THE IMPORTANCE OF INCLUSION IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT.

• Author: Quintero, Adrianna

Journal of International Affairs (JIA): Prior to joining the Energy Foundation, you founded Voces Verdes at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) to amplify Latino leadership in the environmental movement. Can you explain what that organization does and why its work is important?

Adrianna Quintero (AQ): I began as an attorney at NRDC in 1999, working on pesticides and drinking water issues. Soon after I started, I noticed that even though we were working on issues that directly impacted communities of color, these weren't represented in the mainstream environmental movement. This didn't make sense to me, since, as a Latina myself, I knew that we cared about these issues. I set out to change this, focusing my work on the impact that the Latinx community was facing, and explored this initially, in a report titled, "Hidden Danger: Environmental Health Threats in the Latino Community." The report shed light on the extent of environmental harm facing the community, and how a lack of engagement and outreach exacerbates these problems. That began my journey to build greater representation and leadership by Latinos and communities of color in the environmental movement.

In 2008, VOCES was launched with the aim of amplifying Latinx leadership on climate change, and in doing so, motivating others to join the fight. No longer could legislators assume that Latinos didn't care about the environment, or that we were a single-issue monolithic group. VOCES leaders--organizations, businesses, and individuals--had a lot to say about climate change and embodied the support for climate action and a clean energy future that poll after poll show exists among Latinos.

J1A: One of your articles states, "Environmental harms like climate change hurt people of color, women and girls, and the poor first and worst." Can you explain why this is the case and how these communities are affected?

AQ: Sadly, around the world, women and girls continue to have significantly less power than men socially, economically, and politically. Women are still paid less, and discriminated against on everything from education, to jobs, to healthcare. Women and girls are also more vulnerable because they are the primary caretakers for their families. Women and girls are also primarily responsible for gathering food and collecting water, which due to climate change, are becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous, with droughts requiring them to travel longer distances, risking health and safety to find water and food sources.

Women and girls also face greater risk of sexual violence and intimidation when they have to flee their homes during a storm or after a climate disaster, and because they continue to face higher levels of poverty worldwide, climate impacts and displacement have greater long-term effects on women. When these women are women of color, the discrimination, risk, and level of poverty is even worse.

I have tried to resist...