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In May, CU Denver will be represented at the United Nations (UN) for the 30^th Annual International Day of Families observance by Ruben P. Viramontez Anguiano, the Founding Program Chair and Professor of Human Development in Family Relations program in the School of Education & Human Development. Anguiano will be presenting, along with his son, Olin Harrison Anguiano, and his colleagues, Ana Eugenia Guttridge and Mark Guttridge, scholarly research about the importance of indigenous practices and regenerative farming in the modern era. This year’s theme for the International Day of the Family focuses on families and climate change.

“It’s exciting and it’s truly an honor to be going to the UN to present this paper,” Anguiano said. “For me, it is also a tribute to my ancestors, to my mom and dad. For them, regenerative practices were just an everyday thing.” Anguiano, who is Latino, mentions that voices of people from underrepresented populations, such as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color), are often lost in conversations about important topics like climate change. “Their voices are often not heard. And not just their voices, but their expertise and their cultural traditions and knowledge are not heard,” he said.

"Dr. Viramontez Anguiano is an engaging and wise speaker whose remarks are going to delight the audience at the UN," said Marvin Lynn, Dean of the School of Education & Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. "His approaches to global challenges are inspirational because they are family-centered, sustainable, and with the highest respect to indigenous cultures. We are so proud of his passion for this work."

The paper focuses on the impact of implementing Indigenous land management practices that conserve the environment and sharing knowledge with youth of color about land stewardship traditions in the context of climate science. “Being Latino myself, we are descendants of Indigenous people. My mother and father grew up on farms and grew up on land where they used Indigenous practices,” Anguiano said. Anguiano’s parents moved from Mexico to New Mexico and raised him on their small, sustainable, regenerative farm.

Anguiano and other faculty members at CU Denver have cultivated a partnership between CU Denver and Ollin Farms in Longmont, Colorado. “It just happens to be called Ollin, like my son. And Ollin is an Aztec terminology that means movement. The whole nature of farming and regenerative farming is an aspect of change and movement,” Anguiano said. The farm partnership is part of a curriculum for the Learning Developmental and Family Sciences program at CU Denver.

Ollin Farms is an active regeneratively focused farm that involves youth and their families. The farm practices are guided by Indigenous farming and spiritual practices. The paper that the team will be presenting uses this farm as an example of how critical it is to involve youth in these sustainable farming practices as they will move forward to be stewards and care for the earth, all while preserving the traditions and heritage related to the land and climate stabilization.

“My son, Olin, has grown up in the suburbs but also right next to the farm. And he understands the whole concept and importance of regenerative farming.” The team will be presenting on aspects related to indigenous practices, sustainable regenerative farming, and how that all interacts with the realities of climate change in our world. The focus is on the next generation of young people, and how they can grow up to take care of the land and the climate. “And so, it’s not just about climate change, but it’s also about climate stability and sustainability.”

 Anguiano was invited to present at the UN based on another presentation he gave at the National Council on Family Relations. Anguiano’s expertise rooted in sustainable family-focused farming practices was a perfect fit for this year’s Day of Families theme.

“It really ties to what we are doing here at CU Denver in our school. We believe in social justice. We believe in food justice. Social justice is incredibly important to family relationships and nature.”

Anguiano and his team will be presenting the paper, At the Crossroads: Latine Families, their Youth and Climate Change, at the United Nations in New York City on May 15, 2024.