Meet Sandra. Like many immigrants, Sandra was displaced from her home country, El Salvador, due to poverty after the 2001 earthquakes devastated the country. After much hard work and resilience, she now lives with her family in the neighborhood of Brooklyn in Baltimore.

Though Sandra fled El Salvador as a result of negative environmental effects, she finds herself once again in this predicament as Brooklyn is located near the Wheelabrator incinerator, a waste-to-energy plant that releases tons of greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals into the air. Black and brown working-class communities in Brooklyn will be left to endure the consequences of polluted air.

This year, Maryland passed the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, a step in the right direction. Next, we need to ensure that at least 40% of all new investments be directed at overburdened and underserved communities.