...the economic effects of a plastic bag tax. It is important that this issue is addressed because if it is left unaddressed, the consequences could be dire. The essay will discuss the impact that plastic bags are having on society and why the over consumption of such needs to be corrected. Furthermore, it will explain the economic models that are relevant to the issue along with analysing real world examples of similar policies; discussing the limitations and restrictions associated with such models. Setting the Context Australia’s consumption of plastic grocery bags was estimated to be approximately seven billion per year in 2002 (National Plastic Shopping Bags Working Group, 2002), so we can assume it is in excess of this figure currently. This consumption results in negative externalities, not only impacting the environment, but also reducing the efficiency of other sectors of the economy. As these plastic bags are composed of many non-renewable resources such as crude oil, coal and gases, there is an opportunity cost associated with not recycling them. The fuel consumed by driving a car one kilometre is equivalent to the petroleum content of 8.7 bags (Environment Australia, 2002). As these bags are used once, and disregarded, that means that Australia is wasting enough potential fuel to power a car for over 800 million kilometres annually. Moreover, thousands of marine mammals and birds die annually around the globe due to plastic litter. When these animals...
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...Wisconsin-Green Bay Australia is a unique country full of different species of both land and sea creatures that are a part of its extremely diverse ecosystem. The Australian Marine Conservation Society, formally known as the Queensland Littoral Society, has worked for decades to defend the Great Barrier Reef against things like coral mining, oil drilling, overfishing, etc. It is also the only national charity in Australia that only works toward protecting the ocean wildlife. Without this nonprofit, who knows what would become of the Great Barrier Reef and its surrounding habitats. But before I talk about this extremely amazing nonprofit, a brief history on Australia will be given. Australia’s government is a variety of different governments from other countries such as British and U.S. governments. They have a Liberal Democratic government. Australia has one of the oldest democracies in the world. There are very little nonprofit organizations that are entirely dependent on government funding. All nonprofits are exempt from income tax, and depending on their activity, many nonprofits are exempt from paying other taxes such as fringe benefits tax, sales tax, and rates. Nonprofits play a very important role in the economy, society, and political system. Although they do help the social and political systems, it is far easier to measure the economic contributions. There is still a lot that is not known about the Australian nonprofit organizations. Australia has a very similar...
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...You think plastic bags are harmless? Tell that to the dolphin with the plastic bag wound around its snout, slowly starving to death. You think they’re light, easily thrown out? Over one million bags a week are buried, ditched and dumped in our country. A couple of plastic bags blowing in the wind couldn’t hurt, could it? Potentially putting our environment at risk of damage, and affecting the clean green nature of New Zealand. Dangers Of Using Plastic Bags Environmental Damage Plastic bags have been known to cause a lot of environmental damage. A single plastic bag can take up to 1000 years, to decay completely. This makes the bags stay in environments longer, in turn leading to great build-up on the natural landscape (much more than degradable materials like paper). In other words, the more plastic bags you use, the greater the chances of environmental damage. Threat To Animal Life As per Marrickville Council of Australia, as many as 100,000 whales, turtles and birds die have been reported to die every year, mainly because of plastic in their environment. Plastic bags not only have adverse effects on our natural habitats, but have also been found to be responsible for the death of many animals, mainly on account of the suffocation encountered on eating them. Suffocation Not only animals, infants and young children have also been reported to have lost their life, on account of plastic bags. Since plastic bags are thin and airtight as well, children often end...
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...Nation: Australia Subject: Ocean Pollution and Overfishing WHEREAS, ocean pollution in Australia has become a significant problem, and WHEREAS, “Almost 90% of the marine debris found on Sydney’s beaches is plastic, mostly bottles, caps, and straws.”, and WHEREAS, The plastic found in the water also washes onto the beaches and can be hazardous for humans and other land animals like, dogs, and WHEREAS, Not only is it affecting the recreational use of the area’s population, it has an effect on the sea creatures residing there as well. These creatures can be choked, trapped or even starved, and WHEREAS, We’ve known for some years now that the oceans aren’t an endless resource. The most recent figures indicate that over 85% of the world’s fish stocks are...
