Confronting the Nature Gap and Creating Opportunity for la Comunidad Latina

GreenLatinos identifies a "Nature Gap" characterized by the underrepresentation of Latino history on U.S. public lands and a lack of diversity within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) workforce. The organization petitions Congress for robust funding to steward Latino heritage sites and implement equitable hiring practices to address environmental and racial injustices.

• Latino history is significantly underrepresented across U.S. public land sites, with only 24 of over 400 National Park sites specifically preserving Latino/a/e history and only 190 Latino heritage sites among the nearly 96,000 sites in the National Historic Register managed by the National Park Service.
• The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) workforce lacks demographic representation; in FY 2021, 81.6 percent of selected applicants were "White," and six of eleven agencies fell below the DOI average of 26.2 percent for workforce representation from non-white or non-identified race and ethnicity categories.
• The "Nature Gap" refers to a disproportionate lack of access to nature and its public health benefits for Latine communities, who also suffer disproportionately from the climate crisis, ecological collapse, and pollution.
• Economic injustice is evident in the public land administration sector, where Latinas earn 54 cents for every dollar earned by a non-Hispanic white male.
• To address environmental and racial injustices, the U.S. must protect endangered species, adapt land management to climate change, and equitably conserve 30 percent of national lands and waters by 2030.

APA

GreenLatinos (2023). Confronting the Nature Gap and Creating Opportunity for la Comunidad Latina. GreenLatinos. https://www.greenlatinos.org/confronting-the-nature-gap-and-creating-opportunity-for-la-comunidad-latina/

Chicago

GreenLatinos. Confronting the Nature Gap and Creating Opportunity for la Comunidad Latina. GreenLatinos, 2023. https://www.greenlatinos.org/confronting-the-nature-gap-and-creating-opportunity-for-la-comunidad-latina/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=GreenLatinos |title=Confronting the Nature Gap and Creating Opportunity for la Comunidad Latina |publisher=GreenLatinos |date=17 August 2023 |url=https://www.greenlatinos.org/confronting-the-nature-gap-and-creating-opportunity-for-la-comunidad-latina/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{greenlatinos2023confronting, author = {GreenLatinos}, title = {{Confronting the Nature Gap and Creating Opportunity for la Comunidad Latina}}, publisher = {GreenLatinos}, year = {2023}, month = aug, url = {https://www.greenlatinos.org/confronting-the-nature-gap-and-creating-opportunity-for-la-comunidad-latina/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }