Page 62 - My FlipBook 1

THE CLIMATE THE PRISON My colleagues and I filed a driver of the pandemic in this
lawsuit against the sheriff of
city, so we all need to pay atten-
SCIENTIST REFORMER Cook County to protect the tion to what’s happening there.
GAVIN SCHMIDT ALEXA VAN BRUNT well-being of those locked up We heard from many, many
in Cook County Jail, one of the people inside. They were
DIRECTOR, NASA GODDARD DIRECTOR, MACARTHUR
INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES JUSTICE CENTER CLINIC, biggest COVID hot spots in crammed into cells or packed
New York City NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY the country. into dorms. The jail lacked sani-
It’s not for money. We’re trying tation and cleaning supplies.
Chicago
GLOBAL CHANGES CAUSED BY COVID-19:
to change the way things are on There were no masks. There was
ROAD TRANSPORT: –50% 4,500: Approximate number of the ground. no social distancing. There was
AIR TRAFFIC: –60% inmates in Cook County Jail
GREENHOUSE-GAS EMISSIONS: –8% 919: Number of confirmed cases Because Cook County Jail is in a lot of fear.
the middle of Chicago, it’s a part The only way we can move on
at the jail, including staff
of the community. It’s not just the from this is to address some of
WHICH MAKES IT: One of the
people in the jail who are at risk. the underlying injustices that
nation’s largest known clusters
It’s the jail staff, who go home to this crisis has laid bare. The vast
of COVID-19 infections
their families, who in turn go into majority of the people locked
the community. The jail is a huge up there are pretrial, many
THE REASON we haven’t done a
good job preparing for climate
change is the same as why we
weren’t prepared for a pandemic:
People don’t see things unless it’s
under their nose.
IF YOU BREAK YOUR ARM, you “FOR SOMEONE WHO’S ‘NOT
rush to the ER. That’s an acute
problem in need of immediate I SURE MANAGED TO BRING
attention. Climate change is more
like high cholesterol. “I’ll start that
You want to call us “essential,” making money, yet they can’t
you’ve got to think about our protect their workforce. I have
health. Our health is just as no respect, man. They should be
essential. ashamed of themselves. We
Just like this country is playing can’t have this happen again.
catch-up now because we We cannot.
weren’t prepared—the same I heard that I’m “not smart, or
thing happened at the ware- articulate.” That was funny to me.
house. In the middle of March, For someone who’s not smart or
we actually had a party with a DJ articulate, I sure managed to
and a popcorn machine. I was bring the world to my home. For
like, “Where’s the caution?” someone who makes twenty-
There was none. There was no five dollars an hour to
safety. It was business as usual. be talking to the richest man
On March 24, my colleague in the world, that means that I’m
tested positive. We were both speaking the truth. It cost me
The concentration of nitrogen supervisors, process assistants. my career, but it was worth it.
dioxide, a by-product of burning There was no transparency. —As told to S. R.
fossil fuels, over New York City in
March 2019 (top) and in March 2020 Management was told not to tell
(bottom). The remarkable drop in our employees, but I couldn’t
emissions reflects human inactivity
because of quarantine. stand for that. I’d built relation- REDUX/BRYAN ANSELM (SMALLS). JEENAH MOON/REUTERS/NEWSCOM (SMALLS). SARAH-JI (PROTEST SIGN). COURTESY SUBJECTS (SCHMIDT, BRUNT, FOSSIL FUELS, FALLON). SOURCES FOR DATA POINTS: THE NEW YORK TIMES, COOK COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE.
ships with these people. I saw THE WHISTLEBLOWER
them more than I saw my own
diet on Monday.” We’re less kids, so for me not to say any- CHRISTIAN SMALLS
attuned to the chronic problems thing was just insanity. So my FORMER PROCESS ASSISTANT, AMAZON FULFILLMENT CENTER
Staten Island, New York
that are just as serious. coworker and I came back to the
building off the clock, on our “HE’S NOT SMART, OR ARTICULATE”: Amazon general counsel David
THE PANDEMIC HAS BLOWN that
own free will, and we sat in the Zapolsky on Smalls, in leaked notes from a meeting of senior leadership
theory to pieces. When it came
cafeteria break room and told that included Jeff Bezos
down to this really acute prob- “DISGRACEFUL,” “IMMORAL AND INHUMANE”: How New York attorney
the truth. And that’s when we
lem, people hesitated. general Letitia James described Smalls’s firing
started to form a coalition.
SOME STILL CLAIM it isn’t as bad The front-liners, the first
as they say, or that the silver bul- responders—we see that there
let will arrive soon. needs to be a change in the bal- After a coworker at JFK8, an
ance of power. Capitalism prof-
PEOPLE ARE SO comfortable with Amazon Fulfillment Center on
its off of lower- and middle-class Staten Island, tested positive
the status quo. They can’t even people, especially during this for COVID-19, Smalls led a
imagine deviating from it until it’s time, when it’s life or death. And protest on March 30 for
stronger safety measures. He
too late. —As told to D. H. these billionaires, they’re still was fired the same day.
62 SUMMER 2020