Inland Empire Air Quality Gallery
All Work in this gallery has been
created by participants of past Workshops.
If you would like your work featured in this gallery, please contact noe@noemontes.com
We are Resilient and We Thrive
Inside this shed is the last remaining wall of the Trujillo Adobe in a once prosperous Latinx settlement called La Placita. Recently the city of Riverside was going to approve an influx of industrial warehouses/logistics centers in this part of the city which has historically been willfully neglected. Through community coming together and voicing opposition, those plans have been put on hold while the city updated their Northside Specific Plan which will be the guiding document in what the look and feel of this community will look like. It is through the power of community and collectively voicing our needs that we can manifest a more just and equitable future. That's not too say it's an easy task or that opposing forces with money and power won't try to derail, chip away, or flat out oppose those needs. Also, history has shown this fight isn't new, from the creation of industrial citrus agribusiness to the postwar military industrial complex to neoliberal globalization that's created the current logistics industry complex. It's always been about money and power, and there has always been resistance and resiliency.
— Xuxin Gonzalez
Location: The Trujillo Adobe, Riverside CA
Community Health Over Profits
For the past three weeks I was fortunate enough to take part in the "Art and Air Quality" workshop led by Noe Montes and hosted at the new Inland Congregations United for Change building in San Bernardino. It's been an awesome experience and I've learned so much. Specifically that through our collective voice, our communities can fight back against greedy developers like Hillwood and Highland Fairview, or public officials, who seek profits over our health.
— Xuxin Gonzalez
Location: Northside, Riverside CA
Hear Our Voices
This logistics facility uses natural vegetation to conceal their property from public view.... It's time to demand our elected officials care enough about our health as they do about how corporate landscapes should look within their boundaries.
— Xuxin Gonzalez
Location: Lowe's Distribution Center, Perris CA
Those in Power are Responsible for the Safety of our Youth.
It starts off as a simple recommendation on a staff report for a land-use zoning change. Before you know it, Val Verde High School, is across a massive logistics center. Separated only by the Ramona Expressway, that is the main artery for all those diesel engine trucks.
— Xuxin Gonzalez
Location: Val Verde High School, Perris CA
Photo by Marco Montoya
Any Means Necessary
Locals of the IE get around on public transport, bikes or by foot. Some are conscious of the air pollution in the region and are trying their best to reduce their individual carbon footprint. Others have no choice and are subject to poverty as a direct result of inaction by elected officials.
— Marco Montoya
Photo by Marco Montoya
No Hope Generation
The cases of respiratory diseases in children of the Inland Empire has been an issue for decades, so has the exploitation of resources. With air toxicity rising at an alarming rate and no precaution or regulation of harmful emissions, it is believed that the generation that will be left with no hope for a solution has already been born.
—Marco Montoya
Environmental Justice Now!
This is the site of the proposed World Logistics Center (WLC) in Moreno Valley, CA. The amount of expected particulate matter which will be released into our atmosphere if this project gets built will hurt regional air quality and disproportionately affect those BIPOC/frontline communities fighting back against climate change.
— Xuxin Gonzalez
Location: Theodore Street, Moreno Valley CA
Photo by Marco Montoya
Undervalued & Betrayed
Amazon and the other logistics companies in the Inland Empire are guilty of environmental racism. They invaded our landscape with the promise of economic growth for our communities when they don’t even pay their employees a living wage. In return, warehouse and factory workers are met with unsafe work and living environments with complete disregard of our lungs and lives.
—Marco Montoya
Photo by Marco Montoya
Photo by Marco Montoya
Photo by Marco Montoya
Typical Summer Day in San Bernardino—185AQI
This photo shows what we have to deal with on a daily basis in San Bernardino. The American Lung Association has graded San Bernardino air quality the worst in the nation and yet its business as usual in the Inland Empire. Our air quality continues to be dismal and yet we continue to bring more and more warehouses.
—Gerardo Escobedo
The Dino
Photo of Noe and Amelie looking at the camera. I wanted to take a photo of my son Noe and Amelie overlooking San Bernardino, CA. It's a beautiful and tough place at the same time. This is our home.
—Gerardo Escobedo
2.2 Miles
Another warehouse being built in San Bernardino. Our town already has a lot of warehouses and unfortunately the only new development that continues to happen is more warehouses. This one popped up 2.2 miles away from our home. I am afraid that my son and daughter will think that its normal to grow up around warehouses. It's a sad reality for them.
—Gerardo Escobedo
Photo by Angela Cardenas
Photo by Angela Cardenas
Photo by Angela Cardenas
I was walking at the park when I noticed the pollution. I felt like I will never escape the reality that my city is contaminated.
—Angel Orozco
Photo by Angel Orozco
Photo by Angel Orozco