Fresh Air, Clean Water: Our Right to a Healthy Environment
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
My son Owen and me at the September 27 2019 climate strike in Vancouver BC What will our climate look like for future generations MEGAN CLENDENAN enough to stop polluters from dumping chemicals from those mines into the rivers that people depended on for water to drink and fish to eat My mom worked for a time at a dry cleaner’s where she was exposed to toxic chemicals Later she got cancer and passed away Although I’ll never know for sure I still wonder how did all those chemicals she breathed at work affect her health Everyone from me to you to people on the other side of the world depends on clean air to breathe safe water to drink and nutritious food and so does every form of life on the planet from oak trees to grizzly bears to ladybugs Clean air and fresh water give people a better chance to fight off health threats such as the COVID-19 virus But what if your drinking water is dangerous your air is polluted and your food is contaminated What if you live in a city that floods as the sea rises What can you do about that Do you have the right to demand change And what about trees rivers and animals Do they have rights too I wanted to learn more about how we can protect both our own health and our environment environment That led me to wonder Do we have the right to a healthy environment And if we don’t what can we do 2 Megan Clendenan
A day in the forest with your family can be a great adventure EYE CANDY IMAGES GETTY IMAGES
