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Meaningful Actions

Everyday decisions that we make can improve conditions, restore dignity, reduce precarity, and promote agency for children of the Global South.

The projects undertaken here reveal some of the larger structural inequalities that  disproportionately affect Latin American childhoods, burdens that are shared by many children throughout the Global South.  The challenges can seem unsurmountable, and the diversity of perspectives on each complex issue make it hard to find moral clarity, at best, or frustration at the futility of inaction.  

Our research has illuminated the interconnectivity of our livelihoods with those of children around the globe.  Below is our list of recommendations about small things we can do, support, or avoid and make a big difference.

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Meaningful Actions: About

Climate Change Equity

Sustainable lifestyle choices to reduce dependency on oil, carbon, and other extractive and polluting fuel sources.

  • Alternative transportation (ride-share, public transportation, walk, bike, electric vehicles)

  • Vote for those who support progressive policies to mitigate climate change.  Use the interactive tool Candidate Tracker to see politicians' record and inform your vote.

  • Donate to environmental organizations that use grassroots knowledge to support indigenous interests in the Amazon: among others, the Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía.

Human Rights Advocacy

Change the current narrative around immigration in your own community. Use platforms of privilege to spread awareness of immigration injustice and become an ally for migrant children.

Educational Justice

Ensure that people in positions of political power have children's best interests at heart, and that they will advocate for the equitable distribution of resources to underprivileged or marginalized populations.

  • Vote in local elections, for your local school board, and for statewide positions.  Use the app vote411.org to see your local ballot and read up on candidates' positions. 

  • Support reproductive education in Mexico by contributing to the nonprofit Marie Stopes International.

Ally with Indigenous Communities in the Americas

Language loss, cultural degradation, and systemic oppression of native populations is not unique to Latin America. Support efforts in the US to defend native land, health care, rights, and dignity.

  • Support tribal access to resources as they combat COVID-19

  • Support the Standing Rock Reservation as they continue to resist the Dakota Access Pipeline

  • Learn about native language restoration projects from the Mapuche in Chile to the Myaamia Center at Miami University (from which the university got its name, and land). 

Conscientious Consumerism

Many things that we buy and consume are the product of unregulated child labor somewhere in the Global South--or in our own backyards.

  • Shop local and in-season produce (many avocados, limes, and mangos are controlled by crime cartels in Mexico).

  • Learn about the country of origin of your coffee, flowers, fruits, and the labor conditions involved in production.

  • Buy Fair Trade Certified flowers that allow workers access to health care, education, and loans.

Meaningful Actions: List
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