Interview:

1. Can you briefly introduce yourself? What is Chispa NV and what do you do there? My name is Alexa Aispuro a 22 year old college student and I attend CSN. I am the youth organizer for chispa NV a program of the league of conservation voters that builds the power of latino communities to have a voice in the fight against climate change.
2. Why is your work important and what are your long term goals as an organization? Our work is important because the lower income people of color are being disproportionately affected by climate change. Those communities are the ones who are more likely to be living in polluted areas with highly contaminated air. Specifically in Nevada we are having extreme heat waves that will only get worse over time. When it comes to lower income,people of color, we are never involved in the
3. What do you know about the damage plastic or other waste does to the environment? Leaching chemicals and toxins into surrounding ecosystems, threatening the For this one I used starch with water, and health of local animal populations and releasing greenhouse gases into the air. The negative effects of plastic vary depending on the type of plastic in the environment, quantity and length of exposure time.
4. What do you think our earth will look like if we don’t do anything to improve pollution? If we do not improve pollution and the way of living our earth will have a lot of bad effect like the ozone layer completely melting off, species going extinct, contaminated ait that gets people ill and many other bad outcomes from our lack of conservation and sustainability
5. Do you think it is possible for hospitals to change the materials they use to be more eco-friendly? I think it is possible for hospitals to replace their materials for more eco-friendly ones. In this time of age the resources and technologies are here for us. Moving to eco-friendly material would benefit the planter as a whole because the resources used would be either reusable, recycled, or just from materials that aren’t harmful.
6. Do you think there could be downsides or major drawbacks if hospitals were to switch to more eco-friendly materials? I think whenever new procedures or changes happen there can always be setbacks or downfalls. I think there could be but, I am sure they can be worked out and updated for something more useful.
7. Would the cost of switching to these materials compensate for the millions of dollars that we are already spending to maintain landfills? The cost of switching to these materials would give back so much money in general because we will not be harming our Earth as much. When having cleaner initiatives when moving to it it can be more expensive but in the long run it saves money and protects communities, and the planet.
8. Do you think we can reverse the damage we have already done to our environment over the last century? Why or why not? I think we can’t reverse anytime soon but within time if we take action NOW slowly we can take back this planet to a healthier state. We must implement laws for cleaner energy coming from solar and wind, and reducing emissions to have cleaner air.
9. Is there anything else you would like to add regarding the topics of environmentalism or the switch to more eco-friendly materials? For folks who care about the environment and are not happy about the politics within their state of even on a federal level, I encourage them to get more involved in our democratic process to vote for elected officials who will fight against the climate crisis and will protect communities especially the lower income, people of color when affected by environmental racism. When it comes to becoming eco-friendly, yes being vegan helps, yes using a steel straw helps, but at the end of the day we need change from the federal level, not stale lever, or community level. By having laws implemented and more regulations we can protect mother earth and live a more sustainable life.