Buttigieg on Climate Justice

“We’re impressed that he’s put together a plan that is specifically acknowledging the unique realities and challenges of Latino communities in the US,” says Jennifer Allen Aroz, the founder of Chispa, a branch of the League of Conservation Voters focused specifically on Latinx issues. “And thinking about how to level the playing field and acknowledge the discrimination and systemic inequality and racism that the community faces.”

While Allen Aroz acknowledges that the South Bend mayor’s proposals address issues that are central to remedying environmental problems plaguing Latinx communities, there are others he overlooks, like public transportation and agricultural labor conditions. As for the role those communities play across the country’s farms and fields, “We haven’t heard a commensurate level of concern for the conditions of farm workers, both from exposure to chemicals and pesticides that are applied,” she says. “But also from having jobs that are healthy and treated with dignity.”