GreenLatinos Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month
For GreenLatinos, and hundreds of activists and partners across the nation, this Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15-Oct 15), is focused on uplifting, honoring, remembering, and commending Latino/a/x civil and environmental people's heroes in the fight for environmental liberation (liberación ambiental). We envision a healthy and equitable society where communities of color are liberated from disproportionate environmental burdens, free to breathe fresh air, drink pure water, access clean transportation, and enjoy our majestic public lands, ocean, and waters. We do so while revering the past and the deep relationships with one another.
GreenLatinos Advocates are pushing on many major fronts and continue to demand leadership that recognizes a 21st Century conservation effort centered around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Join our GreenLatinos comunidad and learn how you can link into the fight to defend la Madre Tierra and achieve environmental liberation.
"Congress is in the midst of negotiating an initial investment on fighting the climate crisis and the Latino community cannot be left behind. We must have a robust investment so that all have access to electric vehicles. This is critical to reducing carbon emissions and fighting the devastating effects of climate change on the Latino community." - Mark Magaña, GreenLatinos
GreenLatinos has bought advertisements in the Politico Transportation Newsletter and in The Arizona Republic to make sure influencers and elected officials know we are fighting for equitable access to electric vehicles to lower carbon transmission and air pollution which disproportionately hurt Latinos.
We welcome sign-ons from INDIVIDUALS who agree with the priorities outlined in this letter seeking to address the Electric Vehicles priorities for Latino/a/x communities and wish to add their names to this message to our congressional leaders.
Build Back Better & Justice40
At the White House: The Build Back Better and #Justice40 initiatives are important initiatives to exert power within to ensure our communities have the voice and means to affect positive, self-led change. Mark Magaña, GreenLatinos' President and CEO, was one of a dozen National Latino organizations invited to meet with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris yesterday. The topic of discussion? The administration’s Build Back Better Agenda and the needs of the Latino community. The meeting also served to commemorate the second anniversary of the horrific 2019 attack in El Paso that constituted a mass shooting, hate crime, and act of domestic terrorism.
Read our asks of the President and Vice President
PFAS "Forever Chemicals" in Our Water
GreenLatinos hosted a virtual community roundtable to discuss the Build Back Better agenda and proposed budget package. GreenLatinos advocates Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes and Ean Thomas Tafoya were joined DeeDee Belmares, Climate Justice Organizer for Public Citizen in San Antonio, TX, and Theresa Cardenas, Civic Engagement & Policy Manager for New Mexico First, to discuss provisions of the legislation, the impact they will have on Latino communities, and what the public can do to advocate for the best version of this important and far reaching policy.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are a family of over 5,000 human-made chemicals used in items from toys and personal care products to firefighting foam and food packaging. PFAS are indestructible and are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because of their difficulty to break down.
Learn more by visiting any of our available resources:
GreenLatinos in the News
Consumer Reports - How to Quit Plastic - "With plastic pollution, the tap is overrunning,” says Mariana Del Valle Prieto Cervantes, water equity and ocean program manager at GreenLatinos, which focuses on environmental, natural resource, and conservation issues that affect the Latino community in the U.S. “We have to turn off the tap before we can clean up this mess.”
303 Magazine - New Law Calls For More Environmental Justice in Colorado’s Most Vulnerable Communities - “In Colorado, frontline communities are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. For generations, communities of color and low-income have experienced the worst air quality, the worst water quality and disproportionately live on contaminated soil — by no accident. Landfills, toxic waste treatment facilities and polluting industries are more likely to be located near communities of color and low income. This concentration of pollution — compounded by extreme weather (heat waves and storms) and a lack of resilient community infrastructure, including healthcare and housing — means that these same communities, especially segregated rural and workforce communities, end up disenfranchised and struggling to survive,” wrote Ean Tafoya with GreenLatinos"
Please consider joining the GreenLatinos comunidad and learn how you can link into the fight to defend la Madre Tierra and achieve environmental liberation.
