How Warehouses and Diesel Trucks Are Sending Too Many To The Doctor

Bad Air Quality Causes Asthma, Headaches, Nosebleeds, and Pulmonary Issues in Communities of Color

For years, illnesses occurred and doctors could not find a root cause while many suffered accepting their plight. Due to severe and bad air quality, there have been many stories from headaches, asthma, nose bleeds, cancer and a whole list of ailment that have plagued communities of color. To uncover these root causes and the reality of a bad air quality situation requires, legislation, money, time and research to uncover the true reality of operational warehouses and diesel trucks activities.

Landfills and vacant lots are often polluted and too often have become lands where homes were built for the local community. Some of these said landfills had or have become homes for far too many manufacturing companies disposing chemicals into the land and air over the years with no thought to the damage that is occurring within the communities or the health of others. Has humanity lost its ability to care for its fellow man or woman? Bad enough landfills have contributed to the demise in the environment, now manufactures and diesel trucks are exacerbating an already bad situation with the air quality. Many of these polluted landfills and lands, via developers have become home to many people of color and has shown to affect their healthy adversely.

Speaking of all the aliments that communities of color are faced with and the diseases that arise from exposure to such a toxic environment, the young and the old are now falling prey. Even the air quality has become so polluted over the years that laws are needed to eliminate or minimize a horrible situation from becoming horrific with all the chemicals emitted into the air. Bigger cities seem to have more air pollution than smaller or rural cities due to its population, manufacturing and diesel trucks emission.

In Los Angeles hundreds of thousands of Southern Californians breathe higher levels of air population and face an increased risk of illness due to a toxic environment from manufacturing especially in communities of color. Southern California has become more of a mecca of warehouses that have increased the pollution level to an inhumane consumption. Even young children are suffering from sickness where they can’t breathe, that maybe traced to air pollution fueled by a warehouse boom in the local area and the recent past. San Bernardino is one of the many towns whose air quality is so deadly, the worst in the nation, where young children are being affected at an alarming rate and asthma rate is in the 97th percentile statewide. One San Bernardino mother whose young child had trouble breathing for no reason, but was given an inhaler to help but the mother decided to become her own detective to get to the root cause of her child’s illness, soon linked her child’s illness to the smog in her area, as she saw semi-trucks and warehouses dumping in poor community. This is an age old story with these companies dumping on the poor with little to no thought of their health. In discovering the cause of her child’s illness, it has been noted that her child is among hundreds of Southern Californians who breathe higher levels of air pollution and faced increased risk of illness residing in these warehouses polluted areas. The influx of warehouse bring in more transport and export via an increasing numbers of pollution-spewing diesel trucks. The daily influx and exiting of these diesel trucks, the air quality is chemically compounded with pollution on a daily basis.

These warehouses come in all flavors, clothing, electronics and even explosives, just to name a few, are increasing the pollution rate specifically in these inland communities, where the air quality is dire upon one’s health, similar to a third world country.

Are these manufacturing warehouses or diesel truckers aware of their toxic affect to the air quality? How can they not be? Do they care? Is it all about the dollar? Is the rent cheaper in communities of color than their neighborhood? Perhaps, there should be additional laws mandating more ownership of these manufacturing companies destroying air quality and perhaps to live in the very same neighborhood where there companies are. The air pollution just might decrease. When the problem is in one’s backyard, the perspective changes and the air quality would improve. Forcing these companies out of the neighborhood, would take jobs away, therefore is not the answer to the problem.

Thank God Southern California air quality officials and regulators are stepping up to the plate to vote on rules that will make these warehouses in the nation’s smoggiest region along with the diesel truckers accountable for the terrible air quality in these urban areas. This is a first and hopefully this legislation gets adopted and not bought off. Unfortunately, everything comes with a price and everyone has a price. What these entity don’t realize is that polluted air travels, and is all connected. Perpetuating bad air quality catches up to others when they least expect, no-one’s health is immune to toxic air quality. Money cannot buy health but good air quality can.

If the slated measure is approved, it would curb the environmental impacts of a booming goods-movement industry that is both an economic engine and major source of health-damaging pollution. These manufacturing companies while are busy packing stores with their goods are cutting lives shorter in the neighborhood. Pollution in the air has gotten progressively worst over the years and as the demand of products in stores have increased, up goes the pollution in communities of color.

Environmentalists and community groups are all for eliminating high pollution from the air by any means necessary but greed makes opponents reject any legislation that would curtail their activity and productivity even at the expense of others healthy as they claim it would stifle job growth and would not clean the air. Why don’t they try to find means or a medium to keep the community safe? Communities are the biggest consumers of all products. They should not have it both ways, taking the dollars from the community who buy their products and at the same exchange sending many into an abyss of bad health.

The regulators intent is not to shut these air polluting entities down but providing solutions where the air quality won’t suffer at such a high rate. For example, using electric or natural-gas fueled trucks, installing charging stations, rooftop solar panels, or even putting in air filters in nearby schools and child-care centers. Making these adjustments would have a positive impact on the air quality and the business who opt in, for the betterment of the community, would pay a mitigation fee, to be used to further the cause against air pollution. Note, every single day while the air quality is being destroyed so goes many lives.

In conclusion, we all breathe air, and humanity is connected via this same air, and what affects one will eventually affect the others near and far. Money without ethics is empty but saving a life is priceless and lasting.

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