I took this photo after learning about the plight of truck drivers at the Port of Oakland and the struggle of West Oakland residents, in whose community the Port operates.

Talking to drivers - most of whom are immigrants - I learned that many make a mere $8/hour after costs, have no health insurance, routinely working 12 and 16-hour days away from their families, and are often sick from the diesel fumes of their out-dated trucks which they cannot afford to maintain. Talking to community residents in West Oakland, people cough while telling you about the latest neighbor who has fallen from cancer or how their kids can't play long in the yard before coming in to use a breathing machine because of the air pollution from the trucks driving through their neighborhoods. These residents who live amidst the toxic diesel fumes from port trucks are expected to die 10 years earlier than Oaklanders who live in the hills. Their children have the highest asthma hospitalization rate in the Bay Area. Dirty air is largely to blame for both.

Now truck drivers, residents, labor leaders, and environmental health and justice organizations have united to change the broken truck industry in Oakland and five other ports across the country. Calling for both good jobs and clean air at the Port of Oakland, the coalition's proposal would bring truck drivers into the middle class with good, family-supporting wages while drastically reducing the port's pollution. This would tackle two of the most important issues of our generation: poverty and global warming. I was inspired by this important effort and hoped to capture some of the energy of the movement in this photo. If you're inspired by it too, please visit this website, Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports.