LINK to get tickets for the bus from Chicago to Elwood or the shuttle from the Joliet train station to the park in Elwood.

Illinois's Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice event will be held in Elwood, IL. Below is background about this location choice.

A Short Summary of Environmental and Labor Issues Connected to the Rail and Warehousing Operations in Joliet and Elwood, Illinois

Globalism, Warehouses, and Tax Credits for Amazon

Will County, Illinois is home to the third largest port in the world, behind Hong Kong and Shanghai. Shipping containers full of consumer goods from Southeast Asia arrive at the Port of Los Angeles by cargo vessel and then are placed on rail and semi trucks. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railroad, owned by Warren Buffet, moves the containers from Los Angeles to Elwood, Illinois. This is a video of the Burlington Northern Sante Fe (BNSF) Railroad Intermodal yard in Elwood, Illinois from a truck driver’s perspective.

Once in Elwood, tens of thousands of semi trucks pick up the containers and deliver them to warehouses. This google map shows the BNSF facility in Elwood and the surrounding warehouses. The Union Pacific intermodal and Amazon warehouses are to the north in Joliet. Another Amazon warehouse operates on the eastern edge of Will County in Monee, Illinois. Note: Amazon received Illinois tax credits for building these warehouses.

Diesel Pollution

Check out this map for counts of Diesel Particulate Matter 2.5. Click different days to see the measurements on each day. All of the data was collected from public right of ways, so we do not have any data from the actual warehousing or intermodal facilities.

Labor Issues

See: Warehouse Workers for Justice; Documentary on 2012 Unfair Labor Practices Strike at WalMart Warehouse in Elwood

ProPublica Series on Warehouse Work: Explosion of Temporary Worker System

                Little Village Connection to Temp Work

                ProPublica Graphic, Temp Worker Pay

                Mother Jones Article on Warehouse Work

Details to come about our program for September 8th.