The Environmental Justice Movement

Words: 1029
Pages: 5

Environmental justice according to the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences states that Environmental Justice is “The belief that all citizens regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic class, should equally share the benefits of environmental amenities and the burdens of environmental health hazards”(“Environmental Justice,” 2005). One of the topics The Environmental Justice movement focuses on includes the government and corporations that are negatively affecting the importance of the environment. Some of the issues related with Environmental Justice include lead poisoning, cancer and birth defects in children, pesticide poisoning of farmers, no protection for spiritual or religious land, and lack of access to health …show more content…
The community rallied and it resulted in over 500 arrests. Some of the groups involved in the Environmental Justice system include Environmental Protection Agency officially established in 1992. Then in 1994 the EPA made a formal council to deal with issues within Environmental Justice. Environmental Justice involves minority groups of ethnicity including African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics. It also involves lower class and poorer communities. The main goal of Environmental Justice is to provide an environment that is safe to live and work in. In order to achieve the goals community involvement, pollution prevention, and government accountability are some of the areas that need work. In order to change some of these unfortunate environmental injustices, I believe personally there are some things I can do. I can research environmental justice issues in my community specifically, understand legally and educationally what issues are prominent in my community and identify environmental groups in my area with whom I can ask …show more content…
Human trafficking is the trade in humans for labor or sex. Sex trafficking is just a form of human trafficking. It is stated by the United Nations Protocol to Prevent that human trafficking can be entered voluntarily; however, most cases involve trickery, or threats. Survival sex is also a common form of human trafficking. The homeless or poor population uses survival sex in order to gain food, shelter, or money. Unfortunately, human trafficking is more common in the U.S than most think. In the article The Movement to Criminalize Sex Works in the United States, Ronald Weitzer emphasizes that different forms of human trafficking has become more allowable over time. Some of these acts including prostitution, and pornography, Weitzer argues that these are very much linked to human trafficking. This is a major issue regarding human trafficking. By allowing ourselves to think that pornography and prostitution are acceptable, then what is to say down the road we don’t get accustomed to allowing even more heinous acts? If we link prostitution and pornography with the word or idea of sex-trafficking suddenly it makes the idea a lot scarier. This is Weitzer’s main focus in his article and I agree that this might help with the decrease or slowing of interest in prostitution or pornography. This also then leads to issues such as public health, public safety, and awareness of the possibility of human trafficking. Sadly, it is a scary