Have you ever seen any environmental crime being broadcasted on any media platform?
No?
Yes, that’s what I thought because the media doesn’t provide coverage for such incidents.
They are mainly focused on the news that is worth their time and for the sake of the audience. This kind of information is not well seen, although these things are causing severe damage to our environment. Therefore, it causes severe health issues for the human population.
Most probably, you are here to know that environmental crimes are worth reporting or not. It is also essential to know all the aspects of environmental crimes happening worldwide about which we don’t know.
If you already know these things, you can skip to the other half of the article to know about different types of environmental crimes.
What is the Environment?
Everything that surrounds us can be termed our environment. All of these things are vital for our survival and sustainability. As human beings, we should be well aware of how not to cause any severe damage to our environment.
The trees, roads, air, and everything we see and feel daily are our environment. We must keep it safe from any hazards. If we are not careful enough, it can cause serious issues.
What Is Environmental Crime?
The crime that breaches the environmental laws and causes a risk to the environment is termed the Environmental crimes. These crimes also affect human health.
Environmental crime causes the loss of billions due to which strict actions are being taken for them. It has an estimated worth of 258 Billion dollars every year.
Why Should The Media Report The Environmental Crimes?
The environmental crime cases have been increasing day by day. No appropriate actions are being taken to decrease these crimes. Environmental crime is just 1% of all the crimes committed against the law and societies globally. But it is important to take
The media should play their part in reporting these crimes to be aware of them. Because the related authorities will take action only in case the crimes on media and people raise voice against it. They need to be pressured to get to catch these criminals.
How Media Can Decrease the Crime Rate
When the media start reporting these crimes, the people will know, and they will make demands to end these crimes as they are threatening our ecosystem.
How Media Can Spread Awareness
The media can help in spreading awareness about how these environmental crimes are causing damage to our surroundings. The media can provide knowledge to the people, so they don’t commit such an act.
Are Environmental Crimes News Worthy?
In my opinion, they are as the people deserve to know what is happening all around them even if it is not affecting them. The media should take a firm stand against these crimes.
Social media can also play a significant role in unmasking these criminals. Every year there are millions of animals that are trafficked. It is causing a substantial decrease in the population of the endangered species.
It is now or never. If we didn’t do anything now, it could become overwhelming, and we might not stop these criminal acts.
I have researched these crimes and have seen significantly fewer environmental crime cases being reported. They should do it more for the same of our environment.
Why Are These Crimes Not Reported By The Media?
There are specific reasons why these crimes are kept in the dark. Let us discuss a few of them.
Not Audience Friendly
The viewer’s generally watching the news is not interested in this type of criminal report. This type of news doesn’t carry any excitement for them.
Not Exciting and No Drama
There is no excitement or curiosity in these environmental crimes. The media searches for news that will create fear in their audience. The majority of people don’t care about these crimes as they don’t know the outcome.
Threats
The threats can also be considered as a reason why these crimes are not being reported. You can see that there is a lot of money involved in these crimes, due to which these people do anything to keep themselves in darkness.
Top 5 Environmental Crimes
Environmental crimes are of different forms and are being committed all over the world. The top 5 of environmental crimes examples are:
Deforestation
You might not know this, but deforestation is one of the top environmental crimes being committed. These forests are being cut at a swift pace and that merely to make furniture or other stuff.
The Amazon forest has been the victim of this crime. We cut it down for wooden goods and houses. This Forest provides the majority of oxygen worldwide, and due to deforestation, the environmental oxygen is also decreasing.
We can stop this deforestation as it will totally in our hands. The citizens should demand certified wooden products. The natural forests should not be cut down for mere paper or furniture.
Animal Trafficking
It is the world’s third-largest crime producing billions of dollars. The wild animals are being imported and exported all over the world.
The rarer the animal, the more the price. It is causing a severe threat to our endangered wildlife. If it continued like this, all the endangered species would soon become extinct.
If the people take severe action and stop paying higher prices for these endangered species, then there is a chance to save these animals.
The parts of animals, such as the tusks of elephants and rhinoceros’ horns, are used for making several different artifacts. At this crime rate, we will push these animals close to extinction.
Finning
About 70 Million sharks are caught just for their fins. Those fins are cut off alive, and then the sharks are thrown back inside the water to die. We are becoming the cause of the death of these underwater animals.
Over 100 million sharks are caught every year. Some of them are used for fin and some for other purposes too. The people pay a large sum for these animals, due to which the sharks are being captured.
Waste Disposal in Rivers
The waste disposal in rivers by various factories is another serious crime being committed. The water is not treated correctly before discarding, due to which the underwater species cease to exist there.
The water consists of harmful chemicals that have not to be treated because it is expensive. To save up money, these factories release them untreated, killing all the species around them.
The water is disposed of in rivers, or sea not only causes wildlife destruction but can also seep into the soil, killing crops and trees on its path. It can be hazardous to the human population if anyone comes in contact with such crops.
Electronic Waste
The television sets, mobiles, and other electronic products that are being illegally imported, also count in the environmental crime. The electronic waste of over 50 Million tonnes is exported to other countries illegally to clean up the junk from their homeland.
There are a few countries that have banned the import of these products. We can demand our government to dispose of this waste properly if there is any in our surroundings.
How can we care for the environment?
There are a lot of steps by which we can care for the environment. Let’s discuss a few of them that you can do individually to create a better surrounding.
Plant Trees
One of the best things that we can do individually is planting more trees in our neighborhood. These trees provide us with oxygen that is essential for us. They also keep the temperature low on hot days.
You should also spread the word and encourage other people to plant more trees. It will cause a chain reaction that will be beneficial for our survival.
Don’t Throw Waste On The Roads
You might have seen people throwing waste outside their car window. It would help if you tried to avoid such activities and also tell people not to throw trash. You can narrate to them the effects of it to make them more aware.
There are proper disposal places where the trash and waste are taken. The government should make arrangements to dispose of this waste to minimize environmental hazards properly.
Report Any Crime In Your Surrounding
If you see any environmental crime happening in your neighborhood, you must report it immediately. It will decrease the crime rate and make the place better for your children.
Spread Awareness
We can use social media or word of mouth to spread awareness about environmental hazards and protect it. We can run campaigns to make people more aware of its dangers.
Spreading awareness will make people think twice before doing it. Now they know that a small act can be so damaging for the environment they live in.
Conclusion
Environmental crimes are causing a great deal of damage to our environment. You can consider global warming as an effect of these crimes.
If you see someone involved in such activities, contact the authorities and let them know. The government should take legal actions against all these crimes to make a better world. CWP
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