You may not see it, but it’s there.
It slips through open windows, drifts across playgrounds, and lingers where we work and worship. It’s in the air. Quiet, invisible, and deadly. And for millions of Latino families across the U.S., it’s a daily reality.
Air pollution isn’t new in our communities. For decades, Latino neighborhoods have been placed near freeways, factories, refineries, and fossil fuel sites. These aren’t just dots on a map—they’re the places where our children grow up, where our elders try to rest, where we work long hours in the sun and heat. And now, according to the latest State of the Air report, this exposure is reaching alarming levels. Nearly half the country (152 million people) are breathing unhealthy air. Communities of color are disproportionately impacted, making up 54% of those living in areas with failing air quality, even though they represent just 42% of the U.S. population.
Latino communities are nearly three times more likely than white communities to live in areas with the worst air pollution.
Two Pollutants Stand Out as the Worst Threats to Our Health
First, there is fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5, and ozone, or smog.
Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5): PM2.5 is made up of microscopic particles, smaller than a grain of dust, that come from car exhaust, industrial pollution, wildfires, and even gas stoves. These particles are small enough to enter your lungs and seep into your bloodstream. They’ve been linked to asthma, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and even premature death.
Ozone: Then there’s ozone. Not the protective layer high in the sky, but ground-level ozone formed when pollution reacts with sunlight. It’s the main ingredient in smog, and it burns. Ozone inflames our lungs, triggers asthma attacks, and makes breathing feel like a struggle. On hot summer days, ozone builds up fast, and Latino communities living near traffic corridors and warehouses feel it first. The areas of the country most impacted by high levels of ozone are southwestern states with large Latino populations, including Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Texas.
These pollutants are getting worse.
PM2.5 and ozone don’t exist in isolation. They are made worse by the powerful forces of methane pollution and wildfire smoke.
PM2.5 levels surged in 2023 due to massive wildfires and extreme weather. Ozone pollution is climbing again too, especially in the Midwest, South, and East Coast regions, not traditionally known for poor air quality. Cities like Houston, Phoenix, New York, and Los Angeles remain some of the worst, but new communities, like New York City and Philadelphia, are showing up on the danger list each year. It’s a widening crisis.
Methane Pollution
Methane is an invisible gas that comes from oil and gas operations and is used to power polluting gas appliances we use for heating inside our own homes. It’s a super-pollutant that’s so efficient at trapping heat climate change that it’s responsible for 30% of climate change. Methane is an important ingredient in the creation of ground-level ozone or smog. When it’s leaked into our air during its extraction from the ground, it’s released along with volatile organic compounds, which cause cancer, impact the nervous system, and can even lead to birth defects.
Wildfire smoke
Wildfire smoke is another concerning driver of toxic air. As climate change fuels hotter and drier conditions, wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense. It’s a vicious cycle where pollution worsens climate change, and climate change worsens pollution. Wildfire smoke is a cocktail of life-threatening pollutants of PM2.5, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nitrogen oxides. This dangerous combination also creates more ground-level ozone to further irritate the lungs. Exposure to wildfire smoke can worsen asthma, lung disease, reduce lung function, cause bronchitis, and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Concerningly enough, wildfires have contributed up to 25% of PM2.5 in areas across the United States, further expanding and bringing sickness to our communities.
Impact on our comunidades
For Latino families, the impact is not just environmental, it’s generational. Latino children are 40% more likely to die from asthma than white children. Workers in our community face higher exposure on the job, whether they’re in construction, agriculture, or logistics. Many of us are renters, unable to make our homes safer through things like weatherization or air filtration. We’re paying more for energy while breathing in more pollution.
But we are not passive victims. We’re organizers, parents, promotoras, neighbors, voters. We’re leading solar projects, demanding accountability, and rewriting what environmental justice looks like, from Brooklyn to Bakersfield.
Still, the truth is: we’re fighting uphill.
The Threat of Rollbacks
Now more than ever, the clean air protections we depend on are under attack. There are real efforts underway to roll back environmental safeguards, weaken state implementation plans, gut the Environmental Protection Agency, and undermine foundational laws like the Clean Air Act and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). These protections exist because communities like ours fought for them. Stripping them away would erase decades of hard-won progress.
Some of the most alarming changes include:
- The Environmental Protection Agency no longer counts the health benefits and lives saved by air pollution rules that limit companies' emissions of the deadliest air pollutants, such as PM2.5 and ozone. This change allows lawmakers to ignore the health benefits of avoiding pollution, like the number of asthma attacks, hospital visits, missed workdays, and premature deaths, and makes it easier for companies to repeal clean air standards that keep us safe.
- Taking steps to dismantle the Good Neighbor Rule, which made states clean up their polluting emissions so as not to affect neighboring downwind states. The rule was predicted to help protect states whose pollution comes from across state borders to prevent 1,300 premature deaths, avoid more than 2,300 hospital and emergency room visits, and prevent 1.3 million cases of asthma.
- Attempting to cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 52%, which would reduce support for state environmental programs, stop key climate research, and cut funding for compliance with rules that protect our air.
- Erasing the 2009 Endangerment Finding, a scientific finding showing that climate change and greenhouse gases undeniably endanger human health. This finding gave the federal government the legal power to regulate climate pollution and place limits on polluting sources like power plants, vehicles, and the oil and gas industry. This action means we no longer get the Environmental Protection Agency’s full protection against toxic pollutants that contaminate our air and endanger our neighborhoods.
Awareness of these tough losses may be heavy, but that does not mean we should shy away from demanding that our lawmakers take appropriate actions that defend our community.
We need action—and we need it now.
- We need strong and enforceable air quality standards that reflect the lived experiences of overburdened communities.
- We need tougher state implementation plans to reduce emissions from highways, warehouses, refineries, and power plants.
- We need major investments in our neighborhoods, air monitors to track pollution, green spaces to cool our cities, and worker protections for those laboring outdoors on dangerous air days.
- We need to phase out dirty, polluting energy sources in exchange for clean, renewable energy that allows us to power our lives without sacrificing our health.
- We need to defend the agencies and laws that stand between us and unchecked pollution. The EPA must be funded and protected. NEPA and the Clean Air Act must remain strong.
We deserve better. And we’re not asking for a favor. We’re demanding the right to breathe healthy, clean air.
Join the Climate Justice & Clean Air Collective!
Want to take meaningful action on clean air and climate justice in Latino communities? Be part of our Collective! You’ll get updates, resources, and chances to plug into virtual and in-person events—all while building power with GreenLatinos.
