The fact is that the challenge of protecting our natural resources, acting against climate change’s causes and achieving sustainability in how we live, work and play is called the “green” movement. And it takes people of all colors and cultures to make it strong.

AIRED AUGUST 25, 2017 on KQED NEWS.

Houston state Rep. Shawn Thierry’s majority-black district houses nearly 200,000 residents, the Houston Texans football stadium, and a massive population of folks who were already low-income and living from paycheck-to-paycheck.

Progressive hero’s message to Americans: Learn from each other, respect each other

During the rally, Vien Truong framed this fight as another thing parents do to keep their kids out of harm’s way. “Protecting our kids from harm today means more than making sure they don’t run off with strangers or break a leg from playing too rough. It also means fighting to protect the very air they breathe.” 

Longstanding, highly effective environmental and social justice activist, Vien helped lead a coalition to pass California’s landmark SB 535 (de Leon) law, which reinvests hundreds of millions of dollars in disadvantaged communities and offers a national model for making polluters pay. Vien has received many prestigious state, regional and local awards for her work advocating on behalf of those most vulnerable to climate change. To make real progress on climate change, we need a true collaborative movement, reaching across race, class and ethnic divisions. In California, where 73% of those under 18 years old are people of color, Vien Truong will walk us through practical examples and models of what success looks like – and what it’s going to take to build this movement. In a word? Vien is a force. I heard her speak at the Bioneers 2016 Conference and could not wait to share her passion, her knowledge and her success with bringing about much needed change. 

Vien Truong, director of the organization’s Green for All climate-justice program, has been named chief executive officer of Dream Corps.