My dad really ingrained in us kids the importance of stewardship, and this was something I knew was a commitment. You reap from the land and you have to be good stewards for the land. At a young age I was aware of that importance.
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Many Latino families are working so hard to fulfill those basic necessities, they may not have the time or headspace to consider the land or recreation or connecting with nature. However, in my opinion, spending time with family is also a basic necessity, and public lands are a great venue, as they are open to everyone and they provide a place for families to be together doing activities that are low-cost.
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Only in America could a migrant boy from Mexico picking tomatoes look up toward the snowcapped mountains of the Sierra Nevada, and 30 years later, manage those same magnificent lands.
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Methane is vented or flared off at well sites on public lands polluting the air. Methane creates smog which significantly harms lungs-- making it difficult to breathe deeply, increasing asthma attacks, and other lung problems. Is this the price we pay for the jobs that are created or is there a better way?
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Growing up in Arizona, I was surrounded by family – my four sisters, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. It was a lot of mouths to feed and back then we didn’t have a lot of money, so we relied on nature for our food (not so different from our ancestors).
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Critical decisions made today will affect Latino heritage for generations...
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Without costing taxpayers a single dime, LWCF has put more than $17 billion into the protection of land in every state, contributed support to more than 41,000 state and local park projects, and improved access to the outdoors for millions of people. While the LWCF has certainly been beneficial to all people, the program has deeper meaning for the Latino community.
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We need to provide our children with the things that make life worth living, and getting out and participating in the outdoors is very important for that.
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Preserving parks and other open spaces is a priority for residents in my district, and for me too. Many of us shared a similar upbringing. Unable to go on exotic sounding vacations like Disneyworld, most of us took to the hills. On weekends, my family would pack a picnic and go to a park.
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Engaging people in our rich history not only protects Hispanic culture, it also reminds people of the important role the community has played in this country’s evolution and often inspires them to get more involved in activities that help strengthen our communities.
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The U.S. Department of the Interior regularly leases public lands in order to extract natural resources, but that leasing process has not always been fair to the citizens of this country who are collectively the technical owners of these public lands. Which federal public lands do you think deserve protections?
The LWCF is perhaps the most important piece of federal legislation that has been protecting our nation’s land and water for the last 50 years and has conserved public lands that are critical to Latino communities. Did you know it is expiring at the end of September?
On August 5th an environmental crew set out to pump and treat contaminated wastewater at the defunct Gold King Mine in Colorado. Instead, they accidentally sprung an enormous leak. How can communities protect themselves from future problems with abandoned mines?
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Every Kid in a Park reflects HECHO's own efforts to re-connect our kids to nature and our Hispanic heritage, as well as to show them the diversity of our federal lands and waters – public spaces that belong to them.
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During my childhood in Las Vegas I got to enjoy regular family outings to a slew of landscapes, from deserts and dry lakebeds, to marshland and forests. I remember gazing upon breathtaking sights that expanded my outlook on life and put into perspective my place in nature.
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"Spending time outdoors has always been a renewal to me, almost like going to church. In the hardest times of my life when I was facing adversity, I found that being outdoors, camping and spending time alone in nature rejuvenated me, brought me back, and cleared my vision of life.
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You didn’t have to tell the kids to get outside and go hiking to get some exercise. That’s what we were always doing – we just didn’t call it that. You didn’t even have to hop in a car to go to a park or the woods. It was right out our back door. And with every action, we were getting acquainted with our natural resources and deepening our bonds with our planet and our heritage.
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Some of my favorite memories with my daughter, Vida, have been watching her as she explores her surroundings and challenges her own physical limits. At four years old, she has become acutely aware of her environment, even showing concern for the smallest creatures and things. It was Vida, in fact, that brought our love of hiking to our family.
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At home, you wouldn't leave a gas stove on for many reasons, but if you did you would have to pay for what you wasted. However, for the oil and gas industry drilling on federal and tribal lands, this same principle does not apply across the board. We want change that. After all, these are shared resources that we want to conserve for generations to come.
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This week the 32nd annual National Association of Elected Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) conference is taking place in Las Vegas. As the leading nonprofit that facilitates the full participation of Latinos in the American political process, NALEO’s conference provides a vital forum for discussing the key policy issues facing our communities. The agenda for this year includes sessions addressing perennial topics like health care, education, and immigration reform, but something equally as important to Latino voters is missing – conservation and environmental protection.
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