The difference between a good and bad law
A long time ago I remember hearing something on the radio that has stuck with me for 40 years. The way to tell the difference between a good law and a bad one is by trying to enforce it.
As a simple example. If someone is on trial for murder, convicted, and put in jail? The public will not be likely to punish a murderer. On a much less serious note the town of Nelson where I used to live? It has a law that said people are not allowed to swear and not allowed to be on the streets without money. If you are broke and swear in public you can be fined or punished.
How much public support would there be if a person was put in jail for forgetting their wallet at home?
However, the other side of a good vs a bad law is one which is not uniformly applied. If "good looking" people can avoid the vagrancy law (must have cash in your wallet) but only "bad looking people" get punished that is a sign of either a bad law or bad system of government.
As a Christian I like this verse:
Leviticus 19:15
"Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly."
Taking care of your surroundings
Taking things one step further I live in British Columbia where our provincial slogan is "Beautiful British Columbia". If you have seen the pictures I take from where I live you would know that there is nature everywhere. Lakes, trees, mountains and more. If you are in parks or woodland areas you will often see "RAPP: Report all Poachers and Polluters".
The reason for the sign is simple: The vast majority of people who live here want to keep it clean and beautiful.
Unfortunately there are a few people who don't get the message.
In the town that I live there was a viral video of someone throwing garbage into a lake. If you are curious look here.
and a few days later the police found the woman and fined her $1000 ($500 per incident and two incidents). What do people think? Overall not happy. Not because they are mad she got fined but because they believe that she should have been fined more. Curious? Check out a video here
But the question came up in the Hive Learners. What about the corporations that get away with it? or when corporations just seem to "Get away with it".
However, I would tend to say that in Canada at least the government tries to go after corporate polluters as well. In fact environment Canada publishes a link to each court case where the polluters are fined for their deeds.
You can check it out here
and there was a giant fine against a large multinational corporation for polluting rivers in the amount of $100 million dollars click here if you are curious
But pollution continues
Unfortunately pollution is still a problem. I see it in homeless camps inside the city. I see it in a few provincial parks which are treated like dumping grounds. I see it in the forests when people just decide not to take their trash back for proper disposal.
Are the laws solid?
Yes there are strict fines against dumping.
Do the laws go after big people and small?
Yes smaller fines for individuals and much larger fines for major companies.
But
The person with the $1000 fine? Will they actually pay? If they are broke the court can't take money where none exists.
The corporation with the $100 Million fine? Will they actually pay? If they are bankrupt? No. If they fight it in court forever? Maybe no. If they consider it a cost of doing business? Maybe yes...and maybe they just keep on doing it as it may be cheaper than proper waste disposal.
And while the financial ability of the individual or corporation to pay the fine is one thing. The bigger issue is finding all the polluters and getting evidence of the crime.
Sure I have seen a couch just dumped out in the middle of the forest. Sitting there rotting and becoming a toxic eyesore. Who did it? Who do we fine? How do we get rid of it? That's the much bigger problem for enforcement. Even if I'm pretty sure it was Joe down the road... if I can't prove it? No charges. Then again, if the law was too vigilant in making sure someone paid I'd hate to be the one accused of polluting without proof and being forced to accept a verdict anyways.
Changing people's viewpoints
At the end of the day the government and police can only do so much to enforce the law. They cannot catch every polluter. They cannot catch every speeder. They cannot catch every shoplifter, cheater, and every legal violation.
The only true way to get rid of the problem is for people to truly understand and commit to doing better as a collective group. I suppose very strict enforcement and very heavy penalties could help (like Singapore does with its anti crime stance) but in a place like Canada which is huge? Unlikely to work. Personally I think a society like Japan which enforced with strict social standards is more likely to be effective.
Why do I think this? When I was in Tokyo I didn't see garbage on the streets. There is just a strong stigma about polluting. Society doesn't want it. Society polices it. It is just what people do to hold onto their garbage and sort it at home. In fact, unlike my town where there is just Garbage, Compost, Recycle, and Glass... some places in Japan have up to 40 different sorting categories!
Image from the Kamikatsu Japan zero waste center Website
In that community people get mad at you for recycling in the wrong bin. Just the idea of throwing garbage into a field or on the street becomes repellant.
But I'm getting sidetracked.
The Hive Learners post was nominally about trash and why punish the little guy when the major polluters seem to get off lightly. However, I live in a country where both little and big guys get punished for wrongdoing. To me the issue isn't unfair laws its about the heart of the people who have to live with them. Most people where I live have a strong aversion to litter. We are proud of where we live.
However, until everyone treats nature with respect and the entire community comes together? There will always be people who don't care. People who the law finds. Unfortunately, also people they don't.
And that's my take of the Hive learner prompt. As always I love getting comments and thank you for reading this far. Hopefully no litter will be dropped in the comment section though 🤣