The goal is to get more Latino families outdoors, said Hilda Berganza, the foundation’s climate manager. This gets them to care more about the environment, she said.
“The Latino community has a lot of knowledge and a lot of our culture is tied into nature stories through foods, adventures passed down from generation to generation in nature. And as we have migrated to The United States, we have brought that piece of our culture with us.”
But Berganza said Latinos often end up in places far away from public spaces. They are disproportionately affected by the changes in the environment. That’s because typically they work, play and live in areas that are more prone to natural disasters. In addition, Latinos don’t have easy access to healthcare and so the community has higher numbers of diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. Latino conservation week has evolved to become a safe space to talk about these topics.
“I think one of the reasons Latino Conservation Week is so has been such a great blessing and so empowering to our community because, yeah, people are learning a lot, but they're also getting confident, and they're sharing it. They're taking ownership of the information they're gathering. They're starting to advocate.”
They’ve partnered with various organizations across the country to host outdoor activities. In Northern Nevada, the foundation hosted events in Tahoe and Stateline to clean up Lake Tahoe. Both events celebrated Latino Culture in both English and Spanish.
