Latin America to debate climate change

PANAMA CITY, June 16 (Xinhua) — Representatives from 20 Latin American countries will meet here on June 24-26 to debate climate change and the reduction of carbon emission, authorities said on Tuesday.

The Panamanian National Authority of Environment said that the fourth Latin American Forum on Carbon will draw the participation of more than 400 officials and activists from the region.

One of the main purposes of this meeting is to map out a joint action plan for the United Nations

Conference on Climate Change to be held in December this year in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The countries that will participate in the meeting are Argentina, Brazil, Barbados, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela and Panama.

Where is Mexico?

peru: environmental conflict and deaths

The political power of Peru´s indigenous peoples — estimated at around 45 percent of the country´s 28 million people — has come into conflict recently when “after months of peaceful protests by indigenous groups” against oil drilling in the Amazon (source: San Francisco Chronicle).  

Why must people die to protect the planet? Sigh.

 

is”green” a social movement or a lifestyle choice?

It seems that everywhere I look – we are trying to be green, sustainable, eco-conscious, etc.

YAY! I couldn’t be happier, but…..wait.

From Apple, Inc.  to Miss America, everybody is riding the green train.  Yet, I wonder…… what is the “green” movement missing?

there are so many benefits to being green:

1. food – organic, free-range, non-genetically modified food sources.
2. conscious consumerism – fair-trade, locally-grown.
3. cleaner energy – saving money on energy for our homes/gas for our cars.
4. healthier families – distance toxins, harsh chemicals and other harmful material away from our children and families.
5. reducing waste – buying recycled items and using renewable bags while shopping.

But what exactly are we accomplishing by being green?

Besides the personal healthier,sometimes- frugal benefits of being green, are we doing this to help our planet or are we being selfish for ourselves and children?  How about the destruction of the rain forest?  The pollution of  rivers is a pandemic, yet have we made it a case to become aware of these issues and act on the atrocity of such environmental violation?

I am the biggest advocate for being green for whatever reason, but I often wonder whether being “green” is a trend or a global cause?

I am a big advocate of an internationalized collective sustainability, conservation and environmentalism, but I wonder if this is the case for all the green folk out there.

feliz día – mi lindo planeta tierra!

Happy Earth Day!  Let us strive to unite and create a collective sustainability that benefits us, our planet and future generations – of all of creatures thatinhabit this beautiful earth.

Remember - a little  will go a loooooooooooong way.

the greenest green bag!

Just came back from meeting with one of my best friends who is the genius and co-founder behind Project GreenBag - the greenest green bag of all.   We have three   beautiful bags that are truly green – from  production, made made from eco-inks and organic cotton (locally in San Francisco) to post-consumerism – they are biodegradable!

I am so proud to be involved in this project and be part of the Project GreenBag team!

being verde isn’t easy….

Hola people -

For the past two months, www.ecoloca.com has been on my mind.  On the muni (San Francisco’s public transportation system), I thought about becoming the great Latina green blogger – one with an unfiltered voice that would discuss multiculturalism, ecopreunarism and environmentalism.  Also, I want to globalize the green lifestyle to promote a collective dialogue about out impact on this planet.

Being green is probably easier to me because of the demographic I belong to – young, college-educated and urban.  It also helps a lot that I work for a green media company.   Therefore, leading a sustainable life is easier to me than most Latinos.    I can choose to be “green” through my transportation choices, diet regimen and my consumption of sustainable goods – from fair trade coffee to organic cotton shoes.  Even with all of these options, it has been hard for me to redesign my life around being truly  green.  Cultural and financial factors have inhibited the process of living a true, sustainable lifestyle.

But I remind myself that I still have the option to be “green” and that the majority of Latinos in the U.S. are not even be exposed to the possibility of sustainable change.

Take the case of  Mexican-Americans, Latinos and Hispanics in my city.  From the number of plastic bags at my  local inner-city grocery store, to the toxic cleaning products my mother uses as a housecleaner (please refer to the article by New America Media on the subject)-  this population is excluded from the “green” dialogue and movement, even though there is a wide interest in environmental issues and green jobs, as reported by Green Jobs Now.

Why has the mainstream “green” community failed to include these and other multicultural populations in the movement towards  cleaner, sustainable and greener planet?  Instead, we clump them in the “green collar” category and forget that they too are consumers, activists and advocates for a better world – socially, economically and environmentally.

Lastly, I hope to address issues on a larger, regional level that includes green issues faced in Latin American countries.  The recent ExpoSustentat in São Paulo, Brazil demonstrates the demand of the region for clean energy, waste management and green consumer goods.   A recent conversation with two friends of mine in Brazil regarding their carbon footprint reflects a growing trend in environmental change in a country widely known for its rainforest destruction, abuse of animal rights and environmental pollution.

I hope this blog sheds a new light on these and other issues….