Thanks to the attention given to the environmental movement by celebrities and Fortune 500 companies, going green has become quite mainstream  in our conversations. However, Hollywood and Wallstreet aren’t the sole reason that environmentalism has been thrust into our common dialogue. It’s efforts by  consumers and everyday chatter at the kitchen table or the water cooler that have played the most integral part in leading the green discussion.

One of the main reasons this conversation has gained tremendous momentum is due to it’s economic impact. Consumers have been demanding better, safer products because it means improved health and a higher standard of living while permitting them to keep more of their hard earned income.  Huge corporations quickly gave their attention to unrelenting requests  for improved products when it had the potential to effect their bottom-line. This cause and effect relationship between consumers and  businesses is the foundation of our capitalism and the driving force behind much of the green initiatives.

However, the question begs whether or not people of hue, families of hue and more importantly  women of hue are being represented in the environmental round table. The importance of understanding the contributions that women of hue are having in these discussion is due to the fact that our dollars are having the greatest impact in the black community. According to the US Census Bureau in 2006, 56 percent of African-American families were single parent households. Black mothers with an overwhelming 91.4% where the head of households in these statistics. Women of hue have the greatest ability to change the financial mobility of the black community and hence why it’s vital to know the impact their voices have in the environmental discussions.

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