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...in the well-being of the earth because of the abuse of greenhouse gases. With this in mind, recycling should be mandatory; it reduces pollution, restores the ozone layer, reduces waste and helps in the manufacturing of new products. To begin with, pollution has been a problem for many decades. Studies have shown that by recycling, air pollution could be reduced up to 20% in all the world. In order to understand the impact of pollution in the world, it is important to comprehend what pollution is essentially and how it manifests itself. Air pollution is acknowledged when an excessive presence of chemicals and substances are released to the air. There are many ways in which pollution could be introduced into the sky; for instance, when trash falls into water supplies; it is then absorbed by the atmosphere, potentially becoming toxic rain. Equally as important, fossil fuels and industries also cause air pollution. People must be mindful of the fact that pollution has the potential...
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...their property, including the right to buy and sell it (Hubbard et al, 2009). Initially, polluters pollute because they believe they have the right too although the third party affected believe they have the right to less pollution. Hence without property rights, an inefficient level of equilibrium will be produced until the point in which the market intervenes assigning property rights. Another vital assumption is low transaction costs, which are the costs in time and other resources that parties incur in the process of carrying out an exchange of goods and services (Hubbard et al, 2009). As transaction costs of negotiating, binding and monitoring the agreement are very expensive when many individuals are involved, the transaction costs can exceed the gains from the transaction itself. When these two assumptions are held, an optimal solution will be reached when the monetary damage of one more unit of pollution to the third party is equal to the amount the polluter is willing to pay for it. Figure 2 Figure 2 This diagram represents the marginal benefits and costs of reducing pollution, in which equilibrium (P0, Q0) is the point of maximum net benefit to society, where marginal cost is equal to the marginal benefits of reducing pollution of plastic bags. The net benefit...
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...Issues in Australia Environment “How does Liverpool Council manage its waste?” Australians are among the world's largest producers of waste. Each Australian produced about 1 tonne of waste, which goes to landfill every year, with only 4% of waste recycled or re-used. The millions of tonnes of waste disposal into the environment every year are symbolic of our presently unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. The disposal and management of that waste is now an important issue for governments throughout Australia. The volume of waste per person increased from 1,200 kg to 2,100 kg over a ten-year period Waste Management Waste management is one of the geographical issues concerns that arise due to the changes in the environment. Geographical issue surrounding wastes include: the type of waste and the disposed of it and using waste as landfill, which consume large areas of land. In developed countries such as Australia, waste can be directly linked to over consumption of natural resources. The impacts of Waste Management The impacts of waste management are considerable. There are many problems associated with waste that make it a significant environmental issue. Waste that is disposed of in landfills has the potential to contaminate soil and groundwater, and emit greenhouse and toxic gases into the atmosphere. When waste is disposed of through incineration or other means, its impacts upon the environment, and potentially on human health, are also ...
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...dropped directly into the water by boaters. Plastics have the most affects on the marine wildlife and the plastic makes up over 60% of marine debris. Plastics are also the longest lasting. A plastic bag will last 200 to 400 years, where a plastic bottle takes about 450 years to fully break down. These plastics are not only outliving the marine wildlife but it is also killing them. In August of 2000 there was a whale found washed up on the shore near Cairns, Australia. When they did an autopsy on the whale to find out why it had washed up onto the shore they found its stomach was tightly packed with different kinds of plastics. Almost 200 square feet of plastic supermarket bags, food packages, bottles, and more was the cause of that whale’s death. Marine animals mistake plastic for food and they eat it, most do not have issues when it comes to eating it, but digesting it is the problem. Food needs to break down before it can be fully digested and these plastics will not break down causing it to fill up more and more until the creature dies. Turtles are one of the more common marine animals people are aware of that are greatly affected by plastics. When the turtles are babies they will get stuck in the plastic that holds a case of pop together. They will end up entangled in it as a baby and when they start to grow it ends up causing deformities to the turtles shell. The turtle will no longer be able to grow in the area the plastic is but everywhere else it will....
