I think that many Latinos are sensitive to environmental issues because we are among the first to feel the negative health and environmental consequences of things like industrial pollution, unsafe waste disposal, and even global warming if we cannot afford to properly insulate our dwellings. Additionally, many of us are not too far removed from the agrarian way of life where we lived off the land and felt intimately tied to the earth that nourishes us. To this day, my octogenarian grandmother plants and harvests a garden every year, which is one of the basic things that we can all do to lower the carbon footprint with our food consumption and to consume safe and organic produce.
Today I came across this piece in Poder 360 revealing some recent polling on Latinos and climate change. It turns out that our community is more “green” or rather more “concerned about green” than average:
“A recent Gallup poll shows 48 percent of Americans think the seriousness of global warming is exaggerated, up from 41 percent in 2009 and 31 percent in 1997, when Gallup first began asking about the issue. But as the Obama administration gears up for this debate, public opinion on the issue shows Hispanics bucking the national skepticism, according to the latest poll, commissioned by the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC). Conducted by Yale and George Mason universities, the poll found that 81 percent of Hispanics believe global warming is happening compared to only 69 percent of non-Hispanic whites. Some 62 percent of Hispanics said they thought climate change was “very bad,” while only 41 percent of non-Hispanic whites thought so. Hispanics were also more convinced about the scientific evidence of global warming, while many whites believed the science remains controversial.
When it comes to the government taking action, 66 percent of Hispanics said tackling climate change should be a “high” or “very high” priority, compared to only 48 percent of non-Hispanic whites. Some 41 percent of Hispanics said a “large scale effort” is required even if it has a big economic cost attached. An impressive 48 percent of Hispanics support the regulation of carbon emissions, compared to 28 percent of non-Hispanic whites. And an overwhelming 70 percent of Hispanics favor cap-and-trade legislation that places a limit on carbon emissions. Only 50 percent of non-Hispanic whites back the idea.”
Just last week the LA Times did a feature on Kettleman City, a town in California’s Central Valley, that has a high incidence of birth defects:
I’m definitely in the camp that believes that climate change is happening. However, how quickly it is happening and what its effects ultimately will be are subject to debate. Some may say that we should have even fewer environmental regulations because they hinder business growth, but if we cannot remain healthy or even have clean basic resources, people won’t be in a position to consume and help fuel the economy.
There are obvious growing pains in transitioning to a more environmentally healthy way of living, but many organizations are already pushing for national energy and climate change legislation that will create more jobs.
What are your thoughts? How do you see Latinos fitting into the environmental movement and current campaign for climate legislation?