Taruc, a community leader and a mother of two, has been engaged in the environmental justice movement in California since 1992. In her earlier work with APEN, Taruc gave tours of Richmond’s rail yards and Chevron refineries to officials, including assistant secretary at the California EPA Arsenio Mataka. Taruc also served as chair of California’s Environmental Justice Advisory Committee. The committee makes recommendations to the California Air Resources Board, the organization tasked with reaching the state’s ambitious greenhouse gas targets for 2030 and beyond.

She had been a significant contributor to the Microgrid Equity Coalition, working to ensure clean, reliable microgrids will be an outcome of the California Public Utilities Commission’s Microgrid Proceeding. Her leadership has pushed the Coalition to advocate strongly and fiercely for more just policies and funding. In addition to her work with the MEC, Mari Rose works on other campaigns. She coordinated the Reclaim Our Power: Utility Justice Campaign, an initiative of the Local Clean Energy Alliance.

In 2009, she spoke at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Reflecting on her first full day at the Summit, she wrote, “Something we don’t hear often in the US is ecological debt, or what some refer to as carbon colonization. It’s that rich countries have colonized the atmosphere with their industrial carbon pollution for so long that it’s time they pay for the mess they’ve caused. And rightly so, as small island nations like Tuvalu are headed to go under water this century” (Movement Generation).     

The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum profiled Taruc in 2011. Profiled individuals included artists, activists, moms, attorneys, organizers, and students who lift up the progressive movement for APA women and girls.

 As an artist, Taruc practices kado, the zen Buddhist flower practice, meaning “way of the flower”. She seeks to bring the spirit of flowers into the consciousness and hands of friends and community. She designs wearable flowers, organizes flower bandits, and teaches ikebana classes to shed light on political action.