{"id":571935,"date":"2010-05-20T12:27:37","date_gmt":"2010-05-20T16:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/climateprogress.org\/?p=25643"},"modified":"2010-05-20T12:27:37","modified_gmt":"2010-05-20T16:27:37","slug":"2000-hispanic-business-leaders-urge-support-for-clean-energy-and-climate-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/571935","title":{"rendered":"2,000 Hispanic business leaders urge support for clean energy and climate bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"post-23207\">Recent <a title=\"Permanent Link to New polls show Latinos and  African Americans support bipartisan climate and clean energy jobs bill\" rel=\"bookmark\" href=\"http:\/\/climateprogress.org\/2010\/04\/20\/new-polls-show-latinos-and-african-americans-support-climate-and-clean-energy-jobs-bill-and-senators-who-supports-that-bill\/\">polls  show <\/a>Latinos strongly support action on climate change and clean  energy jobs.\u00a0 On Wednesday, a group of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/2000-florida-hispanic-business-owners-urge-florida-senators-obama-to-act-now-on-climateenergy-legislation-94107514.html\">Hispanic  business leaders from Florida<\/a> headed to the Capitol to urge their  Senators \u2013 Bill Nelson (D-FL) and George LeMieux (R-FL) \u2013 to support  comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.<\/p>\n<p>The group brought a petition signed by 2,000 Hispanic business owners from South  Florida to bolster their cause.\u00a0 CAP intern JT McLain has the story.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-25643\"><\/span>Hispanic business leaders are at the forefront of the push for energy and climate legislation.\u00a0 Wednesday\u2019s fly-in, organized by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanbusinessforcleanenergy.org\/en\">American Businesses for Clean Energy<\/a>, is another reminder that Hispanics continue to be amongst the most active proponents of comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation.\u00a0 As Climate Progress reported <a href=\"http:\/\/climateprogress.org\/2010\/04\/20\/new-polls-show-latinos-and-african-americans-support-climate-and-clean-energy-jobs-bill-and-senators-who-supports-that-bill\/\">here<\/a>, Hispanics and African Americans overwhelmingly support the transition to a clean energy economy, and they are disproportionately likely to vote on climate in the 2010 elections.\u00a0 Those same demographics also have strong majorities who believe that that a low carbon economy will create jobs, and oppose the idea that policies which curb global warming harm the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Of the total 900 Latinos polled<a href=\"http:\/\/latinocoalitiononclimatechange.org\/NLCCC%20POLL%20RELEASE-%20Opinion%20of%20Latino%20Voters%20on%20Energy%20and%20Climate%20Change.pdf\"><\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Overwhelming majorities of Latino voters in Florida      (80%),  Nevada (67%) and Colorado (58%) say they are more likely      to vote  for a U.S. Senate candidate that supports proposals for fighting       global warming. Virtually no one is less likely.<\/li>\n<li>About three out of four Latino voters in Florida      (76%) and  Nevada (74%), and about two out      of three voters in Colorado       (64%), consider global warming very or somewhat serious. Three out of  four      Latino voters in each state say Congress should take action  now.<\/li>\n<li>By about three to one, Latino voters in these states say switching  to      a clean energy economy will mean more U.S.      jobs (66% in  Florida, 72% in Nevada, 64% in Colorado). Over 8 out of 10 voters in       each state reject the idea that fighting global warming will hurt the       American economy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>According to the business owners, comprehensive legislation will bolster investor confidence in clean energy technologies, creating new business opportunities and jobs.\u00a0 The legislation also will improve the quality of life across the board; Porfiria Ramirez, co-owner of Solar Green Energy Solutions in\u00a0Miami, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/2000-florida-hispanic-business-owners-urge-florida-senators-obama-to-act-now-on-climateenergy-legislation-94107514.html?loc=interstitialskip\">argues<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Hispanic businesses like mine can lead the way and be part of the start-up of the clean energy economy; this is good for our state and every member of our community\u2026 it means our children can grow up in clean neighborhoods breathing clean air. But we need to create incentives for the private sector to invest in order to compete globally. For that, we need legislation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This recent outpouring of support is made more urgent by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/issues\/2010\/05\/oil_costs.html\">devastating BP oil disaster<\/a> unfolding in the Gulf, and the likely <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/issues\/2010\/04\/oil_numbers.html\">negative impacts<\/a> it will have on our Southern economy.\u00a0 Dana Sanchez-Quist, a realtor in the\u00a0Miami\/Fort Lauderdale\u00a0area, points out the threat to an economy heavily reliant on tourism:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Florida\u00a0is in the eye of the storm \u2013 we look at the Gulf and all we can do is hope the massive oil spill doesn&#8217;t reach our shores and scare off the millions of tourists who visit them every year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The group also is keenly aware of the negative economic and environmental <a href=\"http:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/issues\/2010\/04\/oil_quench.html\">implications of American dependence on oil<\/a>.\u00a0 Alberto Cardona, an engineer in\u00a0Fort Lauderdale, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The alarm has sounded. We have a huge oil spill in the\u00a0Gulf of Mexico\u00a0caused by our over-reliance on oil. We cannot afford to wait any longer for a comprehensive energy and climate plan that puts America back in control of its energy future and back in the lead. We can and must develop the technology to move to clean, renewable 21<sup>st<\/sup> century energy sources that will never run out. Countries like\u00a0China\u00a0are doing it. Why can&#8217;t we?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The petition, hand delivered by the Florida Hispanic business leaders, reads:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>On behalf of the undersigned Hispanic business owners, local leaders, parent organizations and concerned constituents whom we represent, we urge you to support strong climate and energy legislation. We support Congressional enactment of clean energy and climate legislation that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We agree.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; JT McLain<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recent polls show Latinos strongly support action on climate change and clean energy jobs.\u00a0 On Wednesday, a group of Hispanic business leaders from Florida headed to the Capitol to urge their Senators \u2013 Bill Nelson (D-FL) and George LeMieux (R-FL) \u2013 to support comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation. The group brought a petition signed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6434,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-571935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}