Hispanic Access Foundation - Climate Change: Heat & Drought

Climate Change: Heat & Drought

Higher temperatures and heat waves are leading to a disproportionate impact on Latino laborers. For many Latinos, staying indoors during high-heat days is not an option. Hazardous conditions are routine for farmworkers and include pesticide exposure, heat stress, lack of shade and adequate clean drinking water. Regardless of 100°F or higher temperatures, unhealthy air quality, and lack of proper protection, many farmworkers continue to work in these hazardous conditions to support their families.

The frequency of extreme heat days is increasing as the climate warms. It is critical that we provide Latino workers with the necessary resources to not just survive, but prosper in these adverse environments, while also limiting climate change to mitigate this increasing risk.

Why is this important to Latino communities?

Latino Health

Latinos are three times more likely to die from heat on the job than non-Latinos.
Latinos are 21% more likely than whites to live in urban heat islands, or areas dominated by asphalt and concrete where parks, shade-providing trees, and other vegetation are lacking.
Increased daytime temperatures, reduced nighttime cooling, and higher air pollution levels associated with urban heat islands can harm human health by causing respiratory difficulties, heat cramps and exhaustion, non-fatal heat stroke, and heat-related mortality. In Los Angeles on a hot summer day, the neighborhoods with the highest percentage of Latino residents were 6.7 degrees hotter on average than neighborhoods with the fewest Latinos.
Temperatures in communities of color and communities with higher rates of poverty can be up to 4 degrees Celsius, or 7 degrees Fahrenheit warmer in summer than white and higher-income neighborhoods. Extreme heat has been linked to a range of consequences for humans, from premature births, to lower test scores, decreases in productivity and increased risk of heatstroke among children and the elderly.
About 30% of Hispanic households do not have air-conditioning.
Over 40% of Latino households are energy insecure–they cannot afford the energy required to heat and cool their homes, refrigerate food and medicine, or they must make the tough decision between paying their electric bill or paying for food, medical care, and other basic necessities. In the spring and summer of 2020, during the first 2 COVID waves, over 27% of Latinos at or below 200% of the federal poverty line could not pay their energy bills.
In Oregon, a 2013 survey found that 28% of farmworkers, most of whom were Latino, reported two or more symptoms of heat-related illness. In 2010, a study of 170 farm camps in North Carolina found that migrant workers, 95% Mexican, routinely experienced dangerous heat conditions in their housing.

Latino Jobs & Economy

Latinos have less access to sick days and health insurance, which leaves them less able to manage health conditions that are exacerbated by heat.
Workers in agriculture, construction, utilities, and manufacturing, who are disproportionately Latino, are more vulnerable to heat waves and higher temperatures, leading to lost productivity, increased healthcare costs, and economic strain. Latinos are 43% more likely to live in areas that are projected to have reduced working hours due to extreme temperatures.
17% of Latinos are natural resource laborers (agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting), compared to 10% of whites. Higher temperatures and heat waves will thus disproportionately impact Latino laborers.