Three Black Environmentalists Who Are Blazing Trails In Virginia

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

Three Black environmentalists in Virginia are apparently following the trailblazing footsteps of George Washington Carver, who accepted a job in agriculture at Tuskegee Institute in 1896 and spent his life transforming peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes into more than 300 marketable products until his death in 1943.

The name Carver may sound familiar but the names of three dedicated Black environmentalists who live in Virginia may sound unfamiliar. They are Thelonius Cook, Tyrone Jarvis, and Otis Jones. They recently appeared on WHRO’s “Another View.” Barbara Hamm Lee is the executive producer and host of the program that airs every Thursday at noon on 89.5 WHRV-FM.

The segment included interviews with these three men who explained how they are actively involved in developing methods to protect the environment.

Cook is a “regenerative agriculture” farmer who owns and operates an organic farm on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Jarvis owns Newport News’ Go Green Auto Care and uses rainwater as his major water source. Jones is the board chair of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

“Don’t get confused by the terminology,” said Cook, who grew up in Hampton. His parents’ home had a quarter-acre plot of land behind it. Later, he worked overseas and helped farmers develop technology in rural areas of Africa. However, he didn’t see many tractors.

He noticed farmers used hand tools, a practice he uses at his 7.5 acre farm called Mighty Thundercloud Edible Forest which is located on Virginia’s Eastern Shore where indigenous farmers grew crops for thousands of years. Less than 2 percent of all farmers in the United States are Black, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Of the more than 3 million farmers across the United States, only 1.4 percent are Black.

He holds a master’s degree in sustainable development from the University of London and uses ancient indigenous farming techniques on his 7.5 acre farm in Virginia. “This is just the way that we farm,” said Cook, who has discussed his organic gardening techniques with several media outlets.

“We need to get back to that, doing regenerative agriculture practices, if that’s what we want to call it,” Cook explained in a February 2023 interview with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Regenerative farming is an agriculture term that means a farmer combines compatible crops, plants cover crops on harvested fields, and rotates crops and animals feed, in an effort to nurture and sustain the land and surrounding waterways.

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Cook grows multiple products on his 7.5-acre farm, including ginger, tomatoes, watermelons, kale, hemp, and callaloo (a leafy green that originated in West Africa). He also sells cut flowers and uses plants he grows to make elixirs, like ginger switchel (a Colonial-era drink with Caribbean origins) and hibiscus juice, which promotes good health.

Cook said he wants to be “a gateway, a bridge,” which creates opportunities for those who want to learn agriculture strategies that his parents and elders understood and passed to the next generation.

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Tyrone Jarvis is the second Black trailblazing environmentalist who recently appeared on “Another View.” He said he was operating his garage in Newport News when an auto leak made him investigate rainwater after his business’ water bill skyrocketed to $5,000. After a water department employee said in jest, ‘Yeah, what are you going to do, catch rain?’” Jarvis began a yearlong quest to recycle rainwater and use it to flush, wash cars and even drink.

He and his wife hooked up a device that diverts the rain from outdoor gutters into a big indoor tank, then cleans it through several filters using UV and carbon filtration.

It was like a mad scientist experiment, Jarvis said.

Jarvis consulted political leaders. In 2018, a bill unanimously passed the state legislature and directed state officials to develop new rules on harvesting rainwater, particularly for potable use.

“When the rain started falling, we watched that tank fill up so quickly,” he said. “We plugged in the pump and turned on the water faucet and this crystal clear, beautiful water came out. It was something that we thought we had just stumbled upon like a treasure.”

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The third Black environmentalist is Otis Jones, the board chair of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which opened in Virginia in the early 1980s. It has offices in Richmond and Virginia Beach, field staff in the Shenandoah Valley, a mobile oyster restoration center in Virginia Beach, and six outdoor environmental education programs across the state.

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Its efforts are focused on ensuring Virginia meets its 2025 Bay cleanup goals to reduce pollution from sewage treatment plants, farms, and urban and suburban stormwater runoff, according to its website.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Board of Trustees elected Jones as its chair for a three-year term in 2023.

Jones is a native of Virginia’s Northern Neck and son of a Chesapeake Bay waterman. His genealogy stretches back generations in the Bay.

“Otis Jones’ lifelong connection to the Bay together with his strong leadership and stellar business sense are an incredible combination. We’re lucky to have such a strong advocate at the helm as CBF’s new Board Chair,” CBF President Hilary Harp Falk said in a statement on the website for The Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Jones is a Norfolk State University graduate. He retired from a 36-year career at IBM.

In 2020, Virginia’s governor appointed Jones to the Virginia Council of Environmental Justice, where he served a two-year term. Jones is a founding member of MEGA Mentors, an organization that mentors Black and other underrepresented students in Chesterfield County Public Schools.

Jones and his wife Machel have three adult children and live in Chesterfield, Va.