Littering: a Socio-Economic Perspective

Rigarf Bezuidenhout

Where littering is concerned its common to grab the interest of people who are genuinely concerned with the environment, but what about those that have a careless attitude towards the environment. How do you get them to join you in preservation efforts?

That might be easier than you'd expect. Not everyone might be environmentally conscious, but every person on earth is conscious about the money they make. The harsh truth is that littering can even affect your salary if you're not careful. Littering can also be the cause of a decreased social status. Littering makes places and landmarks look unattractive, and in the economic world a superficial beauty is important. Just think about how many restaurants you have passed in your lifetime because of the area its situated in. Just think of what impact a dirty environment could have in a country where tourism is the main economic sector. In the business sector cleanliness is seen as professionalism, people would rather support the clean looking corporation. A dirty environment, despite its effect on nature, will be detrimental in all facets of the social and economical world. An area that is not well looked after in terms of cleanliness will become a magnet for negativity.

Believe it or not, garbage is a magnet for criminals and the unsavoury types that you hope to never come in contact with. An unkept area will also not look attractive to investors that is why you will generally find cheaper places in these areas. Corporations generally try to invest in properties in cleanly areas because of these reasons, and who would blame them, who would want their newly bought properties vandalized or be a dangerous place to visit. This will also be a cycle that will repeat itself, since no investors in potential businesses and properties means an increase in poverty in these areas, which leads to more criminal acts. Eventually this cycle will lead to the spread of these factors into the neighbouring areas.

In underdeveloped countries this will be a case, a country known for its uncleanliness will be visited less frequently by tourists as well as corporate investors. This will affect everyone in that country, less job opportunities, a lower GDP, and a lower GDP per capita. This means that the big corporations are not the only ones in danger, the little guy fighting to make a living will also be affected. It’s a tragic story that will remain true for many years to come. Nature conservationists are not only fighting against environmental injustices, but they are also actively trying to improve countries as a bonus as well.

Shedding light on this makes me ponder the question: Why do many big corporations continue to disregard the environment in the name of profit? Why don’t they considering that such a measly action like littering will affect them directly? It is thus up to us as fighters of environmental justice to make these large corporations aware. It is up to us to rectify this carelessness. The economic side of environmental injustice is especially brutal since it will affect everyone, no exceptions.

Even though it is easy to see the social aspect being at risk as well through the above, it barely scratches the surface. We recently went through an epidemic and even though it was not caused by garbage dumping, it was devastating in terms of the economy and social interaction. Why are we waiting for the next disease to evolve from unclean garbage dumping and littering? Ask yourself if you would be able to go through self-isolation again, away from any physical human interaction. Of course, this is pure speculation, but you can never be too careful. Always be mindful, never play with nature, because it can throw the next plague or illness at you. The human race is built on social and economical pillars, and it will be like this for many generations to come. One day we can hopefully look back to today and we can say that we were the activists who fought for change, and deep in our hearts we can know we saved planet earth, one less piece of litter with every mind changed.