|
|
page last updated 5-9-2022
http://www.regenerationpajarovalley.org/
Regeneración engages the Pajaro Valley community in a coordinated response to climate change. While we need national and global climate policies to meet the scale of this crisis, much planning and adaptation is taking place at a local level. Further more, since the climate crisis is rooted in centuries of exploitation of people, labor, land and resources, climate solutions must be just solutions that eliminate all forms of exploitation and oppression while reducing emissions and ending fossil fuel dependency and over consumption.
2022 Update
In 2022, Regeneración plans to support this just transition locally by continuing to educate and empower our community, especially those most vulnerable to the impacts of a changing climate. IF’s support will help us continue this work, including facilitating our Youth Leadership Development program, renewing our Advocacy Group and Policymaker’s Education initiative, and hosting our 4th Annual Climate of Hope Forum.
Our Youth Leadership Development program creates unique opportunities for Pajaro Valley youth interested in working at the intersection of social justice and environmental protection. 50% of Watsonville’s population is age 25 or under, yet policy decisions rarely include youth input and there are not sufficient leadership development opportunities for young climate justice activists in our tri-county region. Our monthly, regional Young Social and Environmental Justice activist meetings create space for local youth to meet, network, learn together and organize. We also plan to renew our partnership with Watsonville High School Senior Community Action Project with a goal of mentoring one team in 2022. Furthermore, we will continue to deepen connections and expand partnerships with regional educational institutions, presenting on climate justice and opportunities for youth at high schools, colleges and universities. We also plan on hosting 12 short-term student interns this year. By developing the leadership capabilities of our local youth, they will gain the tools and confidence to share their perspective and advocate for their community. Regeneración is also working to increase participation with our local governing bodies. While many residents in our community may feel disempowered and lack the experience and confidence to speak to those in power, we are creating a space for community members to organize and learn together effective strategies for presenting their concerns and needs to local policymakers. Our Advocacy Group participants will learn more about the City’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan and can respond to it while sharing the information with their families, friends, co-workers and neighbors. |
Participants will be empowered to share a wider and more representative perspective to our local City Council and other decision-making bodies. In turn, policymakers will be more accountable to the community and more responsive to their needs.
While we will focus on highlighting environmental issues and social justice concerns, the impact of building capacity and developing a more democratically engaged community can ex pand to other local issues as well. Our annual Climate of Hope Forum has become an anticipated gathering place for diverse stakeholders to come together and learn about the local climate justice movement from a variety of perspectives. Exploring and understanding the social justice implications around climate change is essential for advancing equitable climate resiliency for our agricultural community. The Climate Forum creates space for deep thinking and networking around this central idea, often sparking new project ideas, connections and solutions. We highlight local voices and climate champions while energizing participants and helping grow the global movement. We strive to overcome barriers to participation by providing promotional materials and hosting the Forum trilingually, advertising broadly and utilizing our diverse networks, and providing childcare sup port. The existential threat of climate change to human health and life offers an opportunity for transformative social change while averting worse case scenario projections. Climate justice is about prioritizing immediate investments and long-term planning to reverse the disproportionate negative social and environmental burdens carried by the most historically under-invested and disenfranchised communities, including low-income and communities of color. With your support, Regeneración will continue to build climate resilience, expand climate justice leadership, and educate and inform politicians, community leaders and the general public and thereby im prove community understanding about environmental justice issues affecting the Pajaro Valley community. |
September 2019 Update: Pajaro Valley Climate Action (Regeneracion)
" The Regeneración Advisory Board, staff and volunteers celebrated the opening of their new downtown office on September 25, 2019. Community leaders including Mayor Francisco Estrada and Superintendent of Schools, Faris Sabbah, spoke about their commitment to climate justice and they announced the launch of their new Heat Stress Awareness and Prevention Campaign. IF gave the Regeneracion project a $2,000 grant this year and are thrilled to see them growing! Nancy Faulstich, Director of Regeneracion Pajaro Valley Climate Action, getting ready to cut the ribbon to the front door of Regeneracion’s new office in Watsonville.
