Founded by environmental activist Majora Carter in 2001,Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx) is a non-profit environmental justice

Environmental justice

Environmental justice is "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." In the words of Bunyan Bryant,...

 solutions organization in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

's South Bronx

South Bronx

The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....

 neighborhood.

The organization spearheaded the creation of Hunts Point Riverside Park, the first piece of the projected South Bronx Greenway. This organization also pioneered a "green roof

Green roof

A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems...

" project in the South Bronx with its own for-profit installation company SmartRoofs, LLC, and started a "green-collar" job training program called Bronx Environmental Stewardship Program (B.E.S.T.) which prepares urban residents in areas such as ecological restoration, hazardous waste

Hazardous waste

A hazardous waste is waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. According to the U.S. environmental laws hazardous wastes fall into two major categories: characteristic wastes and listed wastes.Characteristic hazardous wastes are materials that are known...

 cleanup, green roof

Green roof

A green roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage and irrigation systems...

 installation and maintenance, urban forestry, and landscaping; the program has a 90% placement rate after four years of operation. They are also proposing a Bronx Eco-Industrial Complex as an alternative use for a piece of land where the city government currently is planning to construct a prison

Prison

A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...

, and are engaged in developing "a collection of businesses in which the waste and byproducts of one business are the raw materials for another one."

SSBx runs the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training (BEST) program, which takes qualifying students through 12 weeks of intensive training covering topics like tree pruning to OSHA brownfield remediation to estuary maintenance to job–life skills. This program aims to give local residents a personal and financial stake in the management of their local environment. In December 2006, Mitsubishi International Corp contributed $150,000.

In 2005, SSBx built the "Cool and Greenroof Demonstration Project" above their offices in the historic American Banknote Building — the first such roof in the City of New York. Greenroofs mitigate Urban Heat Island Effect

Urban heat island

An urban heat island is a metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas. The phenomenon was first investigated and described by Luke Howard in the 1810s, although he was not the one to name the phenomenon. The temperature difference usually is larger at night...

, clean the air, sequester carbon, retain storm water runoff from overwhelming the city sewage system and dumping into the rivers, and provide local jobs for installation and maintenance. In 2007, SSBx launched the for-profit SmartRoofs, LLC green roof installation business.