Did you know that littering has become an unacceptable habit for Oakland? Also, did you know that Oakland can face many expenses just from littering? Littering is when people leave trash such as items, objects, on the ground making it look unsanitary. In Oakland, citizens have noticed the mess people are leaving behind especially the Mayor of Oakland who is angry. As Oakland residents, they aren’t picking up or making a change to clean our trash that is in OUR community. It’s causing a problem for Oakland residents too because they will be paying an expensive fine for littering. Based on research, littering has become an awful habit for people in Oakland because it’s increasing the pile of trash that is being thrown onto the streets and illicit dumping costs the city tax money.
Firstly, Oakland has a surplus of trash and are trying to clean it up, but it’s still too much. In the article, “Battle for the Bay wraps up with record turnout in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose” it talks about how Oakland had the most picked up trash by volunteers from Oakland and people from the Bay Area participated to compete for the San Francisco vs Oakland clean up day, on September 21, 2019. In Oakland just about 11 miles searching for trash to pick up and clean, there was a shocking number of trash picked up by volunteers and there was 109,460 pounds of trash, founded (SF.gov ). This highlights that Oakland has a problem that could have a high chance of increasing trash in the bay area, polluting the streets, drains, that could affect the water too.
Secondly, in the article “How Oakland Tackles Costly Illegal Dumping With Technology and rewards” by Amanda Parr, she talks about how if Oakland residents don’t pick up after their trash, they will have to pay an expensive fine for illegal dumping. She wrote, Oakland, California has an illegal dumping problem that costs the city $5.5 million per year. This demonstrates that if residents in Oakland don’t realize or make an impact for illegal dumping then they will have to pay the price of others.
So Oakland needs a solution to stop dumping because it’s illegal, harmful, and disrespectful to the environment. Solutions that Oakland can use is raising money for volunteers to provide with equipment to clean up around the streets where most trash is thrown because residents know that they won’t be caught and stopped what they’re doing. In an interview with an Oakland teenager she feels that a solution is “ A solution to help Oakland is to make cleaning outside the streets into a paid job, so more people can participate and make streets sanitary” (Martinez). This solution is beneficial because residents will actually be paid with money then this will motivate them to clean more than they ever have. After cleaning neighborhoods, streets, this will be useful because they will realize how the cleaning helped out the community and make residents pleased with where they live.
In conclusion, Oakland residents do have a nasty habit of throwing trash onto the ground, and not being able to pick up after themselves. Also, making Oakland have to pay a huge amount of money for illegal dumping. But this could change if people congregated when cleaning up, giving people motivation to participate in activities that can help the environment surrounding us.
This is credible because this article took place in San Francisco and Oakland residents volunteered to be in the competition of cleaning so they have experienced how much trash they have picked up in the bay area.
“Battle for the Bay Wraps up with Record Turnout in San Francisco, Oakland and San José.” San Francisco, 24 Sept. 2019, sf.gov/news/battle-bay-wraps-record-turnout-san-francisco-oakland-and-san-jose.
This article talks about how Oakland and San Francisco came together and made a competition that helped out both of the communities clean up trash, they then realized how much trash there was out there in public spaces or outside where we live.
Parr, Amanda. “How Oakland Tackles Costly Illegal Dumping with Technology and Rewards.” Medium, Fixer Stories, 19 Mar. 2019, blog.seeclickfix.com/how-oakland-tackles-costly-illegal-dumping-with-technology-and-rewards-55ba408ad3ab.
Pablo, Angelina, and Divianca Martinez. “Littering.” 19 Dec. 2019.
Dear Angelina,
I am a student at San Jose State University! I really enjoyed reading your post, “Littering in Oakland” because littering has become a big issue that can affect everyone in a negative way. I have noticed that littering has increased throughout the years, because back then there wouldn’t be as much trash on the ground as there is. One sentence you wrote that stands out for me is: “In Oakland just about 11 miles searching for trash to pick up and clean, there was a shocking number of trash picked up by volunteers and there was 109,460 pounds of trash, founded (SF.gov).” The reason this stood out to me is because that is so much trash for just 11 miles. I never knew that people could be so inconsiderate by littering. Another sentence that stood out to me is, “She wrote, Oakland, California has an illegal dumping problem that costs the city $5.5 million per year.” Those $5.5 million dollars could have been used for a worthy cause like charity or helping homeless people. Instead it is being used for a problem that we the people can fix. Your post reminds me of something that happens to me on a daily basis. My little cousins or friends think throwing a little wrapper on the ground won’t make a difference, but it actually does. I always tell them to throw it in the trash because littering can also cost a fine. You did an amazing job writing about this! Thank you.
Dear Angelina,
I am so happy to read about your blog because that is an ongoing issue, not only in the city of Oakland but other cities as well. Thank you for addressing this issue and sharing your experience as well as providing a solution to help with littering in Oakland. One sentence you mentioned surprised me, “volunteers picked up 109,460 pounds of trash”. From the numbers I see, I agree that there might be an increased amount of trash that is laying around our cities in the future. I remember when I was in middle school, my school took us to the trash compost area and explained to us the importance of not littering, but showed us how to do our part as a citizen. It not only affects where we live but also the global, and those liters can get to animals and it’s bad for them. You have summarized this post very clearly and very detailed. I like how you provided facts and statistics to help the reader to understand the seriousness of littering in the city. After reading your post, it is very encouraging that we as citizens should do our part and make Oakland or other cities clean and reduce littering. I wonder, if the city placed more trash cans around, would that help reduce littering? Again, thank you so much for sharing!
