The Talk of the Bay

I work with a San Francisco-based grassroots environmental-justice organization called PODER: People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights. I'm the organization's director.

PODER works with Latino immigrant families in San Francisco to organize on environmental- and economic-justice issues affecting them, their families, and our communities. We work primarily in neighborhoods such as the Mission District, the Excelsior, and other areas in southeastern San Francisco.

Right now, we're working on land use and planning in the Mission District and on air-quality issues in the Excelsior. On the land-use front, we're part of a neighborhood coalition that has been working with residents to develop a community plan that meets the needs of the Mission's immigrant and working-class population as opposed to the priorities of greedy developers and scheming politicians who value profits over people. In other words, we're working on developing land-use policies to resist the impacts of gentrification and defend our right to the city.

I take the BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, to get to work.

I was born and raised in Texas, on the Texas-Mexico border. Growing up along the border gave me a keen sense of the injustices that exist in the world. As has been said, the borderlands is where the Third World rubs against the First. It was amazing for me to see that just by crossing a bridge, which my family did on a regular basis since my grandmother lived on the Mexico side, one entered an area of extreme poverty. I had a working-class upbringing, but the contrast was striking to me.

I was born in Laredo, Texas. I live with my partner and our son in Oakland, Calif.

Hmm, I'll get back to you on that one.

Two things come to mind.

Greenwashing. It's incredible, although not surprising, to see the extent to which corporations continue to devise ways to profit from people's increasing concern for their environment and health. I'm sure we'll get a product bottled and sold to us that purports to solve climate change sometime soon.

I can't say that I have a hero. Since most of my work for the past 20 years has been at the community level, I'm inspired by everyday folk who speak up, act, and strive every day to make a difference.

My iPod.

Gardening. Reading. With Beth, my partner, having fun with our three-year-old son.

Mexican food, but in particular mole, a dark, delicious sauce. Among my best memories of traveling through Oaxaca has been tasting the various mole sauces from the area.

Hybrid-car owner, habitual composter, compulsive recycler. Pick one.

As a native Texan, I enjoy South Padre Island. Beautiful beaches and warm water!

I'd make certain that any local, state, or federal environmental decision-making body included people directly impacted by those decisions. We would have policies that truly make a difference in protecting our health and environment if people affected by those policies actually had a voice and vote in determining what's to be done.

At 18, I discovered The Velvet Underground. I bought all their albums. Now? I eagerly anticipate the release of new music by folks like Café Tacuba and Alejandro Escovedo.

We have basic cable. My current guilty pleasure on TV is The Shield. Although I'm not a huge fan of the sci-fi genre, one of my favorite movies is Blade Runner.

Gael Garcia Bernal. Yeah, right!

Look past the big green groups when you're looking for organizations to volunteer for, donate to, or support in some way. All across the country, groups rooted in communities are working on issues that not only make lives better for the residents in the neighborhoods where they work, but also are providing the best ideas on what a cleaner, healthier, and sustainable society needs to look like.