March 31, 2015

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President,

As Latino leaders, members and representatives of the undersigned Latino organizations and businesses committed to efforts that support our community’s health, economic advancement, safety and well-being, and the concerned communities whom we represent, we strongly support your commitment to strengthen U.S. climate action by further reducing emissions by up to 28 percent below 2005 levels in 2025.

Our communities are on the front-lines of climate change, ranging from the damages caused by droughts in the American West to the disproportionate health risks from fossil fuel pollution our communities face. This realization is evidenced in our strong support for U.S. action on climate change. A recent poll by Stanford University showed that 95 percent of U.S. Latinos want the U.S. government to address climate change.

We know that U.S. leadership is crucial to delivering the type of global response required to protect communities everywhere, including our extended families in Latin America that are already suffering from extreme weather events. This new U.S. commitment is a critical piece of securing a strong international agreement this December. It sends a powerful signal to other countries that the U.S. is prepared to act decisively at home and will help spur other countries into action.

We share your concerns about climate change and are eager to see the U.S. act decisively on climate change – now and into the future. This is the time for us to rise to the challenge.

We pledge to work with you to support your efforts so that together we may secure a healthy future for our community and communities around the world.

Sincerely,

• Giselle Achecar, Managing Director, Founder & CEO; EcoRico Entertainment, LLC
• Henry Briceno, Southeast Environmental Research Center & Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University
• Dr. Yadira Caraveo, Pediatrician
• Maria Cardona, Principal; Dewey Square Group/Latinovations
• Arturo Carmona, Executive Director; Presente.org
• Chris Castro, Co-Founder; Citizen Energy
• Eligio Cedeño, CEO; Vme Television
• Honorable Henry Cisneros, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, former Mayor of San AntonioTeresa Cordova, Director; Great Cities Institute
• Santiago A. Cueto, Founding Partner; Cueto Law Group
• Michael DeSantiago, President & CEO; Primera Engineers
• Cesar A. Dovalina Jr., President; Cristina Foods, Inc.
• Clayton Louis Ferrara, Executive Director; IDEAS for Us
• Dr. Antonio Flores, President & CEO; Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities
• José G. González, Founder/Director; Latino Outdoors
• Amy Hinojosa, Executive Director; MANA – A Latina Organization
• Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO; LanzaTech
• Rafael Hurtado, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Policy Fellow
• Honorable Alfonso Lopez, Virginia House of Delegates
• Dr. Antonio Lopez, Executive Director; Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
• Edwin Luevanos, Co-Founder & CEO; Citizen Energy
• Mark Magaña, President; Green Latinos
• Ben Monterosso, Executive Director; Mi Familia Vota
• Rachel Morello-Frosch, Professor; University of California, Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management
• Ignacia Moreno, Esq., CEO & Principal, The iMoreno Group, PLC, Fmr. Asst. Attorney General, Environment & Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice
• Adrianna Quintero, Executive Director, Voces Verdes
• Elianne Ramos, Founder & CEO; Speak Hispanic, LLC
• Mildred Real, CEO, Common Ground for Conservation
• Patricia Romero-Lankao, Climate Research Scientist; National Center for Atmospheric Research /University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
• Honorable Bill Richardson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, former Secretary of Energy, and former Governor of New Mexico
• Dr. Sergio Rimola, Co-Chair, DC Metro Steering Committee; National Hispanic Medical Association
• Dr. Elena Rios, President & CEO; National Hispanic Medical Association
• Joseph Sanchez, Partner & COO; Sol4r
• Graciela Tiscareño-Sato, Founder; Gracefully Global Group LLC, Publisher of “Latinnovating: Green American Jobs and the Latinos Creating Them”
• Lucero Soto Wiley, Financial AdvisorTom Soto, Mono Lake Committee
• Zuraya Tapia, Director of Development; U.S.-Mexico Foundation
• Olga Torres, President; Hampton Roads Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
• Carlos Zegarra, Director; Sachamama