"Within Mainstream Environmentalist Groups, Diversity Is Lacking"

"The level of diversity, both in leadership and staff, of groups such as the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Sierra Club and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation [, many say,] is more like that of the Republican Party they so often criticize for its positions on the environment than that of the multiethnic Democratic Party they have thrown their support behind."



"Fred Tutman was a lonely man when he picked up the telephone that day.

He was the tough-talking protector of Maryland’s Patuxent River, a courtroom brawler who took on anyone who contaminated water, but he couldn’t shake a nagging hurt that he was nearly invisible within his own profession.

He called Marc Yaggi, director of the Waterkeeper Alliance in New York, last May. “Am I the only African American riverkeeper?”

The answer was yes. Of at least 200 riverkeepers in the world, Tutman is the only African American. "

Darryl Fears reports for the Washington Post March 24, 2013.

Source: Wash Post, 03/25/2013