Community environmental advocate moves to city role advocating for Latinos
Although the state of Colorado is known for its beautiful natural spaces, it also has one of the most polluted zip codes in the country. The majority Latino-community of Commerce City, in northeast Denver, has dealt with the fallout from factories and pollution in their backyards and Victor Galván, an activist from the area, has made it his life’s work to advocate for change.
“I helped build relationships between community organizations where we align on values and can do policy work together to move the narrative and solutions for Latino community,” Galván said of his previous work as an activist.
Galván joined the Denver Mayor's office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency (CASR) in January after more than a decade advocating for Latinos in the environmental movement.
Awareness of the links between people’s everyday lives and the environment , he said, is necessary in places such as Commerce City where pollution deeply affects the health of the community.
"We have seen in north Denver children who have bloody noses, have to go to the doctor more often for headaches and an increase in asthma in the population," Galván said..
Within his new role, Galván said he hopes to bring in the voices of Latinos into affecting policy change.
"Unfortunately, those who are changing the laws and policies are rich, white and are not seeing the same problems that we are exposed to,” Galván said.
”Every day people are working to pass policies that tackle these issues. But the moment that our voices are at the table, solutions are created without us in mind. And so some of those solutions, although they're well-meaning and in good spirit, there's a part missing, and sometimes there's actually negative ramifications and outcomes for our community, even though they're trying to do good.”
But he said that Latino communities already participate in climate justice, even if they don’t see it that way, by conserving water and polluting less. Galván said that people with lower incomes also typically have a lower impact on climate and on emissions.
“The one thing that I would say for Latinos on climate justice and environmental justice that is so important to our future and in this work is that we have to internalize that we are environmental activists, that we are climate change activists, Because we are at the center of this issue our voice needs to be at the table. We are the people that can come up with the solutions,” he said.
Julio Sandoval is the senior photojournalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at juliosandoval@rmpbs.org.