Media Availability with Climate Crisis Parade Marchers Ahead of the Iowa Caucuses

PRESS ADVISORY

Contact:
Sasha Tenenbaum, stenenbaum@momscleanairforce.org, 917-887-0146

For interviews in Spanish, please contact
Sonia Rangel, sonia@benitezstrategies.com, 915-329-7823

WASHINGTON, DC & DES MOINES, IA (January 30, 2020) – Two days before the Iowa Caucuses, Moms Clean Air Force and Ecomadres members (a program of the national organization Moms Clean Air Force) from across the state of Iowa will march in the Climate Crisis Parade to spotlight the urgent need for action on climate.

WHAT:
The Climate Crisis Parade will bring more than 50 environmental, civic, justice, and faith groups to downtown Des Moines. There will be speeches, music, and chants. More than 700 people have indicated that they will turn out for this momentous parade.

WHEN:
Saturday, February 1, at 12:00 noon CT.
Participants will gather at Cowles Commons, 221 Walnut Street, in Des Moines and parade to the Iowa Events Center, where media from around the world will be assembling to report on the Iowa Caucuses.

WHO:
A group of four parents, including three bilingual Spanish Latino parents (and Ecomadres), will be teaming up with scores of marchers to demonstrate that parents care deeply about the impact that our warming climate is having on the health of our children and families. As Iowans and Latinos, these concerned parents have a unique opportunity to take their message about the reality of climate change to the media:

● Rosario Marquez of Des Moines, Iowa, is a first-generation Mexican immigrant who, as a translator at Primary Health Care Limited in Des Moines, has seen firsthand the plight of low-income parents bringing in children with a variety of health issues, including asthma, which is made worse by unmitigated climate change.

● Edgar East of Waterloo, Iowa, is a first-generation Panamanian immigrant, a father of four (including one child adopted out of the foster system), a professional musician, and a licensed educator with more than 30 years of experience in public schools. Edgar has traveled to Washington to meet with his elected leaders to press for more urgent and sustained action on climate. Writing in his local Waterloo Courier newspaper, he penned an op-ed titled “Children deserve clean air.”

● Miriam Alarcon of Iowa City, Iowa, is a first-generation Mexican immigrant with a deep affinity for nature and the study of biology. Whether she finds herself in the deep forest of Mexico or in the prairies of Iowa, Miriam is always advocating for the health of our planet from a profound and lifelong sense of stewardship. Through her work as a photographer and graphic artist, she recently created a project about the plight of undocumented immigrants to Iowa.

● Kary Herring of Des Moines, Iowa, is an educator with a passion for environmental education among school-age children. For more than a decade, Kary has led the Air. Water. Earth (A.W.E.) program in Decatur County, where she has offered programs at Nine Eagles State Park and at the county elementary schools. Currently, Kay serves as chair of South Central Iowa Community Foundation.

To secure a one-on-one interview (by phone or in-person at the parade) with these aforementioned participants—many of whom are bilingual Spanish speakers—please contact the appropriate media contact as listed above.

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About Ecomadres: Ecomadres educates, engages, and empowers members to have conversations with their lawmakers about the environment’s effect on their children’s health. Learn more at http://www.momscleanairforce.org/ecomadres/ or follow us on Twitter @ecomadres.

About Moms Clean Air Force: Moms Clean Air Force is a community of over one million moms—and dads—working together to fight air pollution, including the urgent crisis of our changing climate. For more information, go to http://www.momscleanairforce.org/ or follow us on Twitter @CleanAirMoms, Instagram @cleanairmoms, or Facebook.