VIVENDO VERDE

CONTACT: [David Escobar at 415-933-1492]
Viviendo FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: [August 18, 2009]
Verde Ya Summit and Festival at the Pickleweed Center San Rafael CA on Saturday October 24th 2009
[San Rafael California] – As part of its continuing effort to promote health and wellness in the community, the Office of Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey has been working diligently with community members and grassroots organizations to convene the first Bay Area Spanish language summit on global warming. This campaign and summit will focus on the connectivity between climate change, carbon footprint, community health-equity, and living sustainably among the Latino Communities of Marin and the Bay Area.
We welcome San Francisco Bay Area community members and organizations to join us in kicking off this campaign and summit on October 24th 2009 at the Pickleweed Center in San Rafael, Marin County California.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors in partnership with Parent Services Project, KDTV Univision, KFSF TeleFutura, Binational Health Initiative, community members of the of Canal neighborhood, Marin First 5, and other community partners, we will surely make this a successful event.
Both the campaign and summit will use a multi pronged proactive approach to demystify the green-movement, sustainability, promote traditional health and wellness and green jobs among the Latino community. This new Latino-Indigenous green movement will reignite community indigenous values systems such as traditional, healing, foods, green jobs, and promoting the concepts of reducing, recycling and reusing.

As part of the Viviendo Verde Ya campaign and summit, the community has also developed the concept of “Promotoras Verdes” or “Green Promoters” whose purpose is to demystify and educate the community regarding the green movement, sustainability, ecological knowledge, health equity, physical health and global warming.

The summit itself consists of Spanish language workshops focusing on physical health, exercise, water conservation, organic food preparation, alternative energy and workshops on current and upcoming eco-legislation.
We expect that our summit efforts will create 1) an ongoing platform to showcase grass roots community members and highlight their eco-work already taking place in the community. 2) Initiate more climate change consciousness and urgency among the Latinos-Indigenous communities via green outreach or “green promotores” 3) Continue to support educational eco-workshops on such topics as watershed, energy conservation, agriculture, community health-equity and wellness, etc. by the “green promotoras”
4) conduct a membership drive to the participating green organizations or create new Latino-Indigenous base ones 5) practical immediate steps to reduce global warming such as a Bay Area once a month boycott of personal vehicles 6) energy conservation strategies and reduction of carbon footprint within each respective community 7) Educate and create a consciousness between community health-equity and global warming.
David Escobar
Aide to Supervisor Steve Kinsey
Marin County Board of Supervisors