Jerome Ringo
Jerome Ringo (born on March 2, 1955)
Oil Industry Union Involvement
Ringo worked for more than 20 years in Louisiana’s petrochemical industry. More than half of that time was spent as an active union member working with his fellow members to secure a safe work environment and quality jobs. Louisiana’s petrochemical industry focuses on the production of gasoline, rocket fuel, and plastics – many of which contain cancer causing chemicals. As he began observing the negative impacts of the industry’s pollution on local communities – primarily poor, minority communities – Jerome began organizing community environmental justice groups.[1]
National Wildlife Federation
In 1996, Ringo was elected to serve on the National Wildlife Federation board of directors and, in 2005, Jerome became the chair of the board. In so doing, he also became the first African American to head a major conservation organization. He represented the federation at the United Nations conference on sustainable development in 1999.[2]
1998 Kyoto Meeting
Jerome was the United States’ only black delegate at the 1998 Global Warming Treaty Negotiations in Kyoto, Japan.[3]
Apollo Alliance
Ringo joined Apollo Alliance in 2005 as a Senior Writer and Policy Associate and is now president of the organization.[4]
An Inconvenient Truth
Ringo appeared in Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.[5]
Conferences
Ringo has attended the following conventions: the Montreal Climate Summit in 2006, the United Nations African Climate Conference in Nairobi, Kenya in 2006, the Kyoto Plus Conference in Berlin Germany in 2007, and the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver Colorado.[6]
Publications
- Diversity and the Future of the U.S. Environmental Movement (published in 2007)
- The Green Festival Reader (published in 2008) - co-author