As climate change makes extreme weather events more common globally, Latinos often face the most significant effects to their health, safety, food security and livelihoods.

A new report from the Hispanic Access Foundation details the effects and how climate change erodes cultural legacy when neighborhoods undergo gentrification, displacing traditional communities.

Vanessa Muñoz, conservation program manager for the Hispanic Access Foundation, said Latinos in every state are experiencing challenges to their mental health and identity due to climate change.

"Some places might suffer severe temperatures and others might be more exposed to flooding or to a lot of wildfires, which is often where a lot of the Latino communities reside," Muñoz pointed out.

In New Mexico, she explained drought and higher summer temperatures threaten Latinos, while in other states they are displaced by rising sea levels. Among respondents, 71% of Latino adults said climate change already affects their community.

To promote what she called a "just transition" toward a climate-friendly economy for all people, Muñoz noted the report includes a toolkit and policy recommendations to help communities better preserve Latino heritage.

"One of the ways is joining groups and forces to really protect our lands and prevent that from expanding -- to prevent further loss and damage -- which is necessary in these times of climate change," Muñoz contended.

Latinos are projected to make up 30% of the U.S. population by 2050, and more than half reside in states with the highest levels of climate change threats. The Hispanic Access Foundation released its "Cultural Erosion: The Climate Threat to Latino Heritage" report at the recent COP28 conference in Dubai.

Insurance rates are rising quickly in California because of fires and floods linked to climate change and now, two new bills in Sacramento seek to make oil and gas companies pay.

The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act would create legal pathways for homeowners, insurance companies and the state insurance plan to sue and recover losses from oil and gas companies.

Melissa Romero, policy advocacy director for the nonprofit California Environmental Voters, said the companies misled lawmakers and the public.

"The one group that hasn't paid their fair share in all of this is oil and gas companies," Romero contended. "They knew since the '70s and the '80s that their products were creating runaway climate change. They hid the science, they did nothing about it, and they continued to push an agenda that stymied a lot of efforts to switch over to clean energy."

The Western States Petroleum Association called the bills a way for politicians to capitalize on tragedy. The California Independent Petroleum Association said the real culprits for the fires are arsonists, environmental lawsuits that prevent forest management, and cuts to firefighting budgets.

Romero also supports the Polluters Pay Superfund bill, which would charge fossil fuel companies according to their role in climate change and invest in climate-resilient communities.

"It requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to do a report about the actual costs, both looking backwards and forwards, that climate change has caused to California in terms of our infrastructure, disaster response and things like that," Romero outlined.

Proponents of the bills complained insurance ratepayers and taxpayers are hard hit by climate disasters. The state's FAIR Plan, the insurer of last resort, has assessed insurers and ratepayers $1 billion for Los Angeles wildfire claims so far. Meanwhile, State Farm is likely to get regulators' permission to raise homeowners' insurance rates by 22% after a hearing on April 8.

In the face of the severe effects of climate change across the country, new research offers a framework for how to measure Washington's climate resilience.

The research supports Washington's Climate Resilience Strategy, which was published last year.

Carlie Stowe, climate resilience specialist for the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington and the paper's lead author, said building resilience is critical in order to minimize effects from droughts, fires and other extreme weather events.

"As the government is investing in resilience, we want to make sure that we're spending that money wisely," Stowe urged. "And that the programs and activities we're investing in are resulting in increased resilience."

Stowe pointed out the research compares Washington's and South Carolina's approaches to climate preparedness to serve as a guide for other states. She added the research is one way to demonstrate Washington's leadership in this area, as taking such measurements is a new practice at the state level.

Stowe noted measuring climate resilience means incorporating data from dozens of sources, across communities, infrastructure, land and governance. It includes air quality levels, damage to infrastructure, and evacuations in extreme events like floods or wildfires.

She emphasized it was helpful to partner with South Carolina on this research, even though each state ended up with a different measurement framework.

"There's a lot more that we can learn together," Stowe stressed. "Continuing partnerships like this is really important for further building resilience across our country."

Stowe added the Washington State Department of Ecology will be implementing the plans and the public will start seeing initial results of the measurements in September.

Last year, filmmaker Michael Nash achieved the extraordinary when his documentary "Climate Refugees" was sent to the moon as part of a Lunar Museum project. Now, he's on a new mission: getting the faces of climate refugees featured on postage stamps to keep the conversation about climate migration alive.

"Climate Refugees," which premiered at Sundance and was later featured on Netflix, has been a powerful tool for raising awareness about the human impact of climate change. Nash and his team traveled to 48 countries, uncovering stories of forced migration driven by droughts, food shortages and environmental collapse.

"What we found was this intersection where overpopulation, overconsumption, lack of resources, and a changing climate were slamming into each other," Nash explained. "The outcome was forced migration: people running out of water and food in places they'd lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years."

While the film's journey to the moon in 2024 was a historic milestone, Nash is now focused on a more down-to-earth goal: creating postage stamps featuring the faces of climate refugees, although gaining approval from the U.S. Postal Service's stamp committee will require demonstrating the issue's national relevance and historical significance.

Despite the progress in raising awareness, Nash emphasized the world has not done enough to address climate migration.

"There is not an international law accepted by all countries that gives asylum or protection to people forced to relocate due to climate change," Nash pointed out.

According to the United Nations, more than 20 million people
are displaced annually by climate-related events, making the need for action more pressing than ever.

Nash was a featured speaker at last week's Climate Correction Conference in Orlando. His next project, a film exploring the intersection of artificial intelligence and climate change, is currently in production and set for release in 2026.


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