23. LCLAA RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF RENEWABLE ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL

JUSTICE AND GREEN JOBS

Whereas, there is a recession in the U.S. job market and limited economic prospects for workers since thus far,

a  total  of  463,000  jobs  have  been  lost  in  the  U.S.  economy  in  this  year  alone;  and

Whereas, consistent increases in gas and energy prices are imposing a great burden on Latino working families

throughout the nation; and

Whereas, the United States faces difficult challenges in the field of energy including an overdependence on

fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal, the production and importation of bio-fuels with uncertain

sustainability attributes, and the resurgence of domestic and international uranium mining and enrichment for

the purposes of military arms proliferation; and

Whereas, the United States of America's dependence on imported fossil fuels is undermining the country's

national security by tying the U.S. economy to unstable and undemocratic nations, thus increasing the risk of

military conflict in political hotspots around the globe; and

Whereas, our energy crisis cannot be solved by drilling our way out of the problem; and

Whereas, air pollution and global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the release of its

associated pollutants into the oceans, air, soil, and lungs jeopardizes the planet's ability to maintain a livable

climate and intensifies grave public health ailments; and

Whereas, communities of color including low-income Latino, Black, and Native Americans living in the

United States, as well as indigenous and poor people around the world, disproportionately bear the negative

economic, environmental, and health impacts of the fossil fuel economy at every stage of its life cycle, from

exploration to extraction to production to refining to distribution to consumption to disposal of waste; and

Whereas, the current production model for crop-based transportation energy perpetuates agrarian monoculture,

eliminates bio-diversity, increases the use of petroleum based chemical fertilizers and pesticides, amplifies

water demand and pollution, and boosts crop demand increasing food commodity prices, thus placing economic

pressure on net food importing countries and the urban/rural poor; and

Whereas, decades of pioneering research and development by both the government and the private sector have

yielded a host of promising new technologies that turn abundant domestic energy sources - including solar,

wind, geothermal, biomass, clean distributed generation, and ocean energy - into transportation fuels,

electricity, lighting and heat; and

Whereas, exploring and developing alternative sources of energy to power our country such as solar, wind, and

geothermal will induce the creation of much needed jobs in the US economy, improve national security, and

work towards protecting the health of all peoples, the planet, and economy; and

Whereas, a new and green economy can provide great opportunity for Latino working families, it is crucial for

the prosperity, security and wellbeing of all workers for the new jobs to be union jobs, and

Whereas, an energy future based on abundant and clean renewable resources is not only urgently needed, but

achievable; and

Whereas, energy justice affirms the right of all people, including the poor, women, rural and indigenous

peoples, to have access to affordable and sustainable renewable energy; and