Highway and city planners saddled a once-proud Black community with freeways and diesel fumes, while more affluent neighborhoods were spared such burdens.
With its highways and suburbs, modern America was built around the automobile and powered by fossil fuels. The oil crises of the 1970s provided an opportunity to change course and move to renewable energy, but momentum proved to be very short-lived.
A lack of tree cover in low-income areas has left many residents especially vulnerable to rising heat. It's a legacy of the city's design—and its history of racist policies.
California State Sen. Ricardo Lara and Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia are part of a growing group of Latino politicians who have joined the climate change fight.
