Alberti’s R21 Foundation Educating Young Latinos About Environmental Issues

Charly Alberti is rockin’ his way through Latin America and the U.S. with a purpose…

The 51-year-old Argentine musician and former Soda Stereo drummer’s R21 Foundation is cashing in on his rock star appeal educate young people in Latin America about environmental issues.

Charly Alberti

Since 2009, Alberti has toured the region, giving presentations on global warming enhanced with music and videos to school kids, leading them in a pledge to protect the planet.

Alberti has now joined with the Natural Resources Defense Council, whose board members include Leonardo De Caprio and Robert Redford, to spread the message to Spanish-speakers in the U.S. as well.

“Alberti’s dedication in creating consciousness and action about these important issues and his capacity to communicate to the public are a very important addition for the NRDC and for the world,” NRDC’s Latino Outreach director Adrianna Quintero said in a statement. “In the United States and Latin America we have an opportunity to adopt changes that will help us to combat the climatic crisis and develop clean and renewable energies and thus prevent worst damage in the future, but we need the support of the public.”

Alberti was the youngest and publically quietest of the three members of pioneering Argentine rock band Soda Stereo, which he formed with frontman Gustavo Cerati, whose tragic passing this year shook the Latin music world, and bassist-turned-DJ Zeta Bosio.

The drummer first found his voice as an Apple spokesman in the 1990s, and later became a face of Al Gore’s green movement in Latin America.

R21 and NRDC will be present at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Lima, Peru, which takes place December 1-12.

Both Alberti and Di Caprio are scheduled to attend.

“The focus of R21 is creating massive awareness among the general public,” Alberti said. “The NRDC… is a prestigious organization that focuses its efforts principally on the analysis and development of public and governmental policy. Our organizations complement each other since we both recognize that the care of the environment can go hand in hand with social and economic development.”

Leave a Reply