Empowering Texas Latinos: 3 Key Strategies to Combat Climate Change and Boost Health”

Praying for the rain in South Texas was a daily ritual. Droughts are common there, and climate change is making them more intense and, thus, more devastating. Humans that are living in Texas are surrounded by the inaccurate political messages that they are the cause of climate change.

This kind of misinformation is physically and economically harmful, especially to the 40 % of Texas who are Hispanic or Latino because these populations are disproportionately impacted by climate change.

Impact of Climate Change in Texas

Climate change refers to the major challenges for the Texans. In recent years, climate change has caused extreme weather events in Texas: Hurricane Katrina in 2005, The record Drought in 2011, and this year’s Memorial Day flooding. These events are already influencing the major destruction in Texas, bringing an immediate human health impact, and Latinos are especially vulnerable.

Three Key Strategies that Latino Communities Can Fight Climate Health and Protect Health

The good news is that The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF ) can cut greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution that are exacerbated by climate change. Three federal measures currently aim to do just that will directly benefit TEXAS Hispanic and Latino populations.

●  American Clean Power Plan

America’s Clean power plan marks the first time the US will place limits on Carbon pollution from existing power plants. This -plan will significantly cut our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, in part by incentivizing energy efficiency projects in low-income communities and requiring states to meaningfully engage with vulnerable populations, including minority and tribal communities.

As per the US Environmental Protection Agency, the clean power plan will avoid up to 3600 premature deaths, lead to 90000 fewer asthma attacks in children, and prevent 300000 missed work and school days. As my colleague Lucia Oliva Hennelly recently wrote, the plan will also provide significant savings and job opportunities for Latinos.

● National Methane pollution standards for the oil and gas industry

The oil and gas sector holds an enormous opportunity for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting public health. While natural gas burns cleaner the goal, the oil and gas supply chain emits massive amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is responsible for about one–quarter of the manmade global warming we are experiencing today.

● Updated National health-based standards for ground-level Ozone

In addition to contributing to global warming, methane leaks from the oil and gas sector often contain other pollutants that contribute to ozone (also known as smog) and impact public health. But that’s not all: hotter, drier climates will increase the frequency of days with unhealthy levels of ozone.

Final Thoughts

Fortunately, the federal government is proposing three efforts to address these problems, but these proposed solutions need all people, including Latino populations in Texas, to learn and speak up about what it means to us.