Jamal M. Ali, Author of Black and Green
Jamal M. Ali is the author of Black and Green: Black Insights for the Green Movement. He graduated with honors from Alabama A&M University, Normal, Alabama in 1981 with a B.S. Degree in Management. He also holds a MBA degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana in 1991 with a concentration in Marketing.
Jamal currently lives in Chicago Illinois and for the past seven years has worked as the Senior Group Account Director for UniWorld Group Inc., an African American advertising agency headquartered in New York City. He currently heads the Field Marketing on the Burger King account. Prior to joining UniWorld Group, Mr. Ali. worked for two other advertising agencies: Burrell Communications Group and DDB Chicago. For ten years, he also developed and directed a play called “the Griots,” which consisted of various sketches of Black life in an entertaining yet educational way.
He remains involved in his community and works to make it better daily, having recently served as Block Club President and leading an effort to convert a corner vacant lot into a community garden. Over the past ten years, Jamal Ali has been the most frequent guest on a popular Cable Access Television Show on Sunday nights called, Muhammad and Friends. Most recently he appeared on a live show to talk about the need for Black people to get on board with going green which led to some fruitful discussion.
He is married to Rosalind Ali and also has two children, Arshad and Amirah
Jamal Ali's Personal View of Green:
While I illustrate why Black people should embrace the green movement, I try to practice what I preach. We own a hybrid, we have installed CFLs throughout the house, we installed a tankless water heater, we compost appropriate food and yard waste in the backyard, and we wash clothes in cold water, among many other things. Perhaps the most significant green thing we do is explain to our children why we make these purchases, and why we institute certain practices like washing clothes in cold water, and how these products and practices help save money and the environment. The hope is that the lessons they learn as children will remain with them throughout their lives.