My name is Dave Cortez (he/him/his) and I’m so grateful to introduce myself to you as the new Lone Star Chapter Director, and share a little about my vision for the next generation of our work in Texas.
I am 38 years old, a third generation Chicano born, raised, and trained in El Paso. I am a hiker, runner, and cyclist who carries the spirit of the West Texas high desert with me everywhere I go. I have been with the Sierra Club for almost 11 years. I live on the ancestral lands of the Tonkawa, Comanche, Lipan Apache, and Carrizo Comecrudo, otherwise known as Austin, Texas, with my partner, dogs, and 3 year old daughter.
It is an honor and tremendous opportunity to serve in this capacity for an organization with the size, legacy, and power like the Sierra Club. I hope my time in this role serves as a signal to folx of color under 40 that our leadership matters, our lived experience on the frontlines of systemic racism and oppression matters, and that we represent a new generation of leaders in the struggle for climate justice.
It may be a cliché to say my drive in this work is all about my daughter and that I must fight for her future, as many of us say about our loved ones. But last February, as yet another climate disaster pushed our grid to near total collapse and millions fell into a prolonged, cold darkness, that drive merged with a lifelong mission. A mission to unite with and fight for those most harmed by injustice.
I’ll never forget the panic and fear of those nights and days of Winter Storm Uri. The sound of my daughter crying because her night light and noise machine shut off. The rush to keep her calm and warm as indoor temperatures dipped into the 40s. The realization that help wasn’t coming and needing to move fast to secure food, shelter, and warmth. That experience, some of the most harrowing days of my life thus far, pales in comparison to the harm experienced by millions of Texans living with less privilege, fewer resources, and less control over their living environments.
We have a duty, as people hoping and advocating for change, to do everything we can to center the needs of those most harmed by the climate crisis, pollution, and politicians who routinely prioritize special interests over the rest of us. My mission is to hold those most responsible for climate change accountable, and to work with you and your community to wrestle power away from the politicians and profiteers who let this and other injustices happen. Politicians like Governor Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
Our communities freeze and they blame clean energy instead of the well-documented failures of the gas industry. More than four million people contracted Covid-19 in Texas and they fight to prevent us from protecting our children while blaming Black and brown asylum seekers at the border. They sacrifice reproductive health and constitutional rights, all while restricting our access to the ballot box and gerrymandering political maps so politicians get to choose their constituents.
It is a violent, racist, sexist, and destructive scheme to maintain power no matter the consequences for those most at risk of being harmed.
Working together, the Sierra Club is all in to resist these attacks and to build the power we need to win on our issues at the federal, state, county, city, and school district levels. Our incredible team of organizers, communicators, policy analysts, attorneys, and campaigners are revved up and ready to support you and your community in organizing for change.
I look forward to combining my years of experience in deep organizing, anti-racism, and capacity building with the broad range of skill sets brought forward by our staff and volunteers. Hundreds of volunteers, as well as our longtime Conservation Director Cyrus Reed and Clean Air Director Neil Carman, have helped develop a legacy of progress to build upon. Together, we must combine the skills brought by our policy advocacy peers with broader work community organizers and activists are doing to cultivate and support a movement for building working class people power.
In 16 years in the environmental and broader progressive movements in Texas, I’ve witnessed the power of organized people overcoming adversity and winning the unwinnable. Back home in El Paso, we defended the sacred Rio Grande and stopped the reopening of multi-billionaire Carlos Slim’s Asarco copper smelter. In Austin, we secured retirements of its oldest fossil fuel power plants while expanding local solar to working class communities of color. And with our Native allies and environmental partners, we helped stop the destructive Dos Republicas coal mine in Eagle Pass.
Despite more than a decade of uphill, seemingly unwinnable battles, I’m more confident than ever that victory and change are possible right now. My daughter’s future depends on it. Our collective livelihoods depend on it.
Thank you for your years of support, activism, and leadership. Your contributions give us a fighting chance to defend what matters most. Become an active member of the Sierra Club (or renew!) and join me, our team of staff and volunteer leaders, and with thousands of other Texans to build and support this new era of the Sierra Club in Texas and a broad based movement for change.
Together for justice,
Dave Cortez
Director, Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter