Public Ownership of Public Space
Public Ownership of Public Space may be a solution to the current waste problem we face in our countries. The idea of ownership of public space by the community comes from the behavioral difference seen by people when dealing with their belongings. People handle their homes and cars differently than public spaces. Their homes are clean and look nice. Why the difference?
They think the public space is the government’s responsibility, which is true, but they don’t have the respect they have for their own things. Educating the community to take ownership and maintain it will result in clean, nice-looking public spaces. There are cases where the government can stimulate this by including a requirement for companies who lease or buy land to make a section of the land a public recreational space and maintain it. The government can make yearly inspections to verify the situation.
The participation of the community needs to be stimulated by the government through open discussions in the community wherein the people discuss solutions and work together with the local government to execute projects benefiting the community and maintain those projects on a long-term basis.
All people in the community can help to maintain public places clean. The government on its part can also establish regulations that prohibit the pollution of public places. Those who do will receive a significant fine. All collected fines can be used for recycling and waste management projects did you participate with your clean-up team during World Clean-Up Day? I don’t know if it happened with you too but the place we cleaned up was 5 days later in the worst state before the cleanup. Why is it that it is so difficult to pick up your trash and store it in the corresponding waste bin?
There are still many countries that don’t realize the ramifications of the amount of Co2 released by deforestation and the accessibility of water. Co-responsibility is not everywhere, the citizens have no interest in participating in solutions and are waiting on the government to give them their basic needs. They are not engaged in new solutions. The initiative should come from local government institutions as well as local civic organizations that could prepare proposals and implementation plans.
It’s great to see the new generation taking action and being more mature than the grown-ups. It is embarrassing to say but the pollution we are dealing with today is caused by us, the adults in the room. Therefore we should take responsibility and do something to make our neighborhood, city, and the world a much cleaner place to live in. Treat it as if it is your space:
TAKE CARE OF IT, AND KEEP IT CLEAN!
