EcoMadres, a program of Moms Clean Air Force, brought together community leaders, health professionals, and policymakers to examine the urgent challenges Latino families face because of climate change and air pollution in the inaugural Extreme Weather Impacts on Latina Maternal and Children’s Health summit held in Phoenix last month. The summit offered both a sobering analysis of the problem and hopeful solutions.
Here are five takeaways from this powerful event:
1. Climate threats and pollution have a huge and disparate impact on Latino families.
Studies show that Black, Latino, and low-income communities are disproportionately impacted by extreme heat, poor air quality, and the lack of action to combat climate change. “Latinos in the U.S. are one of the country’s fastest growing populations, and among those most likely to live and work in areas with dangerous air quality and extreme weather,” said EcoMadres’ Director Isabel González Whitaker. “Latino families shouldn’t live in fear of the air they are breathing.”
Yadira Sánchez, Executive Director of Poder Latinx, said, “The devastating impact of climate change on Latino families—especially mothers and children—is a direct threat to our future.”
Mary Wagner, EcoMadres’ Nevada Organizer, added, “Pregnant people and children deserve to breathe clean air and remain safe before, during, and after episodes of extreme weather events.”
2. Actionable solutions are here to help mitigate extreme heat impacts.
Dr. Eugene Livar, Chief Heat Officer with the Arizona Department of Health Services, said, “This year, we started to see elevated temperatures about three weeks earlier than we did in 2023. Our top concerns are awareness and social connectivity. Stay aware of heat-related signs and symptoms. It takes a village to deal with extreme heat.”
Dr. Livar encouraged people to check on friends, relatives, and neighbors to make sure they are OK, spotlighting the Check on Your Neighbor campaign and 211 Arizona, a bilingual program that alerts community members about high heat days and tells them how to access free transportation, cooling centers, and more.
Noemi Emeric-Ford, Director of the Southern California Field Office for the U.S. EPA, also addressed the summit with actionable solutions. “I’m a mom of 13-year-old twins, and I live in Los Angeles, one of the top cities with the worst air quality,” she said. When it comes to climate justice for under-resourced communities, Noemi invited applications for EPA’s Community Change Grants, noting the November 21, 2024, deadline.
“With solutions at hand, including federal investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, we see a future where our Latino communities and all communities are thriving, not just surviving,” added Mary.
3. Phoenix’s transition to an electric school bus fleet is exactly the type of climate action needed.
Phoenix will soon become one of the first school districts in the nation to have an all-electric bus fleet, thanks to the work that Moms Clean Air Force and EcoMadres have done to educate the community with testimonials, webinars, and campaigns about the health and climate benefits of electric school buses and the ways that local school districts can tap into EPA’s Clean School Bus Program funds.
“As a mother, my deepest responsibility is to protect our children and ensure they grow up in a safe, healthy environment,” said Ylenia Aguilar, EcoMadres’ Southwest Organizer who is based in Arizona. “We are creating stronger protections and climate solutions that prioritize the health and well-being of all our families, ensuring a safer future for our children.”
4. “Advanced recycling” is not advanced, and it’s not recycling.
One of the largest “advanced recycling” (or plastics burning) plants in the world was proposed to be built in Eloy, Arizona, an environmental justice community between Phoenix and Tucson. This facility would burn plastic waste, polluting the surrounding communities with toxic air pollution.
As Liz Hurtado, National Field Manager for Moms Clean Air Force and EcoMadres, explained, “advanced recycling” and “chemical recycling” are misleading terms created by the plastics industry to refer to the burning of plastics. “Exposure to ‘advanced recycling’ pollution increases the risk of birth defects, infertility, neurological damage, and other serious health hazards. Burning plastic also creates cancer-causing dioxins and other harmful highly toxic air pollution.”
“Owing to racial discrimination in housing and financial services, many low-income Black and Latino neighborhoods are designated as mixed residential-industrial zones, making them more vulnerable to multiple pollution sources, like petrochemical plants, incinerators, and landfills. Changing the laws so that these incinerators can emit harmful pollution without limits in these communities is environmental racism,” she added.
Moms and EcoMadres will continue to follow this proposed project closely and hold the petrochemical and plastics industry accountable for their hazardous air pollution.
5. Children are more vulnerable to the mental health impacts of extreme weather events.
“Gente que vive en áreas contaminadas / Niños que no juegan por tener asma / Pueblos que inhalan demasiado ozono / Personas expuestas a clima extremo … ¿Qué vamos a hacer para proteger a los que queremos?” sang Karin Stein, EcoMadres Iowa Organizer, and her intergenerational band, SonTierra. (Translation: “People who live in contaminated areas / Children who don’t play because they have asthma / Communities that inhale too much ozone / People exposed to extreme climates … What will we do to protect those whom we love?) Karin uses music to both celebrate the resilience of Latino families and draw attention to the need for strong climate action.
Dr. Kacey C. Ernst, Epidemiology Program Director at the Arizona Initiative for Resilience and International Development, offered a sobering analysis of how extreme heat during—and even before—pregnancy impacts mothers’ and children’s health. Citing data from the National Climate Assessment, Dr. Ernst said, “Children who are born in 2020, as compared to those of us born around 1965, have nearly double the risk of exposure to wildfires, floods, cycles, droughts, and heat waves within their lifetime… And children’s mental health is suffering.”
But, Dr. Ernst continued, “research is also demonstrating that children who are engaged in climate justice and advocacy and environmental activities see an improvement in their mental health. It helps them to be part of the solution.”
As the Arizona heat crested into the midday, Danielle Berkowitz Sklar, EcoMadres’ Project Manager, closed out the event, which took place at the Abbey on Monroe, a gorgeous, restored church. “I am moved by the conversations held today about how we are coming together to address climate issues that deeply impact the health of our Latino communities. And at the forefront of these discussions has been protecting the groups that are most vulnerable,” she said.