5 videos of Latina voices in the fight against climate change

10/13/2020 12:21 pm ET • Siobhan Brier

Screenshot / YouTube

Latin America is very susceptible to the damage done by climate change, especially in areas along the equator. In fact, the damage has already begun.

Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 caused the death of over 3,000 people. Brazil and various other countries have faced serious drought and water crises. In 2019, uncontrollable wildfires ripped through the Amazon.

Latin America is home to some of the most stunning, pure, expansive nature and wildlife in the world, all of which are under threat. Seeing these remarkable landscapes damaged or destroyed is heartbreaking both to Latin American communities and to people with Latino heritage all over the world. With sea levels only expected to rise, Latin America faces a climate crisis that will undoubtedly affect millions, and potentially billions of people.

For that reason, it’s no surprise that some of the most inspiring climate change activism campaigns are coming out of Latin America and Latino communities all over the world. A 2019 study by Yale revealed that Hispanic communities in the United States are especially worried about climate change.

Traditional Latin American customs are often sustainable, which may be why climate activism comes so naturally to Latino communities.

Costa Rica has plans to be completely carbon emissions-free by 2050. Youth-led climate strike movements are particularly powerful in places like Puerto Rico, where the youngest generation has referred to themselves as “Generation Maria.”

Keep scrolling to hear from even more Latino voices, both in Latin America and abroad, who are leading the fight against climate change.

Are you ready to Vote Like A Madre?

Click on this video for 1 minute and 49 seconds that will make you feel good!

Vote like a Madre is a movement of Latina mothers, who have pinky promised their children to vote for candidates who have strong action plans to fight climate change. They offer voting registration plans, nonbiased information in both English and Spanish, and help for learning about politics and choosing a candidate.

Don’t miss this uplifting video that will pull at your heartstrings, where a mother battles a polluting factory and becomes a superhero in her daughter’s eyes.

The mom comes into the room where her hija is doing homework, In the background, we hear news coverage about climate change. She tells her daughter, “Mama will fix this. I promise. I pinky promise.”

Next, we cut to the polluting power plant. A cadre of moms pull in their station wagon and launch an attack armed with all the toys they use with their kids every day. They outwit the security guards, trip them up with toy cars, use squirt guns against the burning furnace, leave behind a tell-tale toy dog, and push a button that says “Do Not Push” which shuts down the plant.

When mom gets back home we notice she now has an “I Voted’ sticker on her shirt, which wasn’t there before.

She finds her daughter playing with all the toys we just saw the moms use in the attack on the power plant. She places an “I Voted” sticker on her daughter and we realize that Mom went to vote while the daughter imagined the attack on the power plant!

What would you do to protect your kids from climate change? Start with your vote, to learn more TEXT ‘MADRE’ TO 52886.

Imagine the future with Xiye Bastida

Xiye Bastida is originally from Mexico where she grew up as a member of Otomi-Toltec Nation. As a child, she witnessed her home suffer through two years of drought, which then gave way to flooding in 2015.

Now, Bastida lives in New York, where she is an outspoken climate activist. She encourages climate optimism rather than despair and hopes that you’ll believe in a future where climate change is no longer a threat.

Planeta G Youtube series

The bilingual YouTube series, Planeta G, hosted by Crystal Mojica and Valentina Stackl, is dedicated to shining a light on Latino climate change activists. They upload twenty-minute discussions that touch on all sorts of sociopolitical issues both within the fight against climate change and elsewhere.

Mojica says of the show, “We just don’t look at [environmental activism] the same way that, you know, white people have practiced it, like going outdoors and hiking and Patagonia jackets. It’s about our grandmothers teaching us natural recipes, saving food scraps and having composting in our homes. These are practices a lot of us grew up with. It’s ingrained.”

Vanessa Hauc y Planeta Tierra

Vanessa Hauc, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and senior correspondent on Telemundo, was not seeing stories in Spanish about climate change.

Her passion for environmental issues inspired her to create the “Alerta Verde” segment to inform and educate the community about the importance of protecting our planet. Today she is leading the investigative unit on environmental issues at Telemundo Network “Planeta Tierra”. (Click on the video to watch!)

Vanessa is also the co-founder of a nonprofit organization called Sachamama or “Mother Jungle”. Her work to educate the Latino community on climate issues was a driving force in HuffPost naming her one of the ten Latinos leading on climate.

Patriarchy, racism, and colonialism caused the climate crisis by Jamie Margolin

In this Ted Talk, Jamie Margolin, a young Colombian-American climate activist, shares her view that patriarchy, racism, and colonialism are the roots of the climate crisis.

Jamie Margolin is also a co-founder of Zero-Hour, which fights for intersectional climate justice and addresses issues like colonialism that contributed to the climate crisis.

Add your own voice

Vote Like a Madre

Latin American communities are some of the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, but also some of the most influential in the movement to stop it.

These videos show that Latina’s efforts to fight climate change are just as diverse as the massive Latino community. These diverse voices united in a common cause bring hope to the fight to save the world from the effects of climate change. Isn’t it time you added your own voice to the cause?

You don’t have to be an internationally known climate activist or have your own Ted Talk to ensure that your voice is heard. You can make your mark with your vote. The Vote Like A Madre movement is helping Latina moms reclaim their power while promising a better future for their children.

Join them by making your own Pinky Promise and a plan to vote in the upcoming election. The climate fight needs all of us!

Disclaimer: This sponsored article was produced and distributed in partnership with Latino Victory Project, in support of the Vote Like a Madre campaign.