Nancy Faulstich, Director of Regeneracion PV Climate Action, cuts the ribbon to Regeneracion’s new office.
|
Regeneración volunteers
|
April 2019 Update: Pajaro Valley Climate Action (Regeneracion)
IF continues to give grant support and celebrate the social change and success of the local Watsonville group of Regeneracion. Below is an excerpt from their recent February 2019 newsletter:
"Located in the Pajaro Valley, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area in Santa Cruz County, Watsonville is one of its agricultural powerhouses. Unfortunately, many of the workers who contribute to the city's rich agriculture fall into the low-income bracket. This disadvantaged community is disproportionately impacted by climate change. even though it contributes less overall to its cause. The 2015 Census estimated that 81.5% of the 52,543 population (in 2015) was of Latino descent, a large part of which survive on low incomes. Less access to material resources reduces residents' options to respond and adapt quickly to changes, leaving them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change impacts such as extreme heat, floods, and other natural disasters. The following is a study of such effects on the farm workers of the Pajaro Valley. ....."
To read the entire article, please Go Here (pdf)
IF continues to give grant support and celebrate the social change and success of the local Watsonville group of Regeneracion. Below is an excerpt from their recent February 2019 newsletter:
"Located in the Pajaro Valley, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area in Santa Cruz County, Watsonville is one of its agricultural powerhouses. Unfortunately, many of the workers who contribute to the city's rich agriculture fall into the low-income bracket. This disadvantaged community is disproportionately impacted by climate change. even though it contributes less overall to its cause. The 2015 Census estimated that 81.5% of the 52,543 population (in 2015) was of Latino descent, a large part of which survive on low incomes. Less access to material resources reduces residents' options to respond and adapt quickly to changes, leaving them more vulnerable to the effects of climate change impacts such as extreme heat, floods, and other natural disasters. The following is a study of such effects on the farm workers of the Pajaro Valley. ....."
To read the entire article, please Go Here (pdf)
|
2018
The Pajaro Valley Climate Action organization and its project: Regeneration/Regeneración: Responding to Climate Change Together is IF's newest grantee. The commitment of Regeneración to justice and inclusion is attracting people throughout the Pajaro Valley to engage in conversation and participate in projects designed to help our community move together toward a resilient carbon free future The project helps the Pajaro Valley (PV) community adapt and flourish as the climate changes by advocating for a fair economy, planning for a healthy ecosystem, and guiding the community to a sustainable way of life. 
Recent High School graduate Maria Perez coordinated an environmental festival in July attended by 150 residents of her neighborhood called Healthy Children for a Healthy Planet.
On May 3, Regeneración presented the results of its Community Environmental Survey at a bilingual event in Watsonville. Bill Cane and Linda Wallace attended on behalf of IF. The study identified the effects of climate change on Watsonville residents and revealed its disproportionate impact on local farmworkers. The study also identified ways the local effects of climate change can be reduced. Concerns identified by the residents taking the survey ranged from pesticides and poisons to car exhaust. Survey respondents favored greater access to organic agriculture and less polluting forms of transportation, including rail and bike, along with clean energy as ways to reduce the impacts of pesticides and pollution from car exhaust.
One of the most potent presentations of the evening was given by women working in agriculture who testified about how climate change affected their health and their livelihood. The women told the audience how the |
 Yadira Grajeda organized forty people to paint a mural depicting our vision of a joyful, connected, fossil free community under the artistic direction of Jaime Sánchez.
increasingly hotter weather causes workers to suffer: a number faint in the fields; many have to start work very early in the morning to avoid the heat and are sent home when temperatures exceed 95 degrees (a legal requirement). The plastic-roofed greenhouses where berries are grown create even hotter (by about 10 degrees) and more difficult conditions for workers. Being sent home means workers (who already have very low incomes) earn less, which in turn affects their ability to feed, clothe and house their families. Starting work earlier can create childcare issues which in turn can increase monthly expenses. Heavy winter rain, also associated with climate change, causes its own suffering. Workers have to work in mud that leaves them cold and wet with reduced resistance to illness. When heavy rains continue for extended periods of time, as they did in the winter of 2016/2017, work in the fields becomes impossible and workers may be unemployed for weeks at a time reducing their already low incomes. Regeneration keeps contacting people, asking them how climate change affects them, and what solutions they envision. Its grassroots method of interviewing of people not only gets at what is really hurting people, but also draws more and more people into the search for solutions. The findings will guide the next projects that Climate Action will undertake. The project needs funds to analyze and publicize the results of the survey and to fund staff salaries. To learn more about this group, please go to their website at: http://www.regenerationpajarovalley.org/ |