‘United Latinos Vote’ Sends Loud Message to Sierra Club for ‘Hypocritical and Socially Divisive’ Scheme

United Latinos Vote recently placed a full page ad in the Sacramento Bee titled “An Open Letter to the Sierra Club.”

United Latinos Vote (ULV) says they support many clean air and water initiatives and are “keenly aware that climate and environmental issues gravely and disproportionately affect Latino and low-incomes communities.”

However, ULV took exception to many of the Sierra Club’s goals as stated in their September 18, 2020 “Open Letter to the People of California,” urging Gov. Gavin Newsom “to accelerate California’s transition off of fossil fuels.”

“Your advertisement… felt offensive and manipulative,” ULV wrote.

The Sierra Club letter, which was signed by California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA), Earthjustice, and the Sierra Club, also appeared as a full page ad in the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee.

“The letter follows weeks of climate-fueled wildfires that have consumed homes, forced thousands of Californians to evacuate in the midst of a deadly pandemic, and choked communities with smoke,” the Sierra Club said. ““The pleas of communities at the frontlines of fossil fuel operations suffering from health and safety impacts that shorten their life expectancy have largely been ignored. Their reality – children locked indoors and respiratory problems because of poor air quality – will increasingly be felt by everyone,” said Gladys Limón, Executive Director of CEJA. “Climate Justice demands immediate and transformative action.”

The Sierra Club called on Governor Newsom to:

1. End fossil fuel infrastructure
2. Increase the use of clean energy:
3. Phase-out dirty fuels in our homes
4. Phase-out polluting cars and trucks
5. Appoint strong climate leaders to regulatory agencies, like the Air Resources Board.

‘Your World is Not Our World’

The United Latinos Vote full page ad calls out the Sierra Club for their “hypocritical and socially divisive” scheme calling for:

1) “Phase out our ‘polluting cars, the ones we drive to work and take our kids to the park in,” United Latinos Vote said. “It would require us to write expensive checks for those expensive Electric Vehicles you like so much, and then pay higher energy bills so we can afford to drive them.”

2) “You want to phase out our ‘dirty’ stoves, water heaters and furnaces. Here again, it would require us, or our landlords, to make investments we can’t afford so our residences can be rewired for these new HVACs and appliances.”

3) “Your ideas could allow our rich neighbors in the next town to charge their Teslas and their air conditioners on hot days, but make it unaffordable to use ours,” United Latinos Vote said. “Your plan sounds like you want us to foot the energy bill for ‘green’ buildings where you rent office space, while our little businesses go broke with higher energy costs.”

4) “Let’s not wink and nod here: you know perfectly well that tens of millions of drivers in California, who drove HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of miles in 2018 – mostly to get to work – are not able to suddenly stop driving. So we’re instead going to IMPORT all that fuel from Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Russia? And transfer our high wage energy jobs overseas while more Californians become unemployed? And that’s more humane and ‘equitable?'” (emphasis theirs)

5) “When your funders from San Francisco and Hollywood call, your “strong climate leaders” pick up the phone. When we call, we are encouraged to ‘talk to our legislator.’ We know the drill.”

Read the entire ULV letter HERE. It is powerful, honest, non-partisan, and rooted in basic economics.

On its website ULV posts its vision:

To ensure Latinos…

• secure gainful employment;

• create inter-generational financial wealth through
home ownership;

• obtain access to an affordable college education; and,

• receive quality and affordable health care.

VOTE