BLAME IT ON THE BARRIERS!

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3 TITLE PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS LATINOS: DO WE CARE? ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY ACTIVITIES BLAME IT ON THE BARRIERS! SOLUTIONS: ENHANCING THE LATINO CONTRIBUTION NARRATIVE 3

4 Latinos: Do we care? Gabriela Godinez Many people ask if Latino s care about the environment. According to Professor Leo Chavez, anthropologist and author, Latinos in the U.S. are perceived as a threat to the United States. It is believed that people who are coming to the United States using up all of the resources in the United States and not willing to assimilate to U.S. Culture. Chavez gives various examples of how Latinos are seen as threat. Those examples include Latina fertility, immigration and cultural citizenship. People believe that Latinas are hypersexual and that they are using up all they welfare services in the United States because they are having too many children. Alongside Latina fertility and sexuality there is the threat that undocumented women are having anchor babies to later be able to become U.S. citizens and to use the benefits that were made for U.S. citizens. Illegal Immigration with fertility are the biggest threat. The more Latinos in the United States the more resources they will use up and not leave any for those who are citizens. Also the more Latinos there are in the United States the belief is that they are less likely to assimilate to U.S. culture which means not learning how to speak English, and wanting to enforce their foreign traditions, customs, and language to the United States. In all the threat is that Latinos will come to the United States to take over and reconquer the land that once belonged to Mexico. What many people do not keep in mind is that not all Latinos are Mexican. Leo Chavez goes on to show statistical data to disprove this notion. He shows how Latinos are not assimilating but integrating into American Culture and the American mainstream. Latinos are indeed contributing to the United States and have created a space in the United States through cultural citizenship. They have stood up for their rights and have claimed spaces of their own in the American mainstream through the marches of 2006, having Spanish speaking radio and television, and he also proves that Latinos are indeed learning English. The question brought up here is: Do Latinos care or do anything to help the environment or are they just using up resources? The truth is that Latinos do and are involved in environmentally friendly practices. Latinos have created their space here in the United States and they have been taking care of it through different practices that they have brought from their native lands and practices they have learned here in the United States. There are a number of barriers that have prevented many Latinos from doing environmentally friendly practices but they do contribute to the environment. It is important to them for various reasons. For some it connects them back to their homeland for others it is a way of helping them financially. Many Latinos also want younger generations to love and care for the space that older generations have created for the. There are many other reasons why Latinos participate in environmentally friendly practices and it is important to them. Many people have been brought up to pass on these practices to younger generations. So are Latinos helping the environment? Yes they are they do the best they can with the resources that are available to them. 4

5 Environmentally friendly activities Latino Perspective Most Common Practices Gardening Air-Dry Clothes Reusing Bags Recycle/Sep. of Trash Carpool/Public Transit Planting/Gardening is common tradition in all Latin American countries. Whether it be planting fruits, vegetables, herbs, or flowers all of these traditions have traveled to the U.S. as well through each generation. Airdrying clothes is a method that was originated in L.A. countries when little to no resources were available (popular in the summer, but also done in the winter). Reusing bags can range from saving plastic bags for other needs or taking your own bag to a grocery store. Recycling doesn't always mean cans it can also mean clothes as well, sending it to the needy. Carpooling and or Public Transit usually involves doing it with family to save money. Temperature control can range from turning down the A/C or opening windows. Cultural History In Latin American countries there are eco-friendly practices that have been around for a very long time. Many who migrated from those countries brought those practices with them without even thinking about all the good they were doing to help benefit the earth. Many practices that are done are not only eco-friendly but help save family money as well. Those who immigrated from Latin American countries still do these activities and pass these traditions down to younger generations. 5

6 BLAME IT ON THE BARRIERS! Why do Latino(a)s have a hard time being environmentally-friendly? BY: ANGIE MARIE LUNA In our research, the barriers to being environmentally friendly that kept coming up were the lack of availability/accessibility of resources (came up 8 out of 8 times), time consumption (8 out of 8 times) and not having ownership of their home (5 out of 8 times). Lack of knowledge and customs being hard to change, since they are so embedded in our life-style, many times passed down by many generations, are also important barriers that came up in our research. With this, our research demonstrated that many times people do not know how to be environmental friendly in this new country as they face many barriers to do so, however, our data demonstrates that in their homelands, Latinos were more readily involved in environmental friendly practices. One way to help Latinos be more economically friendly is to address the issues they face preventing them from being eco-friendly. TICK-TOCK Many times, Latinos spend their time working to make enough money for all their needs. Because of this, they run on a tight schedule and sometimes, eco-friendly activities are set up in a way that makes them time-consuming and thus very inconvenient for many Latinos. Such activities that can be time consuming could include biking instead of driving, or using public transportation that runs by the hour. Although it would be better to choose these practices over driving a car, the extra time they would have to lose from their tight schedules pushes Latinos into not doing these activities. Many other eco-friendly activities also take up a lot of time such as hanging clothes to dry rather than using the drying machine, and bottling their own bottle rather than buying plastic bottled waters. THIS FEATURE IS UNAVAILABLE Money is a big issue in Latino culture as it is not usually abundant, especially in the homeland. Many of the more eco-friendly appliances or even activities, require more money (public transportation prices, switching to eco-friendly appliances, etc.) which discourages Latinos to do these activities. Let s also take a look at public transportation (with their high prices) and the very limited routes and hours they provide. In the suburbs such as Hanover Park, IL, Latinos may use the METRA to transport from Elgin to Chicago and the towns in between the Milwaukee District West Line, at a high price of $13 round trip with an extra surcharge of $3 if you re running late and need to purchase a ticket on the train rather than at the box office. Also, these trains run by the hour weekdays and bi-hourly on weekends. The worst part is that this train will only travel from Elgin to Chicago and there is only a PACE bus to transport people to the train station. The PACE bus unfortunately makes very few stops and only runs on the other side of town, not to mention that everything if further spread apart in the suburbs. Because of this, they are very inconvenient and timeconsuming modes of transportation and people resort to cars (although some people do walk or ride bikes). Beyond the suburbs and into the city, the case is similar with the CTA and even DIVVY bikes which aren t conveniently placed so that they are readily available in Latino communities such as South Chicago, East Side, and Back of the Yards. AVAILABLE FOR RENT Even if Latinos want to change their homes to be eco-friendly, many of them can t because they do not own their home. Many people live in apartments or townhouses where there isn t much space for gardens, and they 6

