From Long Beach resident Martha Cota

I am a working mother of three sons and one daughter. I’ve often had to hold down as many as three jobs at a time to raise my children. I may not have much money, but living here by the port, I’ve come to learn one thing: It doesn’t matter if a person is wealthy or low-income. In Long Beach, we all breathe the same dirty air and we all suffer.

From Patricia Castellanos, Chair, CCSP

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently argued in a Sunday magazine cover story "I think that living, working, designing, manufacturing and projecting America in a green way can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the 21st century."

For the first time ever, a city outside of California, (Pittsburg, PA) tops one of the most polluted lists in the American Lung Association’s State of the Air: 2008 report. Los Angeles saw improvements in air quality, dropping its year-round particle pollution levels by nearly one-third in the last decade.

Hearty press cheers today to the Sierra Club's Tom Politeo and Teamsters VP Chuck Mack Pacific Shipper magazine, which printed an article by titled, "LA program catapults port trucking into the green economic revolution." You'll need a subscription to access the article on line, but it's is well worth it, considering Mack and Politeo share decades of expertise closely watching the economic and environmental consequences of port trucking. Here's an excerpt:

For those who missed out on March 20th when the Port of Los Angeles unanimously approved its landmark Clean Trucks Program, check out this inspiring highlight video. Or if you were among the hundreds of port drivers, environmentalists, community members and public health advocates who literally flooded the waterfront to witness LA Harbor Commissioners take the high road to clean air, transport yourself back to that victorious moment.