I've seen the state of our local rivers in Liverpool and it's heartbreaking. As a social worker, I've worked with families who rely on these waterways for recreation and relaxation, only to find them polluted by corporate greed. The current system of fines is clearly not working, and I agree that we need to take a tougher stance on environmental crimes.
However, I think we need to take a more nuanced approach than just imposing hefty fines on corporations. We need to look at the root causes of pollution and address the systemic issues that allow it to happen. For example, many of our local water treatment plants are outdated and in desperate need of investment, but the funding just isn't there. Instead of just punishing corporations, we should be investing in our infrastructure and providing support for businesses to adopt sustainable practices.
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It's the same with river pollution, we need to be thinking about the long-term health of our waterways, not just slapping fines on corporations. I think we should be looking at examples like the River Thames cleanup, which showed that with sustained investment and effort, you can make a real difference. That took decades, not just a few years, and it required cooperation from all sorts of stakeholders, including businesses and government.
But we can't just rely on the govt to foot the bill, that's not how it works, businesses have to take some responsibility too, and it's about finding that balance, like YemiBrixton said, the companies making the pollution should contribute to the fix, and I think that's a fair point, wasn't there a policy about corporate responsibility last week, something about holding them to account, this is all connected, imo.