“There is one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent threat of a changing climate.”

• The United Nations calls air pollution “the most important environmental health risk of our time.”

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• Air pollution is the leading environmental cause of death worldwide.

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• With 100,000 deaths per year, more Americans die from air pollution than from car crashes and murders combined.

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• Communities of color pollute the least but are impacted the most by the pollution.

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• Black and Hispanic Americans have a greater exposure to every type of hazardous emissions than whites.

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• Blacks and Hispanics experience approximately 60% more exposure to pollution than they cause, while whites experience 17% less exposure to pollution than they cause.

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• Landfills, hazardous waste sites and industrial facilities are most often located in communities of color, with 56% of the people living in neighborhoods with toxic waste facilities being people of color.

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• A recent study funded by the EPA found that Black and Hispanic people experience a 37% higher exposure rate than whites to nitrogen dioxide and that, if the exposure rates were the same, Blacks and Hispanics would experience 5,000 fewer premature deaths annually from heart disease.

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• A report by the Congressional Black Caucus foundation found that reducing emissions to 15% below 1990 levels would save an estimated 10,000 African-American lives per year.