Streets remain flooded in Cataño, Puerto Rico a day after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on the island.
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Streets remain flooded in Cataño, Puerto Rico a day after Hurricane Fiona made landfall on the island.
AFP via Getty Images
Most residents of Puerto Rico still no electricity or water days after Hurricane Fiona caused flooding and landslides. The widespread damage, just five years after Hurricane Maria destroyed much of the territory’s infrastructure, shows how unprotected the island’s 3.2 million residents are as climate change wreaks havoc. for stronger storms and more rain.
Puerto Rico’s vulnerability to hurricanes is the latest example of how Latinos in the United States often live on the front lines of global warming. According to numerous national polls, Latinos are disproportionately affected by climate extremes and are generally more concerned about climate change than non-Hispanic whites.
“Latino communities from Texas to California to Puerto Rico are hardest hit when it comes to climate disasters,” said Michael Méndez, who studies climate policy and environmental justice at the University of California Irvine. cause this to happen. “They have absolutely a real connection to our changing climate.”
Latino communities are more likely to face extreme weather due to climate
Latinos in the United States are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to experience heat waves, hurricanes, sea level rise, and flooding, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.
And that risk will only increase as the Earth warms. For example, Estimated EPA that Hispanics and Latinos are 40% more likely to live in places that are often too hot to work all day outside.
More intense heat waves are a big problem, because millions of Latinos have jobs that require them to be outside.
Juan Declet-Barreto, who studies the unequal impacts of climate change at the Union of Concerned Scientists, explains: “For example, agricultural workers, first responders, construction workers construction workers, landscape workers. “Climate change is forcing those workers to work longer hours in dangerous heat.”
And, as news from Puerto Rico makes clear, Latinos often live in the path of hurricanes, from Texas to the East Coast. And hurricanes are increasingly damaging as the Earth heats up.
People load sandbags in West Miami in 2019 in preparation for Hurricane Dorian. South Florida is home to millions of Latinos and is at increased risk of flooding from rising seas and stronger hurricanes due to climate change.
Eva Marie Uzgategui / AFP via Getty Images
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People load sandbags in West Miami in 2019 in preparation for Hurricane Dorian. South Florida is home to millions of Latinos and is at increased risk of flooding from rising seas and stronger hurricanes due to climate change.
Eva Marie Uzgategui / AFP via Getty Images
Latinos help lead climate change efforts
Latinos have a long history of climate and environmental activism against pollution and climate change. That includes promote equitable emission reduction policies in California and equal storm support in Texas. In Puerto Rico, many residents have the years since Hurricane Maria calls for a more reliable, renewable electricity grid.
One 2017 survey found that Latinos are more engaged in the topic of climate change and more concerned with its impacts, than other racial and ethnic groups in the United States
Declet-Barreto said: “Latins recognize the reality of climate change and realize that it is a big problem. “Sometimes I think there’s been this perception that Latinos don’t care about the environment because they care more about the economy, jobs or immigration policy for example. But that’s really not true.”
