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Tag: Latinos and Conservation

Caring for Nature with Pride and Joy

por Felix González

I am a second year graduate student studying Environmental Science at Pace University in New York. I am currently 26 years old and will be starting my thesis soon on the effects of man-made dams on aquatic ecosystems.

I become engulfed with pride and joy as I’m able to share my photos and knowledge with everyday people who also care for our natural world and the creatures living side by side with us.

I am currently working as an intern at Rockefeller State Park Preserve. During my time there, we are surveying the local turtle population to better understand what species are present and how abundant they are. In one of the photos, I am holding the largest common snapping turtle we recorded in our survey which weighed in over 20 pounds. While we conduct our research we teach parents and kids who pass by about our project and why it is important for us to know what is present in the preserve area. When we are not conducting the survey, we watch over our local Purple Martin nesting site and make sure they are breeding safely and stay well protected.

Although I’m only an intern working with the state, I become engulfed with pride and joy as I’m able to share my photos and knowledge with everyday people who also care for our natural world and the creatures living side by side with us.

Felix González is currently a Master’s of Science student at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York. A 26-year-old Puerto Rican from the Bronx, he is also a fisherman, hiker, trail runner, and wildlife photographer. Felix’s passion for the outdoors has been with him since he was a child, and he is finally able to live out his dreams of working in and protecting the great outdoors.

Unearthing Our Conservation Cultura

You’ve heard us use the term Conservation Cultura. In using that term, it is an affirmation of how conservation is woven in our cultural practices and rooted in our history and traditions. Often it is not seen as a distinct identity, but one of many layers symbolic of the mestizaje that is characteristic of many Latino communities. As we engage in the conservation of today and the future, recognizing and valuing our conservation cultura is important to see to acknowledge how Latino communities are integral to the environmental movement.

With that in mind, here are 10 ways you maybe didn’t know Latinos have been a part of the environmental and conservation movement.

"In the immediate aftermath of the June 5, 1967 Tierra Amarilla courthouse raid, New Mexico National Guard tanks and troops scoured northern New Mexico in search of Reies Lopez Tijerina and other Alianza members. In this photo, troops chat with a Canjilon resident." (Ray Cary/Journal File)

“In the immediate aftermath of the June 5, 1967 Tierra Amarilla courthouse raid, New Mexico National Guard tanks and troops scoured northern New Mexico in search of Reies Lopez Tijerina and other Alianza members. In this photo, troops chat with a Canjilon resident.” (Ray Cary/Journal File)

  1. You know about Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the banning of DDT. Did you know that the legal case for the banning of DDT was brought by Ralph Abascal from California Rural Legal Assistance on behalf of 6 farmworkers? (5 of them nursing mothers).

Braceros being sprayed with DDT. 1959 Photo by Henry Andersen via Vivian Price. PBS documentary Harvest of Loneliness.

Braceros being sprayed with DDT. 1959 Photo by Henry Andersen via Vivian Price. PBS documentary Harvest of Loneliness.

  1. In the 1960’s Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta fought for the rights of farmworkers, but the environment was part of that work:Throughout the Southwest, how communities have lived in connection to the land informed their conservation practices. See the acequia system.

“Picture This: California Perspectives on American History,” a project of the Oakland Museum of California Museum.

  1. George Melendez Wright, a National Service biologist of Salvadorian descent was a key figure in getting the National Park Service to survey and examine park units for their ecological value and preservation in the late 1920’s.

George Melendez-Wright 1929 by Carl Parcher Russell for NPS Historic Photograph Collection.

George Melendez-Wright 1929 by Carl Parcher Russell for NPS Historic Photograph Collection.

  1. Latino naturalists have been contributing to ecological knowledge early on. Check out the story of Ynes Mexia (1870-1938) born in Washington D.C., grew up in Texas and Mexico—Sierra Club member in 1920.

Photo: California Academy of Sciences, via http://latinonaturalhistory.biodiversityexhibition.com/en/card/ynes-mexia.

Photo: California Academy of Sciences.

  1. We have a history of caring about the land AND the people, stressing how our communities are affected by environmental disparities. The same day of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, Chicano Park was founded, demonstrating the connection among community, land, and cultura—and showing how for our communities the environment is part of social justice work. In 1981 the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) helped develop a Community Environmental Bill of Rights. These stories have been documented for some time—see this Race, Poverty, and Environment issue on Latinos and the Environment, from 1993.

Photo via sandiegohistory.org. A TURNING POINT The Conception and Realization of Chicano Park by Kevin Delgado.

Photo via sandiegohistory.org. A TURNING POINT
The Conception and Realization of Chicano Park by Kevin Delgado.

Photo: UCSD Special Collections.

Photo: UCSD Special Collections.

  1. Mujeres have often led the way, from Dolores Huerta, to Mothers of East LA, to Mujeres de la Tierra y más!

Josephine del Pozo, Henrietta Castillo, Lucy Delgado. and Amanda del Pozo. Photo by Mothers of East Los Angeles.

