on," because, you know, again, everybody thinks of the south bronx as the dumping ground. >> right. >> hinojosa: what made you... from where, to just say, "yeah, okay, sure, i've been to college, i did all these wonderful things. i have a great degree, et cetera." but what made you really think, "and i'm going to challenge them and i'm going to win"? >> i didn't know i couldn't, you know? it just seemed like this was right thing to do. it's just like, how could you dump on a community, like, this vulnerable for so long and not think that someone was going to challenge it? and i wasn't the first person to challenge them, by no stretch of the imagination. i just use a sort of a different tactic. but it just seemed like there

was nothing else i could be doing with my life, really, and like, i didn't know how it was going to work out, but i sure as hell was going to try. >> hinojosa: you, of course, dedicate yourself-- or dedicated yourself at the beginning of the community... of your career to working in the south bronx. how many other south bronx are there across the country? >> oh, countless, countess numbers. i mean... >> hinojosa: how do you want people, you know, who are watching this show... what do you want them to look out, like, when they're driving by, what do you want them to be looking for in terms of these communities that maybe they drive by and they're just like, "they're abandoned, has nothing"... >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: what do you want them to be thinking about as they're zipping by? >> i want to remind people that people everywhere are human, you know? that we all have the same dreams-- the same hopes for our future, for our children, for ourselves where we are right now, and i think the horrible thing about the way poverty has been treated, you know, in our

country-- and actually around the world, but specifically in this country-- is that it's... the problem is the people there, and there's somehow something really, horribly wrong with them. and no one really thinks-- the same way that i didn't know-- you know, back when i was not that much younger at this point, you know, that there were institutional, you know, regulatory, you know, issues that created the south bronx. i mean, nobody in my neighborhood, you know, 50 years... not even 50 years ago when there was lots of manufacturing asked for it to be outsourced to china, therefore losing huge amounts of jobs in our communities. and we could talk about places in kansas city, and chicago, and all over the rust belt, and down south, and all over-- we didn't ask for that. you know, we didn't ask for the prosperity that actually would have led us into... more of our kids into higher education rather into prison, to just go away. we didn't ask for the pollution-based economy to become, you know, basically, you know, indestructible from our own communities. just like, remember, we

didn't... those... there was institutions and huge, powerful bodies that did that, and of course, there were going to be consequences for the people that live there, and it would make it harder. >> hinojosa: you know, i've lived in some of these communities, and i always try to tell people, "you know what? we're just abandoned communities..." >> yes! >> hinojosa: "...we're completely abandoned, and everybody who's living there wants a better community." but, you know, then the drugs come in, and then the police don't come, and it's just you're an abandoned community. but you decide to respond to that by creating an organization called sustainable south bronx. you end up winning this amazing award-- the macarthur genius award. i know you don't like it when people say it, but it is the truth... >> except my husband. i like to trot that out with him every now and then. >> hinojosa: ( laughing ) >> it's like, "honey, who's the genius in the house?" >> hinojosa: oh, my gosh! >> okay. >> hinojosa: so and you end up, you know, addressing the ted conference, and you end up meeting vice president al gore... >> uh-huh. >> hinojosa: ...and that moment when you meet al gore is pretty amazing, right? >> it was. >> hinojosa: because he

basically says to you, "oh, just apply for a grant," you know, "we're going to include you in the environmental stuff." and you said to him... >> well, actually, he didn't say it includes me in the environmental stuff. >> hinojosa: oh. >> it was more of, like, a brush-off. the, you know, "apply for a grant" was kind of like, "we'll have these little things that, you know, that's what we do for folks that don't really deserve a seat at he table." and i was just like, "no, we all need to have a seat at the table." it's big enough for all of us. >> hinojosa: i love that. you're replying to the vice president... >> yeah. >> hinojosa: ...former vice president, and saying, "no, no, no, no, no. i'm not asking for anything; i'm telling you... >> yeah, "...what you need so that we can make this world a better place." >> hinojosa: and how's your relationship with al gore these days? >> oh, we don't really have one. i mean, i totally support what he's doing. i mean, really, no one-- no one-- has done more to raise the issue of climate change on this planet, you know, except the other folks he won the nobel prize with. and but i still think that there is still this perception, you know, that folks from communities like ours-- whether it's urban or rural, because believe me, south bronx's come

in rural places too; they are white, they are black, they are everything in between; it's bizarre. >> hinojosa: yeah, i've been to a place where there's a pork processing plant where there's a lot of environmental pollution... >> exactly. >> hinojosa: ...in north carolina, yeah. >> yeah, actually one of our... our first client for my new consulting firm is actually working around in that area, but that's a whole other story. >> hinojosa: no, but that leads us into the next thing, because you basically have decided that you want to grow bigger. >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: it's not about just staying at one community-based organization, which is an amazing organization. you decide you need to grow, and so you create your own consultancy, and you actually say, "i've found my inner capitalist." ( laughter ) >> yes. >> hinojosa: because you're feeling like, you know, yeah, south bronx people are really good to fight and protest, but you're saying, what? you want to change? >> i want us to also understand our value. like, i think that the lessons that i learned in the south bronx, that, you know, the projects that we pioneered-- in particular, we're developing one of the first green job training and placement systems in the country that really worked with

