Littering, Trees, Cars and Volunteering
Research Proposal
1. Introduction
There is a common problem going on in today’s society. Humans are littering, cutting down trees, driving everywhere and simply not taking time to help our Earth. Most people more than likely do not think about how to help our Earth on a daily basis, let alone think about what they are doing to destroy it. I will admit, I do not think about what I can do to help protect and restore our amazing planet every day. I am simply too busy. But, we need to start thinking about what we can do as a society to help bring people together and make our world better and safer.
The topics I listed early were littering, cutting down trees, driving everywhere and not taking time to help our earth are topics I chose to discuss because they are easy to do every day. All of these particulars have been an issue for many years, but they have gotten worse today. A few of the most common littered objects are cigarette butts, straws, and bottles. Another statistic I read a few years ago says that at least 75% who were asked if they have littered in the past 5 years admitted they have. Littering is killing wildlife and trashing our beautiful planet. On top of not littering, we need to be planting trees. As we have been taught since we were young, plants provide oxygen. By chopping trees down, we are hurting ourselves and the wildlife that call trees home. As humans living on Earth, this is our home. We have to protect our home. As for the littering, chopping trees down, putting harmful gasses in to the air and not taking time to volunteer to make our home a better place, we are the problem.
2. Research Questions
What are the long tern effects of littering?
How are cutting down tree’s affecting our health?
Are cars hurting the ozone layer?
3. Discussion
We always see commercials on TV about littering, planting trees and the damage automobiles do to our planet. But, do we ever actually do anything about them? I believe if we conquer these simple ways to protecting our Earth, we could make a difference. Tree’s provide oxygen, which we need to live. Workers are cutting down trees to make room for buildings or to make paper, but do they ever think about replacing the trees they just cut down? I am writing this paper to persuade each and every one to take time to be educated on what we can do together to protect our planet.
4. Bibliography
Aguirre, G. J. (2009). Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720. Why Cutting Down Trees Is Part of the Problem, but Planting Trees Isn’t Always Part of the Solution: How Conceptualizing Forests as Sinks Can Work against Kyoto,11(1), 205-224. doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f
This article talks about the importance of trees and how they not only produce CO2, but they are also sequestering it while being planted. One fact this article wrote was the trees in North America alone produce more that 4 billion metric tons of CO2 than it sequesters. The United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, the United States alone has roughly 737 million acres of untouched trees. An interesting fact noted in this journal was that the United States houses 17.1 % of the world’s total forests. Although this journal is from 2009, this gives a great idea at how many trees there are and the amount of CO2 they emit. I plan to use this article to show the importance of trees and why we should help protect them for our benefit.
Al-Mosa, Y., Parkinson, J., & Rundle-Thiele, S. (2017). A Socioecological Examination of Observing Littering Behavior. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing,29(3), 235-253. doi:10.1080/10495142.2017.1326354
This article talks about what influences people to litter in Saudi Arabia. The three main factors that were in play were individual, social, and environmental influences. A few basic factors that can play a role in littering are age and gender. Obviously, unless told so, young children are not going to know to throw their trash away in a trash can. More than likely, they are going to throw it on the ground if they don’t see a can. This article mentioned that people were more likely to throw their trash away if the trashcans were conveniently placed. Meaning they were easy to locate. I want to use this article to show some of the psychological reasons people litter.
Bullard, Eric. 2016. “Littering.” Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.memphis.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=119214529&site=eds-live&scope=site.
This is a great article I wanted to include because it gives the basic definition as to what littering is and how it can have a negative consequence for the environment. Litter can include any kind of rubbish that could be potentially hazardous to anything that were to swallow it. One thing this article mentions is the psychological reasons why people litter. A few reasons why people may litter is they could see litter already on the ground and decide it’s ok for them to litter. Another reason that I though was true was that people may not have a sense of ownership or plainly not care that they are littering.
Perrault, E. K., Silk, K. J., Sheff, S,. Ahn, J., Hoffman, A., & Totzkay, D. (2015). Testing the Identifiable Victim Effect With Both Animal and Human Victims in Anti-Littering Messages. Communication Research Reports, 32(4), 294-303. https://doi-org.ezproxy.memphis.edu/10.1080/08824096.2015.1089857
This article is similar to the last article as it will talk about the consequences of littering. I chose this article because it talks about littering as a safety issue, and it costs the United States more than $11.5 billion a year to clean up the litter and trash that is thrown out. I plan to use this article to bring awareness to how much damage littering does.
Handy F, Hustinx L. The why and how of volunteering. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 19(4), 549-558. https://doi-org.ezproxy.memphis.edu/10.1002/nml.236
I chose this article because I feel it is important to know why we should volunteer. Something this article mentioned was why would people who have jobs and make money want to volunteer where they will not make money. According to this article, social work sees volunteering as part of our daily lives, as it should be.
Green, J. (2019, January 10). Effects of Car Pollutants on the Environment. Retrieved from https://sciencing.com/effects-car-pollutants-environment-23581.html
Cars have long term effects on the environment. Not only are the producing gases, they are also causing acid rain global warming. My goal is to use this article in my paper to explain the importance of global warming and how it effects our daily lives and environment. I also want to explain why cars are so bad for the air.
20 Astonishing Facts About Littering. (2017, January 03). Retrieved from https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-littering-facts.php
This next article is from a website. I liked this article because it gave twenty facts about littering that I think we all need to hear. Although I will not use all twenty facts, I will use a few that I feel are important to hear. There are many reasons we should not litter, this article list some reasons such as appearance, which can downgrade a location.
Nunez, C. (2018, December 03). Deforestation and Its Effect on the Planet. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/
I chose this article from National Geographic because I know it is a true and credible source of information. The topic of this article is deforestation, which isn’t a word we hear every day. A statistic that this article states that I though was very alarming was that between 1990 and 2016, our planet lost 502,000 square miles of forest. This article also mentions the benefits of trees and what losing them will do to our planet.
The Impact of Ocean Trash. (2018, September 18). Retrieved from https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2016/09/03/the-impact-of-ocean-trash/
As I talk about littering, I am not only going to talk about littering on land, but also in the ocean. I am passionate about cleaning up our oceans because they are so beautiful and deserve to stay that way. There are many animals that are also suffering due to our lack of cleanliness. I plan to use this article to show the effects of littering in the oceans and how it is destroying our ecosystems.
The Problem & Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.kab.org/cigarette-litter-prevention/problem-and-facts
The last article I have researched for my paper is one that I feel is a common issue that needs to be addressed. Although smoking is bad for our bodies, it is also bad for the environment. There are so many safety hazards that come with cigarette butts, not to mention they are gross. Not only are animals swallowing them, they could potentially start fires if they are not completely extinguished before being thrown out.
5. Major Arguments
Point 1
Littering has become a huge issue over the years, and it will continue to become an even bigger issue. The planet earth is our home, why are we not treating it with the respect it deserves? There are many ways we can reduce the amount of litter. We can use reusable cups, metal straws and cut the plastic around cans. These are only a few examples of how we can save our planet one step at a time. Litter is ultimately affecting everyone.
Point 2
There are more than one way to get to work, home, and the grocery store other than having to use a car. One way is to ride a bike. There are many benefits to riding a bike such as it is great exercise and it does not pollute the environment. Another great way to get around is by Bird scooters. Birding has become very popular in the past year. These scooters are run off of internal batteries, but they do not put toxic gases out into the air.
Point 3
Conserving our planet is an act we need to act upon. There are millions of trees that have been growing for many years all over the planet. From the research I have done, I have found a few credible sources to back up my reason as to why we need to protect our trees.
6. Conclusion
I have chosen a topic that I care about and see as an important ongoing issue. Although there are many items that need to be addressed when it comes to having a healthier environment, I have chosen a few that I deem as easy to face. Simple tasks such as throwing away your trash instead of tossing it on the ground, saving trees, riding bikes or birds instead of driving cars, and simply volunteering are all easy ways to help protect the environment.
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