For decades, the South Bronx has been a place of environmental abuse–a repository for power plants, dirty industry, intensive diesel trucking, and waste and sewage treatment facilities. But several years ago, Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx, set out to change this. She wrote a small seed grant to restore an illegal garbage dump along the Bronx River, giving residents access to a forgotten landscape. Her vision, in turn, inspired others. The City of New York eventually committed $3.27 million to create Hunts Point Riverside Park in 2006.

With a few thousand dollars, Majora Carter started a green revolution in the Bronx. What could you do?