Rep. Grijalva’s leadership recognized at Latino Eco Festival

“Expanding the environmental coalition and including communities of interest in decision-making are priorities not just for me and my colleagues, but for millions of Americans who have felt unheard and left out for too long. It’s time for everyone, on and off Capitol Hill, to work closely together on issues that impact us all.”

That was Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) earlier this year, commenting on an historic roundtable he hosted in Washington as ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee.  At the meeting, Democratic members met with representatives from Latino-led conservation organizations from across the country.  Their goal: to begin forging an inclusive conservation agenda that listens to voices usually excluded from decision-making such as Latinos, Native Americans, and people from communities impacted the most by environmental policy decisions. 

{mosads}Grijalva has persisted with steadfast determination to elevate the importance of inclusiveness as Congress and the administration chart a course for conservation policy.  He has challenged the traditional environmental community to accelerate their efforts to diversify and become more representative of the communities they seek to represent and advocate on behalf of.  And he has been a true champion on the most pressing conservation issues of our time, from action on climate change to support for the Land and Water Conservation Fund to clean water, renewable energy, endangered species protection, and the list goes on. 

Because of his outstanding leadership, Grijalva is being awarded this year’s Nuestro Padre award at the third annual Americas Latino Eco Festival, taking place in Denver in mid-October.  The festival caps off Hispanic Heritage Month by convening Latino leaders from conservation, the arts, policy, science, education, business, and more for three days of workshops, presentations, exhibits and rallies.  Inspired by Grijalva’s keynote at the event last year, the festival is mobilizing a powerful advocacy platform for action on climate change, the Clean Power Plan, renewable energy, clean water and public land conservation. 

These issues are a priority for Latinos in the U.S.  A recent poll conducted by Earthjustice and GreenLatinos found that 78 percent of Latinos report that they have directly experienced the impacts of climate change.  The poll also found that Latinos reject the false claim that there has to be a tradeoff between protecting the environment and fostering economic growth. In the survey, six out of ten Latinos have confidence that enacting stronger environmental laws will improve economic growth and create new jobs. 

The results of this survey bolster the argument Grijalva has made throughout his career in public service:  substantial investment in the Latino community now will reap political, public policy and real benefits for the environment for generations to come. For Latinos, our strong positions on questions pertaining to the importance of stewardship of our natural environment and conservation of resources reflect long-held cultural tenets taught to us not as environmentalism, but based more on common sense, economic necessity, and good citizenry. 

I am very proud to be a part of the community recognizing Grijalva for his outstanding contributions to elevating Latino voices on the stewardship of our environment.

Magana is the founding president of GreenLatinos, a national nonprofit that convenes Latino leaders committed to addressing national, regional and local environmental, natural resources and conservation issues that significantly affect the health and welfare of the Latino community in the United States.