Front Page Live
This is not only the most crucial election of our lifetime, but it’s also the most crucial election of our planet’s lifetime. This fact is exactly why Front Page Live held a virtual Climate Summit speaking with a panel of activists and experts.
In case you missed it, here are six key takeaways:
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Telemundo’s Vanessa Hauc hosted the panel discussion. Hauc is the founder of Sachamama — a climate leadership organization in the Latino community. She is striving to make sure that her son can grow up on a beautiful planet.
I promise my son, with a pinky promise, I will choose those candidates that will protect our planet.
Thirty-two million Latinos are eligible to vote in the upcoming election — the largest minority voting bloc. Hauc discussed the need to vote for candidates that have strong climate policies, and she isn’t the only one. 72% of Latinos believe climate change is a serious problem.
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Frances Colón, an environmental policy expert, cut to the chase reminding everyone that climate change is happening right now.
For us, it is about now! Our lives are at stake!
Colón says that we dropped the ball on the pandemic, and we can’t afford to do the same on climate change. Otherwise, “the most vulnerable will continue to be the most vulnerable. There is no economy and there is no future if we don’t protect our planet.”
Colón urges everyone to text ten of your friends and make sure they’re registered to vote.
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Anthony Leiserowitz is a human geographer at Yale University who studies public perceptions of climate change. The group that cares the most about climate might surprise you. Nope. It’s not white, upper-class latte sippers. It’s Latinos!
Latinos are more convinced it’s real, most willing to get involved, and personally demand leaders get involved.
Even more important, they hold enormous political power: Many of them live in swing states.
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Ramon Cruz, the first-ever Puerto Rican to be the President of the Board of the Sierra Club, said that the census is just as important as voting.
Latinos in their countries of origins are very active politically.
“Find out how to vote in your location. Be sure that you and your family are counted in the census,” Cruz reminded everyone.
Joe Brusky / Flickr / CC BY-NC 2.0
Bill McKibben is an author, journalist, and co-founder of the climate campaign group 350.org.
One of the reasons we’re in this precarious position is “the fossil fuel industry’s mounting campaign of disinformation.” McKibben says that we need to stand up to the industry.
“Nobody can reform the coral reefs, refreeze the Arctic,” he says. However, if we can make the earth a cleaner place, “it would also be a cleaner place politically.” McKibben states that dependence on fossil fuels has far-reaching political implications. “That’s why the Koch brothers and Saudi Arabia are so powerful.”
He says we need to start the shift to cleaner energy solutions. And there is no time to waste.
Our job is to do it fast!
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It is easy to get discouraged with a looming threat like climate change, but this climate summit packed plenty of hope for the future. These experts and activists are fighting the good fight every day. “I am not going to stand on the sidelines and watch my life burn and watch my children’s lives burn,” Leiserowitz stated.
Cruz reminded everyone that Gen Z will play a role, “The new generation… they understand science and how urgent the problem is… And there’s a Latina leader on the Green New Deal [AOC].”
Leiserowitz issued a call to action: “We are going to be organized, we are going to be heard! How important this is to connect this to love. Our love for our friends, our love for our families, our love for our communities. The solutions are here!”
Are you ready to join the panel in the fight for climate? Make sure you are registered and make your own Pinky Promise to vote for future on November 3rd.
