With summer on its way to the Central Valley, residents of Fresno will start to see changes in the air. For a small community in Fresno, Calwa is one of the areas surrounded by industrial companies, trucks, and factories that pump gasses into the atmosphere daily, making it difficult to breathe as well as endangering those who live in the Calwa community.
By Aileen Guzman
Calwa is considered a suburban city within Fresno. The population of residents within the area is estimated to be about 2,517. Companies such as Harris Manufacturing, Zermarc Corporation, Commercial Manufacturing, Lehman’s Manufacturing, and many more corporations surround the small city of Calwa.
Back in August of 2022, ABC30 published an article in reference to the horrible air quality the Calwa community has had to endure. The dangers of living so close to agricultural land can put the residents at risk of asthma or other health complications.
A Calwa resident Panfilo Cerrillo, 67, spoke out during one of Clawa’s press conferences back in March of 2023, voicing their opinions and concerns for the expansion of the highway.
“I have family members that suffer from asthma, the air is getting worse. These are things that I have seen come about, slowly,” said Cerrillo. “The changes used to be small, when I grew up out here, you could hear the wildlife and open your front door and see the pheasants running away, the quail with all their little chicks running off. It’s been about 10 or 12 years since I’ve seen any of that.”
Cerrillo mentioned all the missing wildlife that use to surround Calwa. Animals such as kiss foxes, rabbits, and much more vanished along with the green that once surrounded Calwa.
It has been rumored that most industrial and manufacturing companies only consist of putting parts together, but those same parts help keep businesses alive. Factories help produce and create different forms of machinery distributed around the country.
Manufacturing companies help provide jobs, food supplies, technology, vehicles, and almost everything else that is branded. Efficiency, agility, innovation, costs, and revenue. These are key concepts that benefit both consumers and producers.
Is there a solution that keeps both sides at ease?
With trucks, trains, and vehicles moving through Highway 99, gases are constantly surrounding the small city of Calwa.
By 2030, President Joe Biden and automakers declared 50% electric vehicles. With this proposal, industrial companies wouldn’t have to pump gases and toxins into the air. Electric vehicles would be safer for the residents of Calwa and better for the environment.
With the reduction of air pollution and mitigating climate change for vulnerable communities. With fewer gas-powered vehicles and more electric cars on the road, it would lead to cleaner air and healthier environments.
In a Twitter post, the International Energy Agency made a comment in regard to the new plan for the oil and gas industries.
Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) wrote an article discussing the oil and gas industry’s efforts based on our climate.
“This is a moment of truth: if the oil & gas industry wants to be taken seriously in climate discussions, it has to clean up its act,” said Birol.
Flourishing Fresno 