Earth Day is upon us, and both our own Chris Hayes on his show yesterday, and Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard had very interesting takes on why it might not be all that without the follow-up. I tend to agree, for at the heart of any one-day observance is a call to carry that spirit past midnight. Earth Day is not the time to pat oneself on the back for recycling your Poland Spring bottle while grooving to Marvin Gaye's ecological wake-up call above as you write that yearly check to Greenpeace. It's a call to year-long action.
With that in mind, Melissa will dig deep into the environment today, spotlighting a student farming project in Brooklyn, NY and speaking with experts like urban revitalization strategist Majora Carter, who hosts "The Promised Land" on American Morning Public Media.
Other topics we'll examine on today's "Melissa Harris-Perry" include the battle for Latino votes; a look at the overlooked problem of sexual assault in the military; and the search for the recently (not so?) invisible Tea Party movement.
Our guests include:
- Rep. Jackie Speier, Democratic Congresswoman from California and author of a recent op-ed advocating justice for military rape victims.
- Ariana Klay, a former Marine officer who was sexually assaulted while on active duty.
- Angela Maria Kelley, vice president for Immigration Policy and Advocacy at the Center of American Progress.
- Raul Reyes, attorney and NBC Latino contributor.
- Israel Ortega, editor of Libertad.org at the Heritage Foundation.
- Beth Terry, author of "Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and You Can, Too."
- Amy Kremer, chairman of Tea Party Express.
As always, be sure to interact with us during the show on Facebook and on Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdland. See you all at 10am ET!