Black & green: the new eco-warriors

Ebony, July, 2008 by Shirley Henderson

"We," or Black folks, have not seen the green movement as our issue. Van Peebles, who graduated from Columbia University with a degree in economics, is hoping his show will change the notion among African-Americans that the environment issue is merely "eco-elitism"

"When you go green, you do the simple things first," says the father of five--Maya, 15; Makaylo, 14; Mandela, 14; Morgana, 10; Marley, 8. "You change the lightbulbs if you have incandescent lightbulbs; you throw all that stuff out. You'll save a lot of money. Right now we have gas bills and electric bills [that] are going through the roof."

The final test of a green Brother is, of course, his crib. On Mario's Green House, Van Peebles, his longtime partner, Chitra, kids and dad, filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles, will take the audience through an odyssey on how to green up the home by installing solar panels, which Van Peebles has done already. And he'll feature a segment on how to maintain your electric ride.

He points out that electric cars require no trips to the gas pump--which may be reason enough for a Brother to trade in his Escalade.