San Bernardino residents and activists participated in the Global Climate Strike 2019, calling on e-commerce company and warehouse operator Amazon to decrease their environmental impact. We’ll hear from one of the students involved in this report from KVCR’s Benjamin Purper.
On September 20th, teenagers and adults in San Bernardino joined millions of people across the world in the Global Climate Strike 2019.
Climate strikers rallied at Amazon’s automated facility on Orange Show Road to demand that Amazon work with San Bernardino communities to end what they call the company’s health-damaging pollution in the area.
Dania De Ramon is an incoming college student and a member of the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. She gave a speech at the rally based on her experiences growing up in the Inland Empire.
De Ramon: “I'm from Jurupa Valley and I'm an incoming first-year at UC Santa Barbara. I live in a community that sees thousands of trucks pass by every hour, and many folks in the area suffer serious health effects because of it. I have no known health issues but many of my friends suffer from asthma and there are a lot of people in the community who've suffered from severe respiratory issues due to the poor air quality. This is the reality of living in the Inland Empire. We have some of the worst air quality in the entire nation because it's the Holy Grail of the logistics industry. We see warehouse after warehouse pop up in our communities and we see hundreds of trucks pass by on the road every day. It's an inescapable part of our daily lives, and it quickly becomes apparent that our local governments disregard our concerns and continue to allow these companies to place their warehouses right next to our homes and schools and continue to pollute our air. But here's the thing: the very industry that's harming our environment and our health is the same industry that employs many of our family, friends, and fellow community members."
"And a lot of times, we feel like these are the only jobs that are available to us. Amazon is now the largest employer in the Inland Empire. Working at Amazon has become the new summer job, and I've seen many of my fellow graduates go straight into working at Amazon, myself included. I needed some way to make ends meet to pay for my college tuition so I had to work at a fulfillment center for a while. Today I'm here, climate striking in solidarity with my youth, because I believe that Amazon must be taking accountability for their dangerous workplace conditions and immense environmental impact. A 15 dollar per hour wage for associates and a hundred thousand zero emissions delivery vehicles is practically nothing coming from a nearly trillion dollar company like Amazon. They must improve their workplace conditions and make the transition to clean, renewable energy.
" If they are going to keep coming into our communities, we need to hold corporations for worsening the climate crisis accountable for their actions and demand a just transition to clean, renewable energy. My generation deserves to breathe clean air, we deserve to have a future where we have a livable environment. It's time to stop protecting corporations and start protecting people and communities. Cause when it comes to the climate crisis, the time to act is now.”
A day before the climate strike, Amazon announced a new climate pledge where the company plans to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement 10 years early.
Critics, like the ones that rallied in San Bernardino, say that’s not going far enough.
