Shifting the Environmental Discourse for the Latinx Community

The inclusion within the environmental discourse in “Latinx Environmentalisms: Place, Justice and the Decolonial” allows the Latinx culture to freely communicate their language with another. The Latinx community have been excluded from the mainstream discourse on environmental preservation in America for decades. This has prompt scholars and activists to converge in making an imperative effort. That effort is the creation of “Latinx Environmentalisms”. Sarah Wald, David J. Vazquez, Priscilla Solis Ybarra, and Sarah Jaquette Ray identify factors in its introduction that has created a barrier that halts the Latinx community from expressing their environmental concerns. This stems from their intention to bring the perspective from the Latinx culture into the environmental movement

Racism is at the center of the exclusion that the Latinx community have experienced. The racism lies under the surface of conventional environmentalism that is known in America today. The introduction stated this: “The whiteness of mainstream environmentalism has often obscured environmental racism and the connections between social and environmental health” (pg. 2). The utilization of words like “whiteness” and “obscured” are simplistic signs of evidence to show how racism has taking the reins of environmentalism. The environmental movement that is conventional today have focusing more on bettering the environment within white communities than those of color. This has been a core tradition for years.

Latinos Care About the Environment. So Why Aren't Green Groups Engaging Them More?

The movement being “white-centric” ignited scholars and writers to reach an understanding that racism has a connection with the environment. This has prompted them to identify themselves as “environmentalist” (pg. 9). These scholars and writers are not going to just speak on bettering the environment. In their eyes, bettering the environment is not just ensuring that beautiful lands remain in goodness. It is also about allowing communities of color to bring forth their ideas ensuring their environment is safe and evolving for the better.

Based on the writer’s research, the introduction stated, “This project seeks to correct assumptions that Latinxs do not care about the environment…” (pg.10). This shows that there has been a myth of non-white groups not being capable to take care of their lands. That is not true. Having this myth be in endurance is another tradition that is made from a fabric of racism. There are Chicanx literary works that conveys a certain kind of Latinx perspective on the environment (pgs. 20-21). This proves that the idea of Latinx people not caring about their environment is totally false. Having the Chicanx literary works be excluded from the Western world’s scholarly realm indicates that conventional environmentalism was not designed to be multicultural. 

What the scholars and writers attempt to do in not only the introduction, but also “Latinx Environmentalisms” overall is to break the “traditional” in environmentalism when it comes to communities of color. Also, this is to forge a new trajectory for the Latinx culture to speak about the world. This new path is out of the intent to create a space for Latinx communities to be part of the environmental discourse. Having them being within the space can shift the language in environmentalism. It can reflect the fabric of our society, which is multiculturalism.