The first case study I chose discusses littering in Ireland, and it can be found here http://personal.colby.edu/personal/t/thtieten/litter.htm. In this case, Ireland’s cost of removing waste is expensive which lead to illegal dumping and littering. This poses a threat to their image, tourism industry, and food industry. In 2002, the Irish government made a levy on plastic grocery bags in order to reduce the 14,000 tons of plastic being put into landfills or thrown on the side of the road. One fundamental question about development asked in this module is, “What is it that we ultimately care about as a society?” In this study, Ireland is worried about their image as a “green” country, which could destroy a majority of their economy that is fueled by tourism. The levy has resulted in a 95% decrease in the use of plastic bags and a 1.1 million dollar revenue to be used for environmental initiatives in the future.
In another case study, found at http://www.sandeeonline.org/uploads/documents/publication/961_PUB_PB_60_Kanupriya.pdf, discusses the ineffective ban of plastic bags in Dehli, India and other ways to reduce their plastic waste. Due to poor waste management, plastic products, like shopping bags, are polluting the environment in developing countries. The government banned plastic bags, but with no effective enforcement, the ban did not work. Law makers then decided to try three different tactics; spreading the information about the cause, giving a cash-back incentive, and selling reusable bags. The cash-back incentive for not using plastic bags worked the best by 5.5%. While the decrease in plastic bag usage in Dehli was not as high as the decrease in Ireland, Dehli still saw a difference of about 23% decline. This study found that multiple tactics, not just one specific strategy, worked the best in order to make a change to fix a problem in their environment.
I’m from Northeast Philadelphia and the last thing police officers are looking for is littering. That being said, we have trash pretty much everywhere. I don’t think a plastic bag ban would work effectively where I live because people don’t care about the environment or where their trash goes after they throw it in the street. I think we would see a change if we used some of the strategies that were used in India. People would rather carry their groceries or bring their own bags to the store if it meant that they would get a percentage off their total cost. Different areas have different economics. I think for this reason, poorer areas would benefit from the cash-back scheme as opposed to Ireland’s plan to just ban the plastic bag completely. Each area has a different reason as to why plastic is or isn’t bad for their own environment. It just depends on the status of the area to decide whether the environment is a problem or if there are other pressing issues that need to be solved first.
Hi, my name is Mara and I am an Education major at Penn State UP. I wrote my blog about the lack and placement of sewage treatment plants in Manhattan, New York and China. These Sewage Treatment plants are causing health problems and affecting water quality. What really grabbed my attention to your blog was the title of your post. After reading your title, I continued to read and I really liked what you said about using strategies like they use in India. I also found it very interesting when you said that people don’t care about where their garbage goes after throwing it in the street. This can be very true. Great job! If you want to check out my blog, here is a link to my post: http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/26/module-5-sewage-treatment-plants/
Nicolina, my name is Kristin. I enjoyed reading your post! I also wrote about pollution in my post, but where as yours focused on plastic bags mine was more focused on air pollution accidents from large companies in other countries. I am also from north east Philly and I agree that people there do not care about the environment at all! However I personally have seen some of the tactics used in India used here in the U.S- In Target if you don’t take a bag they give you five cents off your purchase and other grocery stores actually charge you five cents for each plastic bag you take. I think this is a great way to start making people mindful of using bags but I think it would be more beneficial in poorer areas because in wealthier areas, five cents wouldn’t matter much to them.
Also, I found your title of this post very clever!
If you want to check out my blog post here is the link:
https://wp.me/p3RCAy-bAz
Hey Nicolina. My name is Jonah Kim and I am a sophomore at the University Park campus. Here is a link to my blog:
http://geog030.dutton.psu.edu/2016/02/26/module-5-development-case-studies-9/#respond
I really enjoyed reading your analyses of the case studies. I think it is a very interesting point that plastic bags can have so much harm. We use plastic bags everyday so frequently and it is something so crucial, yet can easily be fixed. That reminds me of a point I made in my blog where I talked about limiting the places people can fish, which will help the fish population survive. There are so many little things we can do to help our planet that don’t take much effort, and can make a huge difference.
Hi my name is Ben Bishop and i am a freshman at PSU. I really enjoyed reading through your blog post and i thought you did a fantastic job. One thing I liked in particular was your title. I thought this was very creative and fit very well. You also put forth a lot of effort and detail into your post. I commend you for doing such a great job. While you focused more on the effects of mankind I wrote about how natural forces can effect the world. I would appreciate it if you took a look at mine and told me what you thought!! http://sites.psu.edu/geog30/2016/02/26/the-philippines-and-haitis-trouble-with-el-nino/