Odyssey Charter School, 10th grade

Every single human being on this earth is bound to someday experience the impacts of climate change and environmental pollution, especially from anthropogenic sources. My beloved aunt, Aunt Pearl was taken far too quickly from this planet after washing my uncle’s coal mining clothing. My definition of environmental justice was most definitely not given to my aunt Pearl. My definition of environmental justice is to ensure that any hazardous material is properly contained so that it cannot contaminate the land, water, or atmosphere. I believe that youth in Delaware can redress tragedies such as the one the occurred to my Aunt Pearl, by prompting outr Delaware State legislator to support bills that support better ppe equipment for people that work in hazardous environments. Another way that youth in Delaware can prevent tragedies like the one that occurred to my Aunt Pearl from happening is to create blogs that give tips about steps to take if you or someone you know is exposed to coal or other hazardous materials.

In my great home country of Guyana, my uncle Winston used to mine coal with a shovel wearing only a thin long-sleeve shirt and an old pair of jeans. After work, my Uncle Winston would come home every day and my Aunt Pearl would handwash his work clothes every day. Although My Aunt Pearl knew that coal was a potentially hazardous substance, she presumed that the coal dust on his clothes would be harmless to her because she would quickly wash her hands after washing his clothes. Little did my aunt know that the coal dust would be harmful to her and she would contract skin cancer from the coal dust on my uncle’s clothes. In the county of Guyana, in the late 70s’ the local coal miners and their families were not sufficiently educated in the hazards of coal, nor given proper ppe equipment that could have benefited them and their family. This same type of tragedy has affected thousands of coal workers and their families alike, in the late 70s and throughout the 80s in Guyana.

I define environmental justice as the insurance of all hazardous material properly being contained so that it cannot contaminate the land, water, or atmosphere. I believe that if complete environmental justice cannot be currently achieved, then the release of hazardous material into the environment should be heavily monitored and regulated by each countries’ federal government. I believe that since we are allowed to enjoy the resources that are within the Earth, then we should also take out part in ensuring that the Earth will remain clean, fertile, and habitable for generations to come.

I believe that their are numerous path’s that youth can take to redress exposure to harmful materials and their consequences. One of the path’s is to prompt our Delaware State Legislators to support bills that support better ppe equipment for people that work in hazardous environments. Nowadays gear such as ppe used for mining is not taken home, but we can prompt our state legislators to support bills to increase funding for research to increase the level of protection that mining ppe provides. Another path can be to create blogs that give tips about steps to take if you or someone you know is exposed to coal or other hazardous materials. These blogs can be designed to help anyone that has been exposed to hazardous material and give them instruction on the steps that they immediately must take.

Although every human on Earth is bound to endure the effects of climate change and anthropogenic pollution, there are steps that we can take to reduce the effect of these things on the Earth and our health. As the Delaware youth we can rally to support the better ppe for coal miners to prevent tragedies and create blogs or posts to warn people and help them get the help they need after being exposed to hazardous materials. We as the Delaware youth must never stop finding more avenues and opportunities to help save our planet!!