Latinas take action for their children: "They see their asthma attacks, their respiratory problems, and they look for solutions"

“There is an emotional anguish due to the changes that are taking place in our environment, which cause a risk not only for this generation but above all, for the future generation,” Carolina Peña, a Latina originally from Bolivia and based in Bolivia, told Telemundo News. Virginia, United States.

Based on that concern, she explains, EcoMadres emerged: a group that seeks to promote actions against air pollution, the climate crisis and toxic chemicals to thus protect their children. 

Many of them are Latina moms who are seeing the impact firsthand, in the destruction of their communities by natural disasters or in their family's health problems, and they live, work, and their children play in risk areas.

"They are the ones who see how their children have asthma attacks, respiratory problems," says Peña, "and look for solutions." 

On Women's Day, we highlight the work of these women behind EcoMadres, a Latino-based project of the Moms Clean Air Force present in six states –Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas– and which was formed together with Green Latinos in 2018. They also have volunteers in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC, and plans to resume in Florida and expand to California.

They bring together not only mothers but also grandmothers, aunts, caregivers and fathers who have the impulse to protect their loved ones: "They don't get tired, they are persistent," Peña remarks. 

A group of EcoMadres make a video in favor of electric school buses in May 2022 in Montgomery, Maryland. Gemunu Amarasinghe / Moms Clean Air Force

Among them is, for example, Ana Rios, who is concerned that pollution affects the development of her three children: she lives in the Latino neighborhood of San José, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, surrounded by heavy trucks, a railroad and highways.

And also Erandi Treviño, who bought a house in the southeast of Houston, Texas, and later found herself surrounded by pollution. 

“

.

An immigrant Latina woman buying a house with a pool, no less.

I felt that she had made it.

Now

for the health of my family, ”she said when giving her testimony at a hearing in favor of stricter controls by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, in its acronym in English).

They know that Hispanic families suffer a disproportionate impact from air pollution in the United States, compared to other races or ethnicities, which impacts their health and their pocketbook.

68% of Latinos live in areas that do not have air quality according to the standards of federal regulators, and 60% of their children are at greater risk of having asthma attacks, due to the impact of pollution , according to studies compiled by the Moms Clean Air Force.

Health problems, says Peña, are also an economic issue "because we know that if a person has limited resources and is sick, sometimes they have to decide

."

Hispanics are the most affected by the lack of health insurance in the country, something that can even lead them to have to return to their origins.

“This is a situation in which our organizers are very enthusiastic, eager to be able to make changes in their daily lives,” says Peña. 

Latina mothers fight against high air pollution in the community of Chamizal, in Texas

March 2, 202203:54

EcoMadres has a battery of initiatives to address it, ranging from creating

platforms to educate the community—with a Latin music group or talks called “cafecitos”—to promoting legislative and regulatory changes by having families tell their story. to those who make the decisions. 

“It is important that the authorities, whether local or federal, be able to listen to the voices of these most vulnerable communities,” Peña remarks. 

Less Risk School Buses

More than 40% of Americans, more than 135 million people, live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution, due to the impact of the gases emitted by heavy vehicles. 

Elvis Treviño, the coordinator who secured a house in Houston, is surrounded by an excessive amount of heavy trucks, and although she has no children, she fears for her family: her 3-year-old niece has severe allergies and respiratory problems;

the other 7 year old has eczema, and her mother has fibromyalgia.

Treviño was part of those who asked the EPA in April 2022 for standards that reinforce the national fleet of buses and trucks on a clear path towards 100% fully electric vehicles.

“Moving is not the solution.

The solution is to address the root of the problem,” she said. 

Erandi Treviño (left) with his mother Mayela Bustos (right) at a press conference for the regulation of heavy vehicles to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.Jose Luis Magana / Moms Clean Air Force

EcoMadres promoted federal government investments across the country for the transition from diesel to electric or low or zero emission school buses, which emit less pollution, and now in 2023 they are working to make school districts and local agencies aware of this possibility : there are 5,000 million available, to be distributed until 2026.

“Studies have shown that children when traveling both to and from school exposed to the gases emitted by diesel buses can suffer impacts on their health,” says Peña.

Alternative fuel and electric vehicles eliminate or reduce exhaust smoke which is linked to asthma, heart problems, in children;

reduce the emission of gases that contribute to the climate crisis. 

Between music and coffee

Giving information in Spanish is one of the keys of EcoMadres, and this is not only done through brochures or online campaigns, but they look for creative ways connected with the Latino community: from representing the rituals of honor to Pachamama to highlighting the time of Lent as one to protect our home, the Earth. 

One of the ways is coffee, short talks with doctors, scientists or specialists in schools, community centers, national parks, events or churches.

A Colombian organizer also promoted the creation of the Conjunto EcoMadres (EcoMadres Ensemble) that participates in events, such as the Puerto Rican Festival in Phoenix, Arizona, with its songs that educate and entertain.

For their last anniversary, they released the song

, composed and produced by Moms Clean Air Force Iowa State Coordinator Karin Stein.

“Today I have you here with me, one day you will leave, I will keep your inheritance, what a legacy you will leave.

I still walk by your hand, I still depend on your actions: the future of this world, you can still rescue it”, sing two girls.

I tell you what I live in my neighborhood

author

Karin Stein is a Latina living in Iowa for over 40 years, majoring in plant science and horticulture and has been a professional touring musician for 25 years, but first and foremost, she explained in an EPA hearing in January, that she is "a mother" of three daughters in her 30s.

“

.

I live with an inner discomfort and I bet all of you do too," he said, "I deeply love this planet and, above all, I love the three wonderful human beings that I brought to it."  

Planet Earth: Air pollution can damage human bones

Feb 26, 202301:28

EcoMadres, together with the Moms Clean Air Force, has participated in public hearings at the federal and state levels for the EPA to "make changes to its laws that have not been reviewed since 2012" with stricter standards, explains Peña.

They bring the reality of families to the regulators. 

[“They Are Killing Us Bit by Bit”: Mothers at Texas Border Sue EPA]

Stein has recounted that she and her husband have developed respiratory problems, but she worries about her daughters, who are suffering from natural disasters in Iowa, increasingly common due to the climate crisis: severe storms, devastating droughts.

“In their short years, they have met not just one, but several friends whose family farms and lives were affected by historic flooding,” he said at the January 10 hearing to support the EPA's updated rule to reduce flooding. methane and other harmful pollutants from oil and gas operations across the country.

“My generation and my parents' generation have failed my daughters and all the young people who are witnessing these accelerating climate disasters and their tragic ripple effects,” she remarked.

"This has to stop". 

Without standing idly by 

With education and testimonials like Stein's, change is mobilized, inspiring communities and legislators to take action, according to Peña.

Carolina Peña (on the right of the photo) invited her mother, Blanca 'Mimi' Alarcón, to EcoMadres. Gemunu Amarasinghe / Moms Clean Air Force

“Sometimes in our community they don't know that the power to reach out to their elected officials: it can enable policies and investments that change the environment where they are living,” he explains.

She learned about EcoMadres a year ago and volunteered, after long experience in environmental issues, through her professional training and her work at the Organization of American States (OAS) throughout the region.

He was excited to join a group where he could do something about his concern: “It's a group with whom we share the same principles and work together to find ways to make changes in our society, without sitting idly by.”