Portraits of women : Erin Brockovitch
Emma, Alicia
In 1993, Erin Brockovich, a 33 years old lawyer, discovered that the drinking water of Hinkley, California was toxic. Indeed, from 1952 to 1966, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company ( PG&E ), used hexavalent chrome to maintain some of its buildings in good condition.
But, 370 million gallons of water were contaminated by 26 tons of this carcinogenic metal. The consequences of this were such that several hundreds of people have been affected by this problem.
Erin Brokowich fought against drinking water pollution in California in the 1990s.Then, in 2009, she asked the USA ambassador to Greece to manage a pollutionproblem in a river of Greece. Now, she carries on with her battle for the environment.For example, in 2019, Erin Brokovich attacked the Australian government, accusing itof leaking chemicals into the water of different states.
For her heroic act, Brockovich herself was given a bonus of $2.5 million, just likethe law firm she worked for, which won$133.6 million, thanks to this case. Everyonewas a winner except, of course, thecompany.After her denounciation in 1990, sheobtained more than 300 million dollars incompensation for environmental scandalvictims. Moreover, she became famousthanks to the film « Erin Brokovich, alone against the world» realized in 2000, whichrecounts her story. It allowed her to fight and fight again in a lot of countries for differentenvironmental issues...
I think Erin Brokovich is a heroic whistleblower... Indeed, I think we can consider denunciation as a rightful act when the rebel’s motivations are legitimate. In the presentcase, Erin wanted to protect the environment and defend victims. Her denunciation was useful, legitimate and heroic...