7 are very restricted to how they can modify the home. Many times appliances are included with these homes that may be outdated and changing them can be difficult and expensive and also very inconvenient. Also, it is important that people know their homes well so they can recognize eco-friendly and non-ecofriendly practices so they can be modified. AND IF YOU DON T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW Lack of knowledge is a huge limiting factor for Latinos to be environmentally friendly. If people had more knowledge on the following topics, a lot more could be done. Not being aware of the newer ways to be eco -friendly Not aware of how damaging practices can be to the environment Not aware on how to change or how to be eco-friendly Not aware of how much they are directly affected by nonecofriendly practices realize that every time the Earth and its environment are being destroyed, so is our home. Sadly, we only have this planet to live on and it is important to realize that we must take care of it if we intend to live here for many more years to come. Simple changes such as being more aware and doing things such as reusing, reducing and recycling can go a long way. I WAS BORN THIS WAY Our routines are comfortable to us as we are used to the amount of work we have to put into our daily schedules and changing them and rearranging our lives can be hard and inconvenient. This is enough to make people not want to change. However, we must 7

8 Solutions: Enhancing the Latino Contribution Narrative How do we encourage Latino(a)s to continue being eco-friendly? Beatriz Rodriguez The United States media often depicts Latino(a)s as draining its resources preventing Americans from benefitting. Leo Chavez s The Latino Threat points out how data shows that even though Latino immigrants (as are other immigrants) are given a hard time for receiving organs, without Latino immigrants there wouldn t be enough organs for the legal citizens alone. While Latinos are rejected and criminalized in the United States research and its results demonstrate that Latinos, in fact, contribute to the American society and culture. In the context of the environment the Latino communities in Chicago demonstrated to contribute to a more environmentally-friendly culture. Many of their practices are learned in their homeland whether it s Mexico, Cuba, El Salvador, or any other Latin American countries. However data highlights that it is much harder for Latino families to be environmentally-friendly in the United States than in their homeland due many barriers. So then the question that emerges is: how can we encourage Latino communities to continue being eco-friendly? Well let s consider public transportation. While there are many routes for public transportation throughout Chicago there are some areas in the Chicagoland area that do not have readily accessible public transportation. Expanding routes for CTA buses and trains, Pace buses, Metra trains, and adding more Divvy bikes in the Southern and Northern neighborhoods and suburbs of Chicago will decrease the usage of cars. Not only are more routes for public transportation needed but also more bicycle routes for cyclists. Chicago has many bike riders that commute to and from school or work; however there are not enough bike routes that would make it safer for cyclists. This would definitely decrease pollution and probably even obesity, one of the prominent epidemics in the United States. However, this is not enough. Prices are often frowned upon and become a deterrent, causing people to choose driving. Lowering prices would motivate people to use public transportation. However this is not the only solution. Often people are not aware of how much money they would safe if they use public transportation. Obviously it would depend on how much travel they are required to partake in. Promoting how environmentallyfriendly and cheaper public transportation is would persuade Latinos to this mode of transportation. And of course we cannot forget about the people that love or prefer driving. For you folks that love driving think about carpooling. Not only would this save the world but it may save you some money. Carpooling usually comes 8

9 with a bit of monetary contribution from the passengers. But why stop there? How else can we encourage eco-friendly practices? Chicago has promoted recycling and reinforced recycling in neighborhoods by distributing blue recycle bins. If households do not properly recycle the landlords are fined and customs while adapting new ones. Well the answer is bringing awareness and knowledge regarding environmentally-friendly activities to the Latino communities. Building an Eco-Friendly Center in the Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs that provide education regarding the environment would increase the environmentally-friendly activities. But how do we encourage Latino(a)s to attend these workshops? Incentives. Incentive attract people. Providing discounts for locally grown foods, energy efficient appliances, window curtains, and more would encourage people to attend the educational workshops and live more environmentally-friendly. which is used to encourage recycling. So how can we expand recycling? Data shows that Latinos appreciate green spaces, like parks, which would make adding recycle bins to public areas easier to recycle. Not only will the resource to recycle everywhere be available but it will also positively reinforce recycling itself. People would become accustomed to recycling adding it to the list of integral customs in the Latino communities and hopefully other communities, as well. How can we expect Latino(a)s to enhance, continue, or even begin to live environmentally-friendly when they do not know how? How can we teach Latino(a)s how to be environmentally-friendly in a country that thrives on abundance and takes the environment for granted? As Leo Chavez s The Latino Threat points out: the more Latino(a)s assimilate or integrate into American society the more they abandon some of their practices 9

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