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...of Plastic Bag’s Regulations Plastic bags, scientifically known as polyethene was first accidentally produced by a German scientist, Han von Pechhman as a waxy residue at the bottom of his test tube. Polyethene is made from crude oil and nowadays, it is made through a process called cracking. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), plastic bags are commonly used for food packaging and grocery carrier. Statistically, sixty millions of polyethene are produced worldwide every year; one million of plastic bags are used worldwide every minute; it takes 700 to 1000 years for a plastic bag to fully decompose and about 1 percent of the produced outcome is being recycled. This essay will discuss the disadvantages and advantages of the Governor’s plan to regulate the use of plastic bags in the National Capital District (NCD). What will be discussed are as follows: PNG is a developing nation; manufacturers and people living in NCD will be affected; plastic bags are durable and useful in the rain; there will be less threat to marine-life and sea birds; there will be less environmental damages to the composition of soil and the atmosphere; and it will reduce the level of increased pollution in NCD and PNG as one. First of all, the Governor’s plan to regulate the use of plastic bags in NCD is a disadvantage due to the fact that PNG is ranked in the third world country and that is to say that PNG is a developing nation. Comparing PNG to other countries like the United States, England and Australia, certain...
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...and Coastal Pollution CONTENTS CHAPTER 2 ▪ BACKGROUND ▪ General ▪ The Problems ▪ Declining water quality ▪ Loss of marine and coastal habitats ▪ Lack of strategic planning and management practices ▪ Lack of marine science policy CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND General As an island continent with a long coastline Australia has many different marine and estuarine environments. These span a wide range of coastal types, climates and geological and biological regions, which house a rich store of biological diversity. Many are far away from major population centres and are little affected by human activities. Large stretches of the coastline are among the least polluted places on earth.Australia's marine environment spans almost 60 degrees in latitude, from Torres Strait to Heard and Macquarie Islands, and 75 degrees longitude, from Cocos Island to Norfolk Island. In November 1994 the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) came into effect, and with it Australia's declaration of its 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The EEZ covers over 11 million square kilometres, one of the largest in the world.UNCLOS provides the rights to exploit the natural resources of the EEZ but also obliges Australia, under Article 192, to protect and preserve the marine environment of the EEZ. The Convention requires Australia to prevent land based and ship sourced marine pollution and to work internationally...
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...artists have set out to create more interactive work to distinguish their work from the ‘traditional, paining-on-the-wall’ view of art. Explore this view in relation to how audiences can experience these works. “My work starts with the basic premise that in order to communicate an idea and create maximum empathy with an audience the work has to be authentic”-Rod McRae. Rod McRae is a children’s book author and illustrator, taxidermist, designer, photographer and sculptor, and a dedicated artist and educator. McRae has exhibited his work around the world, with exhibitions in Australia, Italy, Japan, Spain and Czechoslovakia. McRae is deeply concerned with issues surrounding human activity and its effect on the natural world. Through his latest work, ‘The Tent of Wonders’ for Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi, McRae pursues an emotional connection with his audience to convey issues about biodiversity, hunting, pollution, colonisation, ownership and climate change through the use of non-traditional taxidermy specimens as the principal medium. The Tent of Wonders covers 180m2 under canvas and contains 16 installations. The work is offered in easy to understand portions with an element of humour to enhance the accessibility of the work. Through the use of real animals McRae is able to create a more interactive and confronting work as opposed to making sculptures out of bronze, metal or clay. McRae believes that if you want to get people to save an animal species you have to show them the real...
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...UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA CRITICAL THINKING CBEB1108 PLASTIC BAG SHOULD BE BANNED WHAT IS PLASTIC BAG? Plastic bag is used to carry item especially from store to home. Most of the time plastic bag is used for storage and trash in common. Plastics are made from non-renewable natural resources such as crude oil, gas and coal. IMPACT The impact of plastic bags on the environment is enormous. As of August 2010, between 500 billion and 1 trillion plastic bags are being used each year worldwide. Approximately 100,000 sea turtles and other marine animals die every year because they either mistake the bags for food or get strangled in them, says Natural Environment. In Australia, 50 million garbage bags end up as litter yearly, and the "plastic soup" patch floating in the Pacific Ocean is twice the size of the continental United States. It is roughly 80 percent plastic, according to The Independent, a British newspaper. What exactly the impact of reusable bag usage in the U.S. is far from clear. Even though, according to the website Earth 911, reusing or recycling one ton of plastic means the equivalent of 11 barrels of oil are saved. ALTERNATIVE As we can see nowadays grocery chain carries cheap reusable grocery bags and more upscale bags are available in practically all chain stores. In addition, many people sew their own from leftover fabric or by converting old jeans or beach towels into personalized carry-on bags, which is fun and creative way to recycle. POTENTIAL ...
