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Latinos, Environmental Justice & Climate Change
March 7, 2014 @ 8:00 am - 10:00 am CST
Free
“Latinos, Environmental Justice & Climate Change”
Manuel Pastor, Professor, University of Southern California
Rachel Morello-Frosch, Professor, University of California, Berkeley
Adrianna Quintero, Founder and Director, NRDC Latino Advocacy Program
Rafael Hurtado Jr., Community Organizer, LVEJO
Moderated by Teresa Córdova, Director, UIC Great Cities Institute
Friday, March 7, 2014
8:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Great Cities Institute
412 South Peoria Street
Suite 400, CUPPA Hall
A recent poll conducted by Latino Decisions on behalf of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Voces Verdes shows that an overwhelming majority of Latinos (9 out of 10) want the government to take action against the dangers of climate change. While the debate surrounding climate change moves beyond the scientific evidence – last September, the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report reviewed by 600 researchers from 32 countries showing that human activity is causing climate change – the policy and economic focus must quickly move towards understanding the different impacts on vulnerable populations so that we can design and implement programs to mitigate and adapt to the changes we’re already observing.
Manuel Pastor is a Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California where he currently directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE). His research focuses on issues of environmental justice, regional inclusion, and the economic and social conditions facing low-income urban communities. He holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Rachel Morello-Frosch is Professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on environmental health and environmental justice. She is particularly interested in addressing the double jeopardy faced by communities of color and the poor who experience high exposures to environmental hazards and who are more vulnerable to the toxic effects of pollution due to poverty, malnutrition, discrimination, and underlying health conditions. She holds a Ph.D. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management from University of California, Berkeley.
Adrianna Quintero is the founder and director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Latino Advocacy program and a senior attorney. Adrianna launched NRDC’s Latino outreach along with the website, La Onda Verde or LOV. Most recently, Adrianna founded Voces Verdes and aims to connect Latino organizations, business and community leaders with government decision-makers on climate and clean air issues.
Rafael Hurtado Jr. works as a Community Organizer for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) located on the Southwest side of Chicago. Within LVEJO, he has worked on the several campaigns such as: Open-Space, a campaign which was successful in the remediation of a super-fund site which is currently being converted into the first new park Little Village has seen in over 80-years, and the Clean Power Campaign, which was successful in the shutdown of both the Crawford & Fisk Coal power plants.
Teresa Córdova is Director of UIC Great Cities Institute. Since 1991, she has worked alongside the Environmental Justice Movement, and has published with and about environmental justice activists. She received her Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley.
To request disability accommodations, please contact Christiana Kinder, Great Cities Institute, (312) 996-8700, christia@uic.edu
