A new Latino conservation group - in New Mexico - Latino Sustainability Institute

A group of Latinos want to make environmentalism more relevant and more accessible to that constituency through a new organization called the Latino Sustainability Institute. The group’s mission includes promoting conservation policies and social equity, building relationships between conservation groups and Latino organizations, supporting Latino land and water based organizations and preserving sustainable lifeways and cultural landscapes across New Mexico.

The founding board includes Jim Baca, director of the Bureau of Land Management under Bill Clinton and former New Mexico Public Lands Commissioner, Arturo Sandoval, Western coordinator for the first Earth Day in 1970 and long-time wilderness and community advocate (and short-time HCN board member) and president DeAnza Valencia, a law student with a broad background in environmental and justice issues. An advisory board consists of 16 Latino academics, farmers and conservation and social activists from throughout the state (including me). At its first annual meeting last week the group charted an ambitious agenda to become a presence and start making a difference in New Mexico environmental politics.”*

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