Environment & Climate: Últimas noticias, videos y fotos de Environment & Climate | Univision

A half-century of armed conflict has left behind 8 million victims in Colombia. It has also affected the country's unique natural resources. We explore the war’s impact on Colombia’s environment.

Thousands of students attend the 12 primary and secondary schools in the mostly Hispanic neighborhood of Wilmington, Los Angeles. In schools like Hawaiian Avenue Elementary School, where many students suffer from respiratory diseases, a nurse is more important than a librarian.

Exercise or stay inside. This is the dilemma that the inhabitants of Wilmington, California face everyday. The air quality is among the worst of the United States due to the closeness of 5 refineries, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles as well as several highways. “We go out running, and after a few minutes my nose hurts and it’s hard to breathe”, said Jhovana Ruelas.

Inhabitants of the heavily Latino neighborhood of Wilmington, in Los Angeles, California, live surrounded by toxins. To the west is the Phillips 66 refinery, to the east is Route 110 and to the south is the L.A. port, the most active port in the United States. In most families, at least one person suffers from respiratory conditions, asthma and even cancer.

In Wilmington, California, Teresa López lives with an oil rig in her backyard. It pumps oil 24 hours a day, expelling toxic fumes and producing nonstop noise. In California, nearly 5.4 million people live less than a quarter mile from an oil or gas rig. "They put them where the poor live," López says. "We can't move anywhere."