Vulnerability of Latino/a & indigenous immigrants to climate disasters

Michael Méndez, PhD has more than a decade of senior-level experience in the public and private sectors,
where he consulted and actively engaged in the policymaking process. This included working for the
California State Legislature as a senior consultant, lobbyist, and gubernatorial appointee; vice chair of the
Sacramento City Planning Commission; advisor to a California Air Resources Board member; and a
participant of the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s workgroup on “Climate Vulnerability and Social
Science Perspectives.” Most recently, Michael was appointed by the National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine to the Board on Environmental Change and Society. He also serves as a panel
reviewer for the National Academies of Sciences’ Transit Cooperative Research Program. Dr. Méndez’s new
book Climate Change from the Streets will provide an urgent and timely analysis of the contentious politics
of incorporating environmental justice into global climate change policy.