Voces Verdes Boletín
MAY - 2015
Greetings friends,
We are excited to present the second edition of our monthly email newsletter, The Voces Verdes Boletín, crafted for YOU, our trusted supporters and allies. In this installment, we’ll share some of our leaders’ notable achievements, our top environmental news picks from around the country, and the many other Latino voices leading the conversation around climate change action and the clean power plan.
As always, we welcome your direct feedback and ideas on how we may best elevate your personal stories and continue to support your incredible work. We encourage you to share your successes, events, campaigns, and comments with us via our social media channels or by replying to this email.
We remain inspired by your incredible #VocesinAction! Below are some important commentaries from our very own Voces Verdes & NRDC team members and our leaders. Be sure to check out a brand new report led by scientist Juan Declet-Barreto entitled “Sneezing and Wheezing: How Climate Change Could Increase Ragweed Allergies, Air Pollution and Asthma,” just in time for National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month. The report has already garnered scores of positive national attention, from local outlets like the Chicago Tribune, to national online publications like Yahoo and USA Today, to broadcast news with CNN. Check out Juan’s Spanish-language blog about the report release, here. And last but certainly not least, a big congratulations to our founder, Adrianna Quintero, who was recently named by HuffPost Green as one of 10 Leaders Who Are Reshaping the Environmental Movement!
Nuestras Voces
Onda ecológica Latina, citing Analisa Freitas and Andrea Delgado
El Pregonero | May 26, 2015
15 Year old ‘Kid Warrior’ is trying to save our planet
EWAO Online | May 26, 2015
Shift to clean energy helps Florida’s low-income citizens, by Clayton Louis Ferrara
Orlando Sentinel | May 21, 2015
Colorado Latinos Urge Action on Clean Power, cites Irene Vilar and Earthjustice
Public News Service | May 21, 2015
Tell me why Climate Action is important to you, by Irene Vilar
LinkedIn Pulse | May 16, 2015
More carbon, more ozone, more ragweed: millions will keep sneezing & wheezing if climate change goes unchecked, by Juan Declet-Barreto
NRDC Switchboard | May 12, 2015
Dirty air continues to hit Latinos hard, by Adrianna Quintero
Huffington Post LatinoVoices | May 11, 2015
Affordable clean energy solutions and the Clean Power Plan: bridging the energy divide, by Analisa Freitas
La Plaza Blog | April 23, 2015
As Earth Month drew to a close, we kept the ball rolling with a lively Google+ Hangout on sustainability and business featuring some of our very own Voces Verdes leaders, and were joined by special guests Angela Barranco, Director of Public Engagement for the White House Council for Environmental Quality and Veronica Juarez, Director of Government Relations from Lyft. If you missed the discussion you can still view the chat on our YouTube Channel here.
Introducing Outgoing and New Team Members
We have been fortunate to have had Juan Afanador join our team in DC through the UCDC Program but he will be returning to finish his BA in Environmental Studies after the first week of June. We are sad to see him go but wish him well in his final year of college! Thank you so much for your Voces Verdes outreach work, Juan!
A message from Juan:
Despite my time in Washington DC coming to an end, I am endlessly grateful for the learning experience Analisa and the rest of the Voces team have given me in outreach, event planning, and spreading knowledge to many East Coast Latinos about climate change. Latino Outdoors did a great job engaging me and my classmates at a presentation bringing to light the little representation Latinos have in the environmental movement, despite our large numbers, and I saw the necessity to act. I was fortunate to engage in this spring internship with Voces Verdes, and easily became passionate with the monumental work we are doing in the short term with the Clean Power Plan, as well as building the ever-lasting network of Latino environmental leaders. As I return to finish my bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Barbara, I add motivation to my work, seeing the great potential we have to make a change and the necessity as a Colombian and Latino to stand up for our planet and our posterity. I am looking forward to the next opportunity to get involved and thank Adrianna, Analisa, Pam, and all other members of the team for making every long day of this internship so rewarding.
Allison Killius just began working with us for the summer in DC through the Stanback Program and we are excited to have her heading up our digital media efforts and continuing to support our outreach where Juan has left off.
A message from Allison:
I graduated from Tulane last spring with a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. This past year, I moved to DC and have been gaining work experience while preparing to return to graduate school in the fall where I will be pursuing a Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University, concentrating in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Health. Working with Voces Verdes is allowing me to witness the fight against climate change in action and help contribute to the movement against fossil fuels and other contributors of environmental destruction. Looking forward to supporting all of your amazing work!
