{"id":12825,"date":"2013-07-02T17:43:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-02T22:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=12825"},"modified":"2017-02-07T13:26:55","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T19:26:55","slug":"its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This post first appeared on EDF voices<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Source: Thomas Hawk\/Flickr<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I love California in the summertime, and Fourth of July weekend is one of my favorite holidays. But it is getting excruciatingly HOT out here, and according to the best science, it is going to get much hotter.<\/p>\n

This past weekend the West Coast broke nearly every\u00a0temperature record<\/a>\u00a0on the books, well ahead of August and September, which are usually the hottest months of the year.<\/p>\n

And last year was the\u00a0hottest year on record<\/a>\u00a0for the continental United States. Crops were devastated, cities were hit by supercharged storms, and people,\u00a0mostly the poor<\/a>, suffered and died amid some of the most destructive extreme weather events in our history. All told, the United States spent more than\u00a0$110 Billion<\/a>\u00a0on weather related disasters in 2012.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more bad news ahead. Extreme heat\u00a0projections<\/a>\u00a0for the U.S. in 2030, based on\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0from Stanford University, shows that the West and Southwest are going to get really, really hot!<\/p>\n

Those regions, incidentally, are going to have the\u00a0largest concentrations<\/a>\u00a0of people of color in the country, and Latinos will be the fastest growing part of that demographic.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take a scientist to see that two freight trains \u2013 Latino population growth and extreme weather driven by climate change- are heading directly towards each other.<\/p>\n

So will the climate change story end in disaster?\u00a0 Or could this be an opportunity to adapt to and overcome a great challenge?\u00a0 Latino leadership will be key to answering this question.<\/p>\n

National polling data tells us that Latino voters see that something is terribly wrong, and overwhelmingly support action to fix it.\u00a0Seventy-four percent<\/a>\u00a0of Latinos polled earlier this year\u00a0believe climate change is a \u201cserious problem\u201d, almost 10 percent higher than the national average among all American adults.\u00a0 Another poll tells us that\u00a086%<\/a>\u00a0of Latinos strongly support President Obama taking action to reduce pollution that causes climate change.\u00a0What\u2019s more, gender, income, education, nativity and even party affiliation do not significantly move the needle on Latinos\u2019 commitment to tackling climate change.<\/p>\n

Now for the exciting part: adapting to climate change will present one of the greatest opportunities to rebuild and enhance our infrastructure and economy, and to improve our public health. Why? Because adaptation will require major investments in clean energy and energy efficiency, as well as more green space and trees in our cities and more reliable (and low-carbon) transportation. We also need to stop burning the fossil fuels that are cooking our planet and polluting our air.\"\"<\/p>\n

Got Sun?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a start, why not begin capturing all that free solar energy with rooftop solar panels? \u00a0This will reduce the strain on our electricity grid, and allow communities to stay cool without breaking the bank on the energy costs of air conditioning. Better still, building out solar will be good for the economy. In California, my home state, 92% of Latino voters want to increase the use of renewable energy and\u00a087%<\/a>\u00a0agreed that \u201cgrowing the state\u2019s solar energy industry will create new jobs in California.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before that\u00a0the Clean Energy economy is an opportunity for Latinos<\/a>, creating new demand for goods and services, new businesses and new jobs. After all, somebody has to design and install all those solar panels, plant the trees, weatherize the homes and businesses, and operate and maintain our mass transit systems. That\u2019s an easy argument to make to Latinos voters, 86% of whom\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that they would prefer the country to invest in clean, renewable energy sources rather than fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

Last week I joined Latino leaders from Voces Verdes and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) to have a conversation about the need for better and cleaner infrastructure in a warming world. And President Obama made it clear\u00a0last week<\/a>\u00a0that his administration will double down on climate change, calling for all of us to \u201cseize the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the polls show, the President has overwhelming support for his initiative from Latinos in this country. It\u2019s time for Latino leaders to follow suit by being at the forefront of those calling for action on climate change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This post first appeared on EDF voices) I love California in the summertime, and Fourth of July weekend is one of my favorite holidays. But it is getting excruciatingly HOT out here, and according to the best science, it is going to get much hotter. This past weekend the West Coast broke nearly every\u00a0temperature record\u00a0on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8898,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,42996,439,203,84820],"tags":[366],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-12825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california","category-smart-power","category-climate","category-solar-energy","category-state","tag-green-jobs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change - Energy Exchange<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change - Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(This post first appeared on EDF voices) I love California in the summertime, and Fourth of July weekend is one of my favorite holidays. But it is getting excruciatingly HOT out here, and according to the best science, it is going to get much hotter. This past weekend the West Coast broke nearly every\u00a0temperature record\u00a0on ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Energy Exchange\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-02T22:43:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-02-07T19:26:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jorge Madrid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jorge Madrid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jorge Madrid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/8026d40b933da49982be7c5a5e129f61\"},\"headline\":\"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-02T22:43:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-07T19:26:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/\"},\"wordCount\":714,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"green jobs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"California\",\"Clean Energy\",\"Climate\",\"Solar Energy\",\"State\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/\",\"name\":\"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change - Energy Exchange\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-02T22:43:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-02-07T19:26:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/8026d40b933da49982be7c5a5e129f61\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/\",\"name\":\"Energy Exchange\",\"description\":\"Accelerating the clean energy revolution\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/8026d40b933da49982be7c5a5e129f61\",\"name\":\"Jorge Madrid\",\"description\":\"Manager, California Clean Energy Jorge is in charge of building new partnership and alliances for EDF\u2019s California climate and energy work, as well as engaging national Latino advocacy organizations. Follow Jorge on Twitter \u00bb\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/jorge-madrid\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/author\/jmadrid\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change - Energy Exchange","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change - Energy Exchange","og_description":"(This post first appeared on EDF voices) I love California in the summertime, and Fourth of July weekend is one of my favorite holidays. But it is getting excruciatingly HOT out here, and according to the best science, it is going to get much hotter. This past weekend the West Coast broke nearly every\u00a0temperature record\u00a0on ...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/","og_site_name":"Energy Exchange","article_published_time":"2013-07-02T22:43:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-02-07T19:26:55+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jorge Madrid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jorge Madrid","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/"},"author":{"name":"Jorge Madrid","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/8026d40b933da49982be7c5a5e129f61"},"headline":"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change","datePublished":"2013-07-02T22:43:44+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-07T19:26:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/"},"wordCount":714,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg","keywords":["green jobs"],"articleSection":["California","Clean Energy","Climate","Solar Energy","State"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/","name":"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change - Energy Exchange","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg","datePublished":"2013-07-02T22:43:44+00:00","dateModified":"2017-02-07T19:26:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/8026d40b933da49982be7c5a5e129f61"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/californiadream\/files\/2013\/07\/207542233_7086d03990_o.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2013\/07\/02\/its-time-for-latino-leadership-on-climate-change\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It\u2019s Time for Latino Leadership on Climate Change"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/","name":"Energy Exchange","description":"Accelerating the clean energy revolution","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/#\/schema\/person\/8026d40b933da49982be7c5a5e129f61","name":"Jorge Madrid","description":"Manager, California Clean Energy Jorge is in charge of building new partnership and alliances for EDF\u2019s California climate and energy work, as well as engaging national Latino advocacy organizations. Follow Jorge on Twitter \u00bb","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/jorge-madrid"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/author\/jmadrid\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8898"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12825\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12825"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}