Thank you, thank you, thank you. I recently went home to Phx (where I was born & raised) for a visit and spent some time helping my dad with very minimal yard work in the shade, and was alarmed by how quickly I felt the signs of heat exhaustion setting in. I had forgotten how, even in the shade, the above-100° heat is stifling. As an amateur gardener in Virginia, I experience how the heat + humidity similarly knock me out after a short time in the sun. Of course farmworkers who do this work regularly will have more stamina than me, but the human body can only handle so much heat before it needs help cooling down. I think also of the hundreds of unhoused folks in Phoenix who have died/are dying from the heat this year. Anyway, thank you again for bringing attention to this topic. 🙏🏻
Thank You for this. I work with day laborers and household workers in California and we just passed an indoor heat standard after 10 years and with a carve out that leaves those working in jails unprotected.
Today I spent all day listening to conversations about the cost effectiveness of protections for workers cutting engineered stone so that they don’t die of silicosis.
So many of the gaps in health & safety laws , including the fact that domestic workers are by law excluded from occupational health and safety protections - are legacies of chattel slavery and now impact migrants from Latin America and increasingly African nations.
I’m glad others are paying attention. it gives me hope
What a fantastic piece, Devin! Thank you so much for re-sharing. My parents met working with the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez in California in the 70s. I grew up in Salinas, the "salad bowl of California" where every day on the school bus we'd see the fields full of people working in all weather and labor conditions, exposure to pesticides, etc. Now living in NYC most of the produce in the market is shipped in from Salinas. There's such a disconnect between the food we eat and how it gets to us, the exploitation behind it, the human beings behind it. Thank you for such a thoughtful reflection!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I recently went home to Phx (where I was born & raised) for a visit and spent some time helping my dad with very minimal yard work in the shade, and was alarmed by how quickly I felt the signs of heat exhaustion setting in. I had forgotten how, even in the shade, the above-100° heat is stifling. As an amateur gardener in Virginia, I experience how the heat + humidity similarly knock me out after a short time in the sun. Of course farmworkers who do this work regularly will have more stamina than me, but the human body can only handle so much heat before it needs help cooling down. I think also of the hundreds of unhoused folks in Phoenix who have died/are dying from the heat this year. Anyway, thank you again for bringing attention to this topic. 🙏🏻
Thank You for this. I work with day laborers and household workers in California and we just passed an indoor heat standard after 10 years and with a carve out that leaves those working in jails unprotected.
Today I spent all day listening to conversations about the cost effectiveness of protections for workers cutting engineered stone so that they don’t die of silicosis.
So many of the gaps in health & safety laws , including the fact that domestic workers are by law excluded from occupational health and safety protections - are legacies of chattel slavery and now impact migrants from Latin America and increasingly African nations.
I’m glad others are paying attention. it gives me hope
What a fantastic piece, Devin! Thank you so much for re-sharing. My parents met working with the United Farm Workers and Cesar Chavez in California in the 70s. I grew up in Salinas, the "salad bowl of California" where every day on the school bus we'd see the fields full of people working in all weather and labor conditions, exposure to pesticides, etc. Now living in NYC most of the produce in the market is shipped in from Salinas. There's such a disconnect between the food we eat and how it gets to us, the exploitation behind it, the human beings behind it. Thank you for such a thoughtful reflection!