Meeting Miami

(I must confess that this is my first foray into blogging so bear with me.) Myself and a few of the Re-energize America team just finished a delicious dinner at Versailles Cuban Restaurant (truly an institution) here in Miami. This great meal topped off what was an event-full day and a great Re-energize America town hall meeting at the University of Miami (go Canes!) with former Governor and Senator Bob Graham, City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, James Fenton and Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell.

The best part of the town-hall meeting is that the questions you get from the audience really give you a unique insight into the prospective of people in the community. Today's was no different. Sportsmen were concerned with the very real and often overlooked impacts of global warming on our oceans; homeowners interested in doing their share by investing in solar power shared concerns over hurricanes and a lack of incentives; students wondered why the political will was still lacking to address a problem that they had been hearing about since they were kids; business people wondered what steps corporations were or should be taking to do their part. In all, a very varied set of comments exemplifying the truly diverse community in this part of Florida.

At NRDC I focus my efforts on reaching out to a segment of the population that's very well represented here in Miami: Hispanics (or Latinos -- but that's a topic for a different blog entry). Hispanics are often assumed to lack an interest in environmentalism, a theory with which I always disagree. While Hispanics may not fit the traditional enviro mold, we do hold a strong environmental ethic. Unfortunately a lack of information has left many in the Latino community -– especially those who are Spanish dominant -– without the information and tools they need to play an important role in protecting the environment. NRDC has been working to address this by getting more information out to the community and through our new Spanish language website: www.laondaverde.org. The site is designed for Hispanics and provides much of the information we already make available in English in Spanish as well as some original content. It also includes features which allow Latinos to begin to make their voices heard on issues that are of the utmost importance to all of us like global warming.

As we said at the meeting today -- we all share the same values. We value our world, our health, our freedoms. Most of the countries who help feed our oil addiction do not. And relying on outdated power plants only puts our very health and the health of our planet at risk. Bottom line is, if we don't do something to address our addiction to oil soon, it is these very values that will be at stake. We all need to be a part of the solution. No matter what our background is, we all share the responsibility of doing our part to protect our world. In fact Onda Verde's slogan is just that: Nuestro Planeta, Nuestro Futuro (our planet, our health) because it's truly everyone's responsibility.

If you can, try to get out to the next town hall meeting in your area and bring your friends. Because the more we know the better equipped we are to take steps to Re-energize America. Oh and if you're ever in Miami-don't miss lunch or dinner at Versailles!

Comments

[Starr]

A Singer and a former agent turned producer telling me about Global Warming and then producing a manipulative film about it? Gee isn't that what CASTO did to get people to believe that his goverment was the better one? HMMM?
I listen to real Scientists not Hollywood wanna bees.....
do I want them to decide about my future .....I don't think so!!