26
Nov
This Thanksgiving, Give and Show Thanks to Essential, Frontline Workers
(Beyond Pesticides, November 26, 2020) With the coronavirus pandemic raging across the United States, this Thanksgiving will be like no other in recent memory. Although many will spend dinner away from friends and family, and video calls don’t quite match time around the table, there is still so much to give thanks for. This year, we at Beyond Pesticides are honoring the essential, frontline workers that have helped us through this difficult year. Â
It is not enough to simply gives thanks to health care, transportation, retail, hospitality, custodial, teachers, farmworkers, landscapers, and other frontline workers putting themselves at risk. We must take action to improve their conditions – particularly when it comes to exposure to toxic chemicals that exacerbate underlying conditions and increase susceptibility to Covid-19. This 2020 Thanksgiving, give thanks but also show thanks by taking action.
Give Thanks to Health Care Workers. Health care workers are past overstressed. Many are at the point of complete burnout. Already subject to multiple medical and personal demands, many health care workers continue to lack proper equipment, are understaffed, and at greatest risk of contracting Covid-19.
Show Thanks: The best action to take to thank essential health care workers, oddly enough, is to not take action. Stay home on Thanksgiving to stop community spread of Covid-19. If you do need to go out, practice social distancing, wear a mask, and follow other applicable safety measures. Make sure your mask isn’t coated antimicrobials, and toxic pesticide additives like nanosilver.
Give Thanks to Farmworkers and Landscapers. Frontline farmworkers and landscapers are disproportionately people of color, and occupationally exposed to the highest rates of toxic pesticides among professions. Social distancing is nearly impossible in the cramped working conditions and living quarters of many farmworkers.
Show Thanks: The dual threat of hazardous chemical exposure and Covid-19 underlines the need to change the way we produce food and manage landscapes. To support farmworkers, buy organic to reduce demand for chemical sprayed produce; tell your Congressional representative today that EPA must act to protect farmworkers. Take action to protect landscapers by becoming active in your community. Eliminating the requirement that local landscapers use hazardous pesticides helps reduce risk factors for these frontline workers, and improves health and wellbeing for the entire community.  Tell us you’re ready to fight for a pesticide-free community, and we’ll provide materials to get you started.
Give Thanks to Teachers, Retail, Hospitality, Custodial, Transportation and Other Essential Workers. Although exposure to hazardous chemicals usually isn’t a frequent area of concern for essential workers in spaces like child care, retail, and transportation, Covid-19 disinfection protocols often prescribe the use of toxic disinfectants and sanitizers.
Show Thanks: Make sure essential worker job sites are not encouraging use of highly toxic, ineffective cleaning products that exacerbate underlying conditions and put workers at greater risk of contracting Covid-19. See Beyond Pesticides Safer Sanitizers and Disinfectants webpage for products to look for, and those to avoid.
We at Beyond Pesticides hope that you and yours are staying safe and healthy through these difficult times. Please join us in showing thanks for frontline workers and healthy communities, and be prepared to continue this work to the new year, with renewed hope for a better future. Â
For more thanks and giving, see all of Beyond Pesticides past Thanksgiving blog posts here.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides.