Dear Angelina, your article was super interesting and very informative. I really enjoyed reading it and completely agree with you on the basis that littering is a very serious issue that is happening in our communities and on this planet as a whole. It’s crazy to learn that the city has to pay fees upwards of 5 million dollars just to pick up all the trash that it’s citizens leave around the streets. I was also really happy to learn about the record trash pick-up that happened last year; it is absolutely insane that there was already over 100,000 pounds of trash picked up and that there is even more left to be cleaned up. This earth is so mistreated by its inhabitants and it is an issue that also weighs on my mind. I think that your idea of the city paying volunteers to pick up trash is a great idea! I hope that these bay area cities, specifically Oakland, soon finds better ways to counteract the litter issue it’s facing.
Hi Angelina,
I enjoyed reading your post “Littering in Oakland” because it emphasizes an important issue that many people do not talk about. Some people tend to litter because they believe that it is not a big deal. However, I agree with you on how it is an important topic to talk about and how it can greatly affect our community. The topic itself stood out to me the most because littering is a rare topic but it should be discussed. Just looking around my city, I noticed how there are certain areas where littering is a big issue. Another thing that stood out to me, was the cost that littering has caused in Oakland. I did not realize the cost of this consequence could be. I really appreciate you exploring this topic and raising awareness about the consequences on littering.
Dear Angelina,
I am a student at San Jose State University, and I want to say I really enjoyed reading about your experience with littering in Oakland. When I first learned about littering I was in sixth grade and a company came in to talk about how it affects not only where we live, but globally. At the time I didn’t understand that the city has to pay to clean it up, but as I got older it made so much more sense, how else would the workers get paid to pick up after us? But I don’t think I ever would have guessed 5.5 million dollars! I really liked your summary of the Battle for the Bay article, I have never heard of it until now and 109,460 pounds of trash is just insane! I also enjoyed how you interviewed another youth living in the condition, I have always wondered why more companies haven’t been started to clean the streets, I wonder what the next steps could be to help a startup company actually do this work.
Thank you so much,
Athena
Hi Angelina,
I really enjoyed reading your article on the issue of litter in Oakland. Most often, people litter because they do not feel responsible for public places. How often do people litter in their homes versus public areas like parks or streets? If a major part of the issue is responsibility and pride in owning a space how do you think the city or other groups could work to build responsibility and pride in public spaces in Oakland?
Other research on littering through the University of California found that the distance to a trash can was the leading predictor of littering. So basically, the farther away you are from a trash the more likely you are to litter. Do you think if the city invested in more trash cans in areas of high litter it would decrease?
Thank you for your blog.
I think your article is very interesting! Littering is definitely a problem we need to solve.
Hey Angelina! I think that this is a great piece that identifies a problem in your local community that affects a wide variety of people and things. Littering is a huge problem all across America and you gave a great visual to what is happening in Oakland. I think that adding a tax or a fine for littering on the whole city would help reduce the amount of litter because it would require them to be aware of the trash they are creating by paying a price. I love that you gave a list of solutions, this article , http://www.gwinnettcb.org/help-the-environment/litter-prevention/, has a whole list of solutions that ordinary people everywhere could implement that would reduce the litter little by little. I also liked that you referenced your sources of where you got your information. I wonder how long it would take to see results in the city? I hope that this inspires others to not litter and raise awareness of the impact of trash. Great Job!
Dear Angelina, I think your post was amazing because you really explained the problem of this community’s littering problem that hurts our environment and it really emphasises on how it’s causing problems in our community. A line that stuck out to me was “Oakland residents don’t pick up after their trash, they will have to pay an expensive fine for illegal dumping” because it really spoke to me how it’s impacting us in negative ways that we have to pay in our own cash for illegal dumpings and it’s just wrong. Thanks for writing and keep it up!
Trash is trash. And people need to learn how to pick up after themselves. Humans ignore the fact that trash creates a huge problem for our enviroment.
Angelina,
Great job! I thought your article was very interesting and important. Here is an article that discusses littering in general that tells the causes, problems, and solutions. https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-problems-solutions-littering.php
I have lived in California myself and remembering seeing a lot of litter. It is upsetting to see people do not care about fixing these problems because we all live on the planet and need to make a difference to take care of the planet. I liked your use of sources because it made your argument stronger. I think by paying people to pick up trash would be good for some people, but could retaliate and therefore more people would throw trash on the ground because they would claim well someone is payed to do that so I will not do anything. It is shocking that even though people can be fined for trash, they do not pick it up. Having more access to trash cans can make a difference because there are more places to throw things away. All in all I thought you had a great argument and I think with the article I shared with you, you can find more solutions to help the problems in Oakland and throughout the world.
Hi Angelina! I enjoyed reading what you wrote. I think that making the picking up of the litter into a paid job is a great idea and would have a better turnout in the long run. I also realize that your article is only about litter in that specific area, but my boarder question is this: where would the trash go after it is picked up? Would it just go somewhere else and create a problem there? Overall I thought this was really great because every country has a littering problem that needs to be discussed. Great Job!
Great article. I think many people know littering is a problem, but not many know how serious it actually is, and how it affects communities, and I think you did a great job of shining a light on that. I think that adding how it can cost the city money was another great point on why the problem needs to stop, because the city can’t improve without money. Overall, I thought this was a very great argument!
Dear Angelina,
You had a great argument on littering in Oakland but I have to disagree with it. First of all, I don’t see that much trash here and I think that there are bigger problems that we should be focusing on. For example there is a ton of homeless individuals who don’t get help, a drug problem, and lots of violence. Those are problems that I think are things we need to focus on first before we worry about trash.
Sincerely,
Sugeiry <];)