Environmental Justice

Environmental Justice is...

"The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.” This means that everybody is protected from any environmental harm that may occur to the people of a town or state. It also means that the people of that area must act to prevent that harm from occurring. No matter what their race, gender, or income is they are responsible for keeping the environment clean and in one piece.




Should environmental justice be taught?
I believe that environmental justice should be taught in school systems because if the students grow up knowing that they must protect and take care of the environment then they will later be adults who realize that and can change things. Then they will have children who they teach to care about the environment and soon they won't have to teach it in schools. Although I don't believe that schools should be fanatic about teaching this I think that this would be a good thing for parents to teach their children. I feel that that would have more of an affect because they could go out into the woods or on a hike or something else that a school couldn't do. I feel that in order to appreciate the environment one has to realize that it's in danger and that it might not be there forever. It would be nice for teachers to teach environmental justice in school or maybe just touch upon the subject and let the parents do the rest.

I like the picture I chose of the little girl in the leaves because I feel that children should be able to appreciate nature and enjoy it to the fullest while learning about it at the same time. I think that in order to want to protect the environment and preserve it for years to come children need to learn to love it while they're little so they can help it when they get older.




http://www.mde.state.md.us/index.asp