Josephine del Pozo, Henrietta Castillo, Lucy Delgado. and Amanda del Pozo. Photo by Mothers of East Los Angeles.

Mothers of East Los Angeles

  1. Conservation is in our roots and cultura: What do you know about how the Mexica (Aztecs) were a zero-waste society? And we all know the cliché about the butter container in the fridge…we reuse and conserve!

Photo via Mund2.

Photo via Mun2.

  1. Many “new” practices like urban gardening, backyard chickens, snout to tail cooking, and the like— have been around in Latino communities since the original barrios. And we’ve always been outdoors!

"El Monte youth using the Rio Hondo as a recreational space." Photo: La Historia Historical Society. See more at http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/san-gabriel-river/life-at-marrano-beach-the-lost-barrio-beach-of-the-san-gabriel-valley.html

“El Monte youth using the Rio Hondo as a recreational space.” 1940’s Photo: La Historia Historical Society. See more at http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/san-gabriel-river/life-at-marrano-beach-the-lost-barrio-beach-of-the-san-gabriel-valley.html

  1. We recognize the cultural value of land and water beyond just being commodities or natural resources. El agua es vida, cuidala!

Agua Es Vida- Arte by Jesus Barraza. Visit dignidadrebelde.com to support this artist and artist collective.

Agua Es Vida- Arte by Jesus Barraza. Visit dignidadrebelde.com to support this artist and artist collective.

Arte by Jesus Barraza

  1. But pick an environmental issue and we’re there, from public land conservation to action on climate change, to a connection to the outdoors. And there’s been a history of community-based organizations you may never had the chance to hear their story, from the Tonantzin Land Institute in 1981 to Tierra y Libertad Organization today.

Photo Credit Liz Nerat.

Photo Credit Liz Nerat.

Tierra Y Libertad Organization Barrio Sustainability Project. See more at https://www.facebook.com/TierraYLibertadOrganization.

Tierra Y Libertad Organization Barrio Sustainability Project. See more at https://www.facebook.com/TierraYLibertadOrganization.

Hablando de Nuestra Madre

April and May passed celebrating Earth Day, Arbor Day, and Mother’s Day.

Dia de la Tierra- Earth Day. Screenprint arte by Jose G. Gonzalez.

With those connections in mind, I’d like to introduce another way to celebrate a very special mother, La Madre Tierra. The word madre carries a particular strong cultural resonance in Chicano/Latino/Hispano communities, and when it is connected to tierra, it is amplified to strongly connect with a sense of community, belonging, and respect. The Latino identity has strong associations with words madre and tierra: vida, libertad, querida, sagrada, and other words dignifying life, liberty, and sacredness.

The words madre y tierra have long and deep roots in our history and heritage, guided by our mestizo and indigenous identities. The La Madre Tierra project is working on discovering, documenting, sharing, and highlighting those roots via our stories and voices. It is a way to say, “We are here, as part of this environmental and conservation movement, we have been here, this is how, and it has value in moving forward and building on the conservation successes of the past.” This is how we are we are included and valued rather than assimilated; this is how we assert an ambicultural identity rather than being subsumed into another or taken for granted.

La Madre Tierra

La Madre Tierra: Digital arte by Jose G. Gonzalez for lamadretierra.org

In the community, references to the value of how we’re connected to the land are abound as part of our narrative rather than separate from it. That is part of why at times there is a difficulty for some communities in identifying as conservationists or environmentalist from an expected traditional mainstream narrative—we have a conservation cultura rather than thinking we need to add conservation to our culture.

You can look at Emiliano Zapata’s “Tierra Y Libertad” and Reies Tijerina’s land grant movement. You can see the reference to tierra in the Chicano Art Movement and how that continues today with the work of Dignidad Rebelde and Favianna Rodriguez. You can see how we are rooted in the US through Alfredo Figueroa’s La Cuna de Aztlan, and the work of Devon Peña around Tierra y Vida.

Agua Es Vida- Arte by Jesus Barraza. Visit dignidadrebelde.com to support this artist and artist collective.

Agua Es Vida- Screenprint arte by Jesus Barraza. Visit dignidadrebelde.com to support this artist and artist collective.

You can see a history of community-based organizations throughout the US that have existed in connection to the defense of land and community, of La Madre Tierra.

And of course there are all the references throughout Latin America, from Pachamama to Tonantzin—both embodiments of mother earth.

It’s rooted in culture through contemporary songs, embedded in the narrative of Calle 13’s “Latinoamérica” and interpretations of This Land is Your Land, from Lila Downs to Las Cafeteras.

La Madre Tierra is very present in our culture as it is our ecological home. Let’s share our voices and the stories of La Madre Tierra, demonstrate how our Conservation Cultura is displayed, and not only affirm our presence in this work, but remind ourselves of how we’ve been present and how it’s time to come together to move forward together—hay que compartir como estamos conectados con la Madre Tierra.