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By State Rep. Christine Barber and Kenia Arbaiza

 Kenia Arbaiza, a recent graduate of Somerville High School and Field Representative with the youth-led nonprofit Our Climate, joins her state representative Christine Barber (D- Somerville and Medford) in a call for strong, immediate, state-level climate action. 

The worldwide Climate Strikes are not the only way that young people have been leading the charge against climate change. Youth leaders with the nonprofit Our Climate have also been taking these issues directly to decision-makers in the Massachusetts Statehouse. When Kenia Arbaiza, a recent graduate of Somerville High School, sat down with her state representative, Christine Barber, they both agreed that climate change is an existential threat not only to worldwide communities but also to the young and diverse cultures of Somerville.

Arbaiza has lived in Somerville public housing for all 18 years of her life. Her parents came to Somerville in the 1990s as part of a wave of refugees from El Salvador, and she feels grateful to call this place home. However, climate change threatens her and her extended family.

El Salvador is currently the second most deforested country in Latin America behind Haiti, a country that is also well represented in Somerville. Many people left their homes because they thought a bleak future awaited future generations. It is heartbreaking that many Somerville residents have challenges visiting their relatives and sharing their heritage due to the crippling droughts and destructive storms that have recently ravaged Haiti and El Salvador. Although Arbaiza’s parents and many families believed that being in the United States promised a fruitful future for their children, what they didn’t realize is that climate change will not spare North America.

When working as an interpreter for The Welcome Project’s Liaison Interpreter Program of Somerville (LIPS), Arbaiza learned about the havoc that carbon emissions were having directly on Somerville and other urban areas of Boston. People who live near I-93 are subject to increased exposure to climate pollution. Somerville housing developments near I-93 house largely low-income and immigrant populations. Ultimately, families like Arbaiza’s spend more money on asthma-related hospital visits and face more stress because of these inequities.

During a recent Youth Lobby Day, Arbaiza and Rep. Barber agreed that we need bold state level legislation to make Massachusetts a leader on this issue – H.2810, An Act to Promote Green Infrastructure and Reduce Carbon Emissions, sponsored by Rep. Benson. This carbon pricing bill holds polluters financially accountable for the devastation they have wreaked on poor families. It also redistributes the funds raised directly back to communities, especially low-income families, to ensure financial stability throughout the transition. This policy would go hand-in-hand with other proposed bills to protect our climate, from the 2050 Roadmap Bill (H.832) that would update our climate emissions goals to net zero, to Rep. Barber’s bill, filed with Rep. Hecht, to electrify vehicle fleets like buses and municipal vehicles (H.2872).

Our community deserves support and protection for the suffering it has endured at the hands of huge corporations polluting our rivers, soil, and air. Let’s join together to make Massachusetts the policy leader our nation needs to deeply affect this issue.