Latinos Urge Federal Government to Protect The Colorado River

Hello Friends of the Colorado River!

Last week, a new poll and event was launched coinciding with Hispanic Heritage Month and highlighting the environmental beliefs of labor leader, Cesar Chavez who grew up along the Colorado River in Arizona.  The poll indicated that over 90% of Colorado River basin Latinos believe it is important to protect our lakes and rivers, and over 80% of Latinos believe that water conservation is the best way to protect our rivers.  The poll and event were lead by Nuestro Rio, a growing group of Latinos dedicated to protecting and restoring the Colorado River.

Cesar Chavez is best known for his work as a labor leader in the Southwest U.S.  In addition, he advocated for protecting people from dangerous farm chemicals, and for protecting the desert, rivers, plants, and people of the Southwest U.S.  You can watch a TV news video about the event by clicking here.

Team Jamie and Robert Redford continue to make big news with the Watershed Movie!  This month, TV Week’s News Pro Magazine featured an interview with the father-son environmental duo. Read the TV Week article here.  Watershed explores a new water conservation ethic for the Colorado River basin, highlighting positive stories and also “calls 2 action” that residents can take to help protect and restore the Colorado River.  So far the film has been shown in almost 80 cities.

On Thursday, the Las Vegas premier of Watershed is showing at the Springs Preserve.  After the film we will have a panel discussion that will include Producer Jamie Redford and Director Mark Decena.  Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown will moderate the conversation.  More information about the screening can be seen here in this Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper article.

Finally, last week, National Geographic featured an excellent blog post about the economy of the Colorado River.  Featuring Amy Kober who works for the environmental organization American Rivers, Amy considers the “value of recreation” in the Grand Canyon.  In addition to summarizing a recent economic analysis of recreation valuation, Amy also lists “intangibles” that we haven’t yet learned how to place a dollar value on.  Amy says:   “How about the associated benefits to our physical and mental health, our relationships, feeling refreshed and more productive in our jobs and communities when we come home?”  Take a read of Amy’s blog post here.

Thank you for your support!