The Climate Crisis Is Here; It Is Real and Urgent

By Oscar De Los Santos, Representative for District 11 in the Arizona House of Representatives, Democratic Leader, and HECHO HCLC member.

Oil and gas companies understand and have plenty of scientific research about climate change, their role in it, and the dangers posed by fossil fuels for the environment, the people, and the future. Unfortunately, this industry has spread lies about global warming that they are causing.

This is an issue very important to me as a Hispanic leader. Burning fossil fuels and extreme weather events caused by climate change disproportionally impact Hispanic communities in the United States.

Almost two million Latinos live within a half-mile of existing oil and gas facilities, according to a 2016 report 2016 report by the Clean Air Task Force, National Hispanic Medical Association, and LULAC. Latino communities are more likely to bear the burden of severe health risks caused by air pollution from oil and gas facilities. Hispanics are 51% more likely to live in counties with unhealthy levels of ozone, and Hispanic children are two times more likely to die from asthma than non-Hispanic white children. 

Bringing awareness about these facts to the public is essential.

The climate crisis is here; it is real and urgent. Here in Arizona, we have been experiencing record-high temperatures firsthand over the summer, and the southwest has been in a megadrought for almost three decades. We are actually in the process of aridification, a transition of the climate and hydrology of a region to drier conditions, potentially permanently changing our environment.

The extreme heat is putting our communities at risk. Climate change also impacts our economy, specifically the agriculture sector. The majority (78%) of agricultural workers self-identify as Hispanic, so another way is how our community is impacted disproportionally.

It is critical to tackle climate change and do it quickly.

A clean energy transition is a historic opportunity to combat this urgent matter that affects us all, to grow our economy, and to create tens of thousands of really good-paying jobs, all while doing what is right for our planet.