Fresh Air, Clean Water: Our Right to a Healthy Environment
Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One One Earth to Share It’s a Fact Nature Makes Us Happier and Healthier 5 Air Water Soil Life 6 Planting the First Seeds 8 Cannonballs to the Sky 9 How Many Earths Do We Need 11 When the Air Is Thick 12 We’re All Thirsty 15 Hidden and Not-So-Hidden Poison 17 Planet-Sized Change 19 Climate Change Has No Borders 22 What Are Your Rights 24 Chapter two Words Have Power Environmental Rights Are Human Rights 27 A River Catches Fire 28 Animals Live Here Too 32 Noxious Neighborhoods 33 Environmental Laws 36 Highest Law of the Land 37 Rights to the Rescue 39 Left Out When Rights Aren’t Protected 42 We’re Not Done Fighting 42
Chapter three All Rise So What’s the Problem Now 45 Keeping Things Fair 46 Court Fights for Rights 48 Getting Eight Billion People to Cooperate Isn’t Easy 60 Nature Has Its Own Rights 62 Juliana v United States 63 Chapter four Citizens Create Change Fridays For Future 67 Stand Up and Speak Out 68 Spread the Word 71 Songs Have Strength Paintings Have Power 72 Science Can Make Waves 75 Make Your Voice Heard 76 Even Judges Need to Learn 79 Pass on Gas Skip to Solar 80 Rights Spark Real Change 82 Countries Can Cooperate 83 You Too Can Plant the Seeds of Change 87 Glossary 90 Resources 96 Acknowledgments 99 Index 100
Introduction When I was in elementary school in Saskatchewan sometimes sometimes the water wasn’t safe to drink unless we boiled it first Now I live in a different part of Canada and I’ve never had to boil my water But I know now that many people in North America still have to boil their water every day Why Why in the same country do some people have safe water while others don’t Once when I was in eighth grade my friends and I left school for the day and took the bus downtown to attend a protest against a war in Iraq Millions of barrels of oil had been spilled Smoke from fire filled the air choking the people who lived there Their water was poisoned It was the first time I’d thought about how much our health is affected by our environment and how people often don’t have a say in how the resources they depend on are cared for Later I had the chance to travel to Guyana South America I pitched in to help build a well in a community that didn’t have a safe source of drinking water I learned that Guyana had many mines and at that time laws weren’t strong 1 In Guyana the rainforest rivers and waterfalls including 741 foot 226 meter Kaieteur Falls provide habitat for animals and inspirational places for people to visit RICHARD MCMANUS
