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San Pedro Bay Clean Trucks Rally Victory (March 20, 2008) Photo gallery from Los Angeles Harbor Commission meeting with Clean Trucks Program vote.
Knoll Hill files (Sep./Oct. 2007) Public disclosure documents by the Port of Los Angeles concerning Knoll Hill development.
Clean truck rally action & gallery (September 2007) Action is needed now to clean the twin ports' truck fleet and get decent working conditions for their drivers. Action item and photo gallery.
Is world trade a poison apple? (September 2007) Those organic apples on the grocery market may look great. But, if they're imported, they may cause more harm than good and are part of a destructive pattern of world trade and goods movement that harms public health, labor, communities and the environment. The September Southern Sierran, has more than a dozen articles on world trade and goods movement
San Pedro Bay: Start of the Diesel Death Zone Welcome to the "Diesel Death Zone" — the home of the two largest ports in the United States: The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Air pollution related caused by the goods movement industry kills about 2400 people in Southern California every year—and the number is growing. The products you buy in big box retailers, Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depo, Fry's, K-Mart all contribute to the death and destruction in communities near the goods movement corridors of Southern California. They also contribute to global warming. Around the world, they contribute to harsh labor conditions, child labor and extreme toxic pollution. They contribute to our loss of good manufacturing jobs and to our balance of trade deficit. Forty-two percent of the goods that come into the United States arrive in the twin ports in San Pedro Bay—located on the southern edge of mainland Los Angeles County. From here, goods travel to inland distribution centers all over Southern California. A trail of pollution, noise, blight, industrial sprawl, neighborhood and habitat destruction follows the industry inland on a 100-mile journey. Today, it's impossible to get by without contributing to this problem. The gadgets, shoes, clothes, food and supplies we buy almost all pass through our ports—or smaller ports with smaller ports with similar problems. We need to prod Congress to take action. We need to produce more goods and food close to home rather than half a world away. We need to ensure that all the products we import are manufactured with good labor standards. Workers need the right to organize independent labor unions without fear of reprisal. We need to ensure environmental standards are comparable to those used in the United States. We should insist that citizens of our trading partners have the right to redress their government for grievances on these issues without harassment or imprisonment. Otherwise, each and everyone of us will continue to enable a system that is exploiting workers, tears up communities and is destroying the planet. |
