I was born and am currently living in Kazakhstan, Almaty. Kazakhstan has only reached Independence in 1991, so the country is still largely developing and has a long way to go. The government is only now discussing environmental problems in the Republic and making plans for improvement.

The laws I have in mind are a bit extreme. But since these problems are of urgent matter and the resources and time of the planet is limited, we should address them with a cold, strong fist.

1.      

       Fines for littering

I am a strong believer in every individual taking responsibility for their actions. Mainly because when I walk down the street, I see plastic bottles and pieces of paper that people threw to the ground without a second thought, never stopping to think that their thrash would be laying there for years.  Fines for this law shouldn’t be expensive, but should be enough to teach a lesson for a long time.

2.    

           Fines for leaving a car running

Leaving a car running for a long time causes the gas from the car to evaporate and damage the ozone layer. So any car found running for a long time will be turned off and the owner fined.

3.      

           Fines for bonfires made to get rid of trash

 

In Kazakhstan especially in the small villages, people bring together all their trash and make a bonfire. The toxic gas of plastic and other materials being burned can also damage the ozone layer.

4.       

       Necessary lectures for students in school or in college

From personal experience of being a student I can tell you that a lot of young people don’t know much or can’t be bothered enough to research about the environmental problems of this planet. A lot of them don’t actually realize how bad everything is, so they don’t do anything or actually do things that contribute to the problem of pollution. So every year a group of public speakers will come to schools or colleges and talk about updates on the environmental state of the planet and ways an average person can help out.

5.       

       Make it a requirement to have recycling bins and normal trash cans in   every neighborhood

A large reason why people litter and don’t recycle is because they’re lazy and the place to properly discard of trash is too far away. If this law is put in place, then people won’t have to go too far from home, so more trash would be collected.

6.     

            Make more government funded recycling stations

The amount of places in Kazakhstan where plastic is actually recycled are extremely low.

 

I’m not a law expert, I don’t know how well these laws can be enforced or if they can even be put in to place, but what I do know is that if we want to have any real change we need to work with the system and make not polluting the environment a necessary duty, that going against it would have real consequences and punishment aka illegal (which the law is the most universally accepted and used form of consequences and punishment in society).