Matt Sanchez is also a new member of our team, supporting our efforts in Chicago. He has already been engaging with more Latino leaders throughout Illinois and will be our IL leaders’ point of immediate contact for Voces Verdes work.
More about Matt:
Matt is a community organizer and Latino outreach specialist who has provided outreach and consultation for several political candidates, municipalities and organizations. From local elected officials to U.S. congressional races, Matt has aided many elected officials particularly in Latino outreach. Prior to becoming an independent consultant and organizer. Matt worked as a campaign consultant for Compass Public Affairs, a public affairs firm in Chicago. In this position Matt worked over a dozen state and local campaigns. Additionally with Compass, Matt lead community outreach campaigns for corporate entities across the State of Illinois. Aside from political races and community outreach, Sanchez worked as a lobbyist for the Roosevelt Group. As a lobbyist in Springfield, Matt advocated and researched policy for a variety of clients from technology to environment, and education. He is a 2007 graduate of Illinois State University, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Politics and Government.
Nuestros Top 5
As California’s worsening drought crisis attracted much of the nation’s environmental news coverage, there was buzz surrounding other issues. From the tragic oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, to the United Nations postulating how tech has changed global carbon politics, to the papal response to climate deniers, the pending heat of summer has only sped up conversations in the environmental world. Check out Nuestros Top 5 to see what we thought was big news this month:
Obama Recasts Climate Change as a Peril With Far-Reaching Effects
New York Times | May 20, 2015
Ecuador sets Guinness reforestation record
FOX News Latino | May 17, 2015
Pope’s top advisor blasts U.S. climate skeptics
The Hill | May 12, 2015
Want to Win the Climate Fight? Engage Communities of Color
Huffington Post | April 22, 2015
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on ‘How Climate Change Impacts Public Health
CNS News | April 10, 2015
What’s New?
As the weather springs to life, our friends at the Climate Reality Project just launched an exciting new program called the Climate Speakers Network, designed to train and empower climate partner organizations and communicators how to combine their personal stories and shared experiences and convert climate action into a more relatable issue. Voces Verdes, in partnership with California- and Florida-based Sachamama, was proud to be included in the first training that took place in Miami last month. Over 40 thought leaders, media commentators, and artists from the Latino community in Florida and beyond joined to discuss climate solutions and how they activate their peers and networks. The next Climate Speakers Network training will be held with Sachamama and is headed to Los Angeles this time – so be on the lookout for more details later this spring.
Sustainability in the World of Sports, an event hosted by our partners hailing from Virginia at SOL4R, touched on green victories in sports (the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2016 solar-powered Super Bowl) and green defeats (the major carbon footprint from these major events) in sports. The event took place on Wednesday, May 27 at the LEED Gold certified winery North Gate Vineyard in Purcellville, VA.
Also, DBL Investors is out with a new 2-page policy brief highlighting the economic benefits of the thriving clean energy sector, its employment boom, and the impact it has on creating a more diverse workforce. Currently, some of the leading clean energy companies are outperforming prominent technology companies in terms of job growth. Employment in the solar industry alone is growing at a rate of 10x the national average – an 86% increase in employment figures since 2010. What’s more, clean energy sectors such as solar installation are employing over 16,000 more Latinos and 4,000 more African-Americans.
This wraps up our monthly update, but please stay in touch by sending us a direct message, tagging us on Facebook, or tweeting at us with your latest achievements, events, and other activities so that we can continue broadening the public conversation around Latino leadership in action for our environment.
We cannot thank you enough for your continued support and action on climate change.
Voces Verdes Team
Upcoming Events
If you are a leader in the PA and IL areas, we invite you to join for a couple of upcoming meet & greet events currently slated for Wednesday, June 10 (Philadelphia) and Wednesday, June 24 (Chicago). Stay tuned for more details – we hope to see you there!
Check out our next Twitter Chat, scheduled for Tuesday, June 16 at 1pm EST where we will discuss Climate Health & Air Quality with the help of Salud America (@SaludToday) and other partners! Please tune in and join the conversation on Twitter at #SaludTues and #Voces4Climate.
About Voces Verdes
VOCES is a nonprofit non-partisan coalition of Latino business, public health, academic, community leaders and organizational partners who advocate for sound environmental policy to combat climate change and support clean, renewable energy. We recognize the importance of balancing economic growth, environmental protection and prosperity.