ニッキー・リードさんのインスタグラム写真 - (ニッキー・リードInstagram)「Morning Everyone, I hope you are staying safe -- the last few weeks for the West Coast have confirmed what many advocates have known to be true for a long time.... This week's post comes from Elizabeth Guadarrama, a student and frontline farm worker from a small community in Washington. At her request, we aren't including a photo this week but please leave your comments and appreciation for sharing her work and story here. Photo from my many mornings waking to watch the sunrise which felt like a good match for her story. Giant rays extending across the sky. Color, nuance, clarity. A sky I haven’t seen in a while as I now look up to a red fireball suffocating under dark layers of smoke. Let’s continue the conversation below... "Waking up before sunrise can be a pain. Why would anyone willingly set their alarm to 4 am in the first place? During summertime, this is very common for most people in my town. Now, before you start thinking that my town is filled with early birds, let me give you some context. I grew up in a small agricultural town of 2,000 people. We harvest produce from fields of corn to thousands of apple trees. Summer is the peak of the harvest season, so many of the people that live in my town are the workers who pick apples, cherries, and peaches. The summers can become extremely hot, therefore, many people have to work in the brisk of the morning, before the sun graces its presence on our fruitful land. 167 miles from home, a man steps outside on his way to work when smoke fills his lungs and irritates his eyes. A smell so intense it felt like the fire was just down the street. Fortunately for him, the wildfire was miles away. Nevertheless, the rise of fires throughout the years on the West Coast has caused many people to lose their homes. This pattern of devastating fires will continue unless something is done to preserve the earth we live on. While many of these wildfires are accidentally caused by humans, climate change makes our land prone to uncontrollable fires, endangering workers like me and my neighbors. Safeguarding our environment is vital if we are to preserve our home for ourselves and future generations."」9月14日 1時12分