Jessica Alba on the Urgency of Climate Crisis Ahead of 2024 Election

Jessica Alba is continuing her climate advocacy — this time with a hosting gig at the Latino Victory Project’s second annual Brunch Like a Madre rally to launch its 2024 Vote Like a Madre campaign.

Vote Like a Madre is a nonpartisan program that works to educate the public on climate issues and increase Latina voter turnout. It will invest more than $2 million in voter turnout this year. The event featured panels on the climate crisis and the impact of unnatural disasters and extreme weather on Latin communities across the United States.

“This is a major, major year… Voting like a Madre is channeling that Latina energy of someone who is the center of the household,” the actress said in her speech on Monday. “You don’t have to be a woman either to channel that madre energy, either. We all need to protect this planet, so that we can protect each other. Literally protecting the planet is protecting the human beings that live on this planet.”

She continued, “For too long we feel like it’s out of our hands, for too long we’ve believed the lie that we can’t do anything about it. What is one vote? What is one person? But it actually makes a huge difference… I have been working since I was 12 years old. I figured out how to be an entrepreneur. I figured out how to create a business that had never been created before. Because I wanted to protect my children and all children. One person can make that difference.”

In her moving speech, Alba encouraged everyone in the audience at the Gracias Madre restaurant in Los Angeles to use their platforms and talk to their families to ensure they’re registered to vote because when they all stand together, they can move mountains.

“I believe in us. I know this election year is a pivotal moment,” she said. “There are so many things on the ballot, from climate change, to gun control, to — name the issue — reproductive rights, the economy, all of it. And we can make a difference. We can actually create the future that we want to see.”

Attendees at the kick-off brunch included Eva Longoria, who co-founded the Latino Victory Project, America Ferrera, Camila Cabello, Gloria Calderón Kellet, Karla Souza, Lin-Manuel Miranda and his mother Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez and Stephanie Beatriz.

According to Latino Victory Project’s executive director, Katharine Pichardo-Erskine, the 2024 campaign partnered with celebrities who most resonated with Vote Like a Madre’s target audience: Latina moms, who are passionate about protecting their families and the environment.

The 2024 campaign is taking its efforts to the swing state of Arizona and hopes to create behavior-changing narratives that would increase Latina voter turnout by 15,000 people through targeted ads featuring Latin mothers and mother figures encouraging their community to get out the vote. It also includes social media challenges and collaborations with local Latina leaders for events and discussions around climate justice.

“Our strategy is data-driven,” the executive director told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re focusing on states where Latino voter turnout could swing the outcome of elections. In 2020, Latino voters played a decisive role in states like Nevada and Arizona, and we aim to replicate that impact in 2024.”

Nearly one in two Latin people in the U.S. live in counties with high pollution levels, which have worsened asthma and other respiratory illnesses there, the organization stated in a press release. It added that the current extreme weather events, like devastating wildfires that have been ravaging parts of the country and record-breaking heatwaves, are a direct result of man-made pollution and unnatural disasters.

“Climate change is not a distant threat — Latinos are 165 percent more likely than non-Hispanic whites to live in areas affected by environmental disasters,” Pichardo-Erskine added. “Our campaign aims to make this issue personal, empowering Latina moms to take action, not just for themselves but for future generations.”