Introduction
As seen in the article Diet for a Warmer Planet” by Julia Whitty, climate change and the global carbon footprint left by humanity has become a significant issue due to the adverse effects it has had on the planet’s ecosystem. Based on this Whitney indicates that change can be put into action on the individual level through resource consumption reduction which if done in sufficient numbers should lessen humanity’s carbon footprint and thus would help to resolve the current problem of adverse climate change.
One problem that people tend to overlook in terms of wasteful resource utilization is the sheer amount of paper bills they receive in the mail on a yearly basis. Such a method of billing ultimately becomes wasteful due to the inherent costs related to printing, creating the paper and envelopes and having them delivered all of which utilize resources which would be better suited elsewhere.
Cause and Effect
The inherent cause of the problem is the fact that corporations are still under the assumption that people should receive paper billing instead of seeking an alternative solution to gain money from consumers for products sold or services rendered. The effect is that people are quite literally deluged by several envelopes on a monthly basis all of which tend to be utilized only once to pay a bill and then are subsequently tossed away.
Research
One alternative that some companies have attempted to utilize in order to limit wasteful resource spending has been to shift to a paperless billing system wherein bills are sent to a consumers email address instead of their physical address which helps to limit the amount of resources wasted in getting a bill to a customer. It must be noted though that not all customers have email address and as such this solution still lacks a degree of effectiveness.
Proposed Plan for Resolving the Issue
This paper proposes that communities should advocate with local companies to institute methods of paperless billing for people within the local community. This can come in the form of either sending the bill to a person’s email account, sending them a text message indicating the account number and the amount of money to be paid or even placing a call to individuals in order to inform them of when to make their payments.
Cost and Benefit
The cost of such a plan which involves companies having to hire more workers and put into place automatic billing systems to send emails and text bills is offset by the inherent benefits of reducing the sheer amount of paper used on a yearly basis by the company’s billing department. Not only would this method help to reduce carbon footprints on a local level but it would also help to reduce a company’s expenses in the long run as well.
How I would be Able to Help
In this particular instance I would be able to help by creating a platform by which members of the local community could rally behind. This comes in the form of a detailed study showing how both the community, companies and the environment would benefit from having a paperless billing system instituted at a local level. It must also be noted that in terms of lobbying and attempting to convince companies of the effectiveness of my proposed solution I am sure that the degree I earned in college will be more than sufficient in showing the necessary connections between wasteful resource consumption and alternative solutions that can effectively be put in place.