What are our basic human rights? The united nations created a document called “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/). Essentially this document says humans are entitled to freedom and equality. In most nations (including Brazil) there are laws in place to protect our human rights. However, some laws must be compromised or modified to compel the population to be more environmentally conscious.
Slave Labor is still happening in Brazil. The US department on labor says that Brazil is one of 74 countries that still employ children and slave labors, who work for almost nothing. Slavery is illegal, and the government is trying to do something about it (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6266712.stm) Slave labor is illegal and of course in humane. Eliminating slavery and improving labor conditions would lead to healthier working environments, this reducing pollution.
Next water has been a problem for years. Not only is it in extremely short supply, it is not necessary safe to drink. What does the government do? While they are trying to find solutions, they are also having their army prepare for an uprising (http://www.businessinsider.com.au/the-brazilian-army-is-training-for-a-water-uprising-2015-8). What needs to happen here is compromise. Reasonable water restrictions must be put in place, comparable to what is in place in California (http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/conservation_portal/). More importantly, pollution needs to end. Next summer, they are getting the Olympics, and thousands of tourists will come flocking in from all over the world. What type of water should they expect. Will they have a solution by then, or will they just get even more people sick? Since Brazil is in recession, they will have to make some tough decisions about how to spend money, but having clean water should be a priority.
How about the rights of the indigenous people? The government is supposed to provided them with secure land that includes good soil and good water, but it is handled on a case by case basis. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Brazil#Indigenous_violence) Also people are still destroying their land for the sake of mining and logging. The indigenous are being denied their right to a home so we can trash the planet.
They key to make anything work is to compromise. Sure Freedom is great, but at what cost? Freedom makes it okay to trash the planet, but our moral obligations say otherwise. In some countries like Germany, they have laws that actually force people to recycle. That law probably would not go over so well in Brazil. They don’t want to have a strict government that tells people every little thing they can and cannot do. That being said they should just be allowed to do what ever they want to the planet. What needs to happen is people need to sit down together and sacrifice a few freedoms, or grant new freedoms to create a better planet for all of us.
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