and taught the ecological restoration skills to some of the most... folks with significant barriers to employment. folks that who were incarcerated, folks that had been in the public welfare system for decades-- you know, families, generational poverty-- and taught them these skills, and were able... helped them understand not only could they get money in their pockets, but they also could provide these amazing environmental services that did... that provided real monetary benefit, you know, actually, to our municipality in terms of, you know, reducing... helping to, like, deal with urban heat island mitigation, which is the fact that lots of... that our cities are much hotter simply because of all the black-top surfaces that we have and asphalt and stuff like that. water conservation, energy, you know, efficiency issues; and i'm like, "this is a great thing." so i took that and realized that there's some real value in this. i mean, there are lots of people that talk green, but there aren't a lot of folks just yet, because this is still a very new movement-- big time. >> hinojosa: i love... well, yeah, no. i mean, i love the fact that everybody is green now. >> i know, i know. >> hinojosa: everybody's green,

and i'm just like, "just how green are you?" >> yeah. it's a really interesting kind of thing, because what... and i realized that there was so many folks out there like, you know, touting themselves as green consultants, who have actually, like... actually never done many of the things that i've done. >> hinojosa: really? >> and i was just like, "wait a second." like, i know... i mean, like, i saw the changes that it made, number one, in people's lives when they saw themselves as a powerful being. when they realized that they could do something to make this world a better place, and they were. you know, when they put a green roof up, when they actually worked as a part of an urban forestry, you know, steward team. that they knew they were providing a real benefit to the environment, and they felt that power. i mean, that was incredible stuff. >> hinojosa: and plus, they were getting paid, right? >> absolutely! so they knew that they had... it was like the dignity of work, the dignity of the kind of work they were doing, and i was just like, "this is a model that we need to take out. this is exact... like, how do we help other, you know, communities, municipalities,ouno this?" >> hinojosa: and one of the

places where you found some lessons i think was unexpected to you, which is bogota, columbia. >> oh, yes, uh-huh. >> hinojosa: and again, people think of columbia and they kind of think of it in the same way as the south bronx-- disaster, don't even go down, scary, crime. >> yeah. >> hinojosa: in face, bogota, the capital, has done amazing things. >> amazing work. >> hinojosa: what have you learned from bogota? >> oh, my gosh. they, like, helped redefine what transportation could and should be, you know? especially in urban contexts where you've got, you know, huge-- like, the gap between rich and poor is very large. the same way it is in a lot of, you know, urban municipalities around the world. and then what they did was they looked at how many folks actually use cars. it was only, i think, like 14%-- you know, the wealthiest, you know, part... you know, upper echelons of bogotan society. and then most people didn't, and how did they... may people actually lived on less than a dollar or two a day. and then they realized that the only way to actually create, like, a sense of pride for all of bogota was to make... democratize transportation. >> hinojosa: democratize transportation, okay. what does that look like?

>> well, in many cases they got rid of cars, you know? literally narrowed streets; got rid of parking so that if you wanted a car, you had to pay for it. it was not a city's responsibility to do so. and then they created things like bike paths, because most folks were able to afford a bicycle to get around. and they created one of the most incredible bus rapid-transit systems that just allowed folks of, you know, any class, you know, to get to a place really efficiently, and in comfort, and in style, and it was affordable to pretty much everybody. and then they also, in the poorest of the poorest neighborhoods, i mean, they basically like, slums... >> hinojosa: yeah. >> ...they actually created these beautiful open spaces, so that people could be outside, which, of course, reduced the crime rate there. >> hinojosa: wow! >> it was just like, this... i mean, and they did it for a buck and a quarter. i mean, it was... i mean, okay, i'm exaggerating there, but it was still one of some of the most inexpensive pieces of infrastructure that they put in, and i was just like, "why aren't we doing this kind of stuff here?" and i was... i was very close to that area, because it reminded me of my own community. >> hinojosa: so when you think

of the possibilities... of course, you are now working countrywide... >> mm-hmm. >> hinojosa: you have... are you doing international stuff too? >> with any luck, yes. >> hinojosa: okay, some international stuff. >> we've got some... feelers out in the u.k. and also in canada. >> hinojosa: so your vision of what these communities can look like-- describe them for me. yes, you're a visionary, you're a dreamer; okay, your "dreamo" vision. >> okay, i'll give you one example. we got a contract working in northeastern north carolina to help them do regional green economic development plan. this is an area... it's going to have some serious impacts with sea level rise over the next, you know, 20-some years. right now, thinks like mega hog farms and processing... you know, hog processing plants are huge there. they're environmental disasters, you know, for the people that are living near them. you can live at the end of, like, a place where there's, like, hog swill. it's just not so pretty. but we think that those are the folks that should be real leaders in climate adaptation strategies. like, we know that sea level is rising. how do you prepare an area for that? what kind... is there

horticultural... is there green infrastructure that you can add to that place? like for example, in the new orleans are, many wetlands were destroyed, and that's one of the reasons why hurricanes have those increased storm events, because there are not... those natural defenses that really attracted the water are gone. so helping the folks in northeastern north carolina do some of that and really make them leaders, build the workforce of the future, help improve... create taxpayers where they were tax burdens. that's what we're doing. >> hinojosa: majora carter, thank you so much for your vision, for your energy, for you dreams... >> thank you. >> hinojosa: ...and for making them reality. thank you. >> thank you so much! >> hinojosa: continue the conversation at wgbh.org/oneoneone. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org hi, i'm rick steves, with more of the best of europe.

venice seems to be every italy connoisseur's... prague has always been beautiful... germany... the irish civilization... the eiffel tower was built... hope you've enjoyed the magic of... stonehenge is roped off and viewable only from a distance, but england is dotted with less famous but more accessible stone circles. my favorite... avebury. the avebury stone circle, just 40 miles away,

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