Save the Sound Environmental Justice Specialist Joins GreenLatinos on Capitol Hill to Advocate for Environmental Justice

Polling shows an overwhelming majority of Latinx individuals say they have personally experienced the effects of the climate crisis. Ensuring the policies we advocate for includes the provisions necessary to ensure equitable and impactful outcomes for Latinx communities and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities is central to this work.

In growing our partnerships with diverse groups and fighting for racial justice, our environmental justice specialist Alex Rodriguez joined GreenLatinos, a national organization focused on promoting climate justice and environmental justice for Latinx communities, for a week of federal advocacy on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The organization convened Latinx environmentalists from across the nation to advocate for the policy goals outlined in their newly released Latino Climate Justice Framework (LCJF). The framework was created by 22 Latinx organizations and elevates strategies including: (1) The Path to Energy, Environmental and Economic Justice; (2) Protecting Vulnerable Communities from the Climate Crisis; and (3) Providing Equitable Access and Representation. The LCJF is largely complimentary of the climate, clean water, lands, and ecological restoration work we lead at Save the Sound.

UPDATE: Save the Sound has endorsed the LCJF as it centers equity and relates to ongoing work on climate action, clean water, protecting public lands, and restoring ecosystems.

Pictured here from left to right in GreenLatinos’ “Northeast group” are Save the Sound’s own Alex Rodriguez, Dr. Javier Van Tull Rodriguez (PR), David Southgate (PR), Maritza Mendoza, (NC), Jessica Diaz (MD), and GreenLatinos’ own Andrea Marpillero-Colomina (NY), after meeting with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s legislative aide, Theo Miller.

Alex’s “Northeast group” held meetings with staffers representing the offices of U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Representative Nydia Velasquez, and the U.S. House of Representatives’ Sustainable Energy & Environmental Coalition. In these meetings specifically, they spoke to the on-the-ground work being led in their respective states as they relate to the goals of the LCJF. One ask in particular they pressed the offices to support was the Environmental Justice for All Act, and to deny any proposed hazardous permitting reform-related from advancing in Congress.

Pictured here are members of GreenLatinos’ Northeast group after meeting with U.S. Representative Nydia Velasquez’s legislative aide, Rumer LeGendre.

His group joined the full GreenLatinos roster of attendees for interagency meetings with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of the Interior, where they discussed issues such as advancing climate disaster relief aid, water treatment remediation, and reducing fossil fuel pollution and sacrifice zones.

GreenLatinos staff and affiliate members met with Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome, Senior Director for Environmental Justice for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and staff from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of the Interior.

We’re so glad to be connected to this incredible network of Latinx environmentalists keeping the fight strong for clean air, clean water, protected lands, and racial justice each and every day. ¡La lucha continua! The fight continues!

For supporting information on the importance of diverse representation in the environmental movement, please click here to watch our recent webinar titled “Latinx & Leading on Climate”.


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