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...hand over to the coming generations the environment as we found it, if not any better. Our planet is changing. There are a lot of things that affect our planet in a bad way but the good news is that everyone can help to reduce them and do their bit for the environment. While exploring six important topics that affect our community : Electricity (Energy), Pollution, Food, Water, Rubbish, Rainforest, I'll present the damage and a list of ways that we can all contribute to help our planet get better. 1. Electricity Energy is everywhere. We use energy to move the mouse for a computer, to jump and shout and walk and run. It takes energy to power a light bulb, and the light that the bulb gives off is also a form of energy. Other forms of energy include heat, chemical energy, gravitational energy and nuclear power. Electricity is a form of energy and this is what powers the TV, the kettle, dishwasher, hairdryer, toaster, remote control, mobile phone, fridge, stereo, electric toothbrush, and more. Our growing need for energy is one of the problems facing the world today, because producing electricity also produces our next topic - pollution. How to help? When you’re using electricity think about where it comes from and how you can use less to take the strain off of the environment- here are some simple ways to make a big difference: • On or Off? Leaving televisions, stereos and computers on standby with the little red light showing still uses up electricity, even though they might look like...
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...Chapter 14 Review The environmental effects of gold mining can harm the environment in many negative ways. Gold miners removed enough rock to equal the weight of 50 automobiles to extract a little amount of gold. The leftover waste is piled near the mine sites and can pollute the air and nearby surface water. Mining companies also created a new mining technology called cyanide heap leaching to level entire mountains of rock. In order for them to extract the gold, they spray a solution of highly toxic cyanide salts. This cyanide is extremely toxic to birds and mammals drawn to these ponds in search of water and they can leak into the rivers posing as a threat to fish and other life forms. Geology is the science devoted to the study of dynamic processes occurring on the earth’s surface and in its interior. The core is the earth’s innermost zone. The mantle is a thick zone surrounding the core. The crust is the outermost and thinnest zone of the earth. The tectonic plates are various sized areas of the earth’s lithosphere that move slowly around with the mantle’s flowing asthenosphere. The lithosphere is the outer shell of the earth, composed of the crust and the rigid, outermost part of the mantle outside the asthenosphere. A transform vault is an area where the earth’s lithospheric plates move in opposite but parallel directions along a fracture in the lithosphere. Weathering is the physical and chemical processes in which solid rock exposed at earth’s surface is changed to separate...
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...Introduction Air pollution is the presence in the atmosphere of harmful gases, liquids, or solids. Air pollution is caused by a number of different types of pollutants. The first type, particulate matter, consists of solid and liquid aerosols suspended in the atmosphere. These arise from the burning of coal and from industrial processes. It hastens the erosion of building materials and the corrosion of metals, interferes with the human respiratory system, and brings toxic materials into the body. The small particles cause chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, emphysema and lung cancer. The second type is sulfur oxides, which come from the burning of coal and industrial processes. Damage to materials, to vegetation, and to the human respiratory system are caused by the acid nature of oxides. The third type of pollutant is carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odourless, tasteless gas against which humans have no protection. Haemoglobin, which is in the blood, combines with carbon monoxide and carries less oxygen to body tissues causing health and heart effects. Some health problems come from the exhaust fumes leaking into the interior of the automobile. Several hundred Americans die from CO poisoning each year. The fourth type is hydrocarbons, which are chemical, compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons also arise from gasoline-powered vehicles and from industrial processes. Hydrocarbons are released when fuel in the engine burns partially....
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