Climate change has hit Latino communities harder – that's the warning of organization “Green Latinos” and their spokespersons.

 “Green Latinos” is a non-profit organization based in the United States that, according to their official website,  “convenes a broad coalition of Latino leaders committed to addressing national, regional, and local environmental, natural resources and conservation issues that significantly affect the health and welfare of the U.S. Latino community”. The group also works to give voice to native communities on issues that include income, environment, and natural resources. They also seek to educate and guide the Latino population for the generation of future leaders for environmental management and cultural heritage.

Concerned about the consequences of climate change, the organization promoted a virtual event (the Winter National Summit) of information and debates from 18th to 20th of January this year. Opened to the press only, the main objective of the event was to call the attention of world leaders to effectively engage in environmental issues and policies that impact Latino communities, while debates simultaneously boosted activists, politicians, and the population to advocated for the cause.

In an official note, the organization declared that “we are amid one of the most critical moments of the discussion about global warming […] and one of the most affected groups has been the Hispanics”. 

In the Green Latino Strategic Plan (2021-2024), the organization states that “we assert that the communities suffering the most from environmental degradation and the climate crisis are those who have done the least to cause these problems. As members of these communities, we have been underserved, segregated, and disproportionately subjected to pollutants by racist political design and policy. Due to systemic discrimination, we live in a world filled with barriers to resources and opportunities, and we come together to dismantle these inequities. We are an anti-racist organization that confronts injustices by centering the diverse voices and solutions from the frontlines. The fight for environmental liberation is a fight for justice”.

Concerned with the representative engagement of the Latino community in the country, the organization made available in the same Strategic Plan some strategies considered priority, ranging from the development of its research focused on the needs of the Latino community – resulting from the consequences of economic, political, and environmental inequalities – to encouraging  members to participate in debates for the formulation of federal policies in the country by means of political engagement.