How do people make positive changes to systems?

INTRODUCTION
The Chao Phraya river, meanders through the city. With the source in the mountains of Chiang Mai and the mouth leading to the Gulf Of Thailand. The Chao Phraya river is also known as the Lifeblood of Thailand (Ayutthaya Boat & Travel). It has changed over time, before you could drink straight from this river water, now the water quality is bad, polluted with metals, garbage and other pollutants that indicate bad water quality. There are now klongs, dams, canals and houses along the Chao Phraya. The Chao Phraya is used for irrigation, farming, fishing, floating markets, sightseeing and transportation. To improve the water quality of the Chao Phraya river system we could stop the increase of pollutants daily, by simply stopping the source of all this garbage. We should write a letter to the government as well as talk to the main shop owners of supermarkets to reduce the number of plastic bags available to them (Sutheep Ratnabhas). Also increasing the price of each bag. The supermarket, convenient store or food vendor will then pass on the price to customers making them pay for each plastic bag used. This could slowly encourage people to bring their own reusable bags so that they dont need to pay for these bags.

INDICATORS of the PROBLEM

On the 25th of February, Tuesday. 7B went on a trip to visit the Chao Phraya. We observed the Chao Phraya river and the different indicators of the water quality. We saw many plastic bags floating around in the river, we saw how it gave a negative effect on the water quality, as seen through these indicators:

Quality indicators of my problem

Plastic bags to hold various things Dead marine life (turtles and fish) Drainage floods- Pipes blocked Few tourist- not nice

Current level
Many A few Many Few

Predicted positive trend if innovation is implemented

Fewer Barley any dying from plastic bags None More Less Many more- more fish to eat Blockages stop piling and building

Rotten food- came from plastic bags A lot Waterfowl Blockages- water cant flow Few Blockages in huge amounts

SYSTEMS

Causes
No trash bins/Full Bins People are busy and in a rush No education, no awareness (the importance of recycling) Cheap & Convenient Easily available The government does not pick up trash in a timely manner Plastic bag in the river People need something to carry their things in. No other option Supermarkets and convenience stores buy plastic bags Shops/Food Vendors

Effects
No where to put plastic bags Takeaway food in plastic bags Do not know the effect of throwing the plastic bag in the river so they throw it in the river. More people buy and use it. People over use it The rubbish overflows, the wind then carries the plastic bag into the river. Fish and other marine life die. Use plastic bags which then end up in the river Customers then use these bags to carry their purchased products. No tourists- No income

EFFECTS OF PLASTIC BAGS IN THE RIVER

As you can see from this systems map, many things can get affected from plastic bags. It all starts with people getting, buying or using plastic bags, which then end up in the river. Plastic bags can affect marine life (turtles or fish) because they may mistake it for food. Plastic bags are non-biodegradable and take many years to degrade; this causes these various creatures to die. The plastic bags in general let out toxic gasses and contain dangerous levels of lead. Because of all these fish dyeing, it gets harder for fishermen to fish. There will be a limited amount of fish to catch. Having plastic bags in the river also affect the tourist, they wont like seeing so many plastic bags in the river. If tourists dont come back, we will get less income. As you can see a plastic bag can have a domino effect of everything. PERSPECTIVES ON PLASTIC BAGS IN THE RIVER Different stakeholders have different opinions on the use of plastic bags in the river. Business people Business people are busy, plastic bags are easy to use and convenient since they are always on the go. They need something to carry their supplies or food in. Plastic bags are the most common, this makes it easy for them to access without any trouble or payment. Plastic bags are cheap and disposable so they use it once and get a new one each time. Street food vendors, shops, convenience shops or any other place that provides plastic bags to customers probably find plastic bags very useful. In fact if they didn't have them, there may be less income. They depend on plastic bags to supply customers with a way to carry their purchases. Plastic bags are the most cheap way for them to give their customers a way to take away things. They can buy many for a cheap price with their customized logo on it. The street food vendors may know about how dirty the river is, they dont do anything since it is cheap and can satisfy their customers. Marine life do not like the plastic bags in the river because the waterways get blocked up. Other marine life, like turtles can get
kill or tortured . This can kill marine life since this plastic is nonbiodegradable (it can take up to 20 to 1,000 years to degrade), the marine life eat these bags mistaking it for their food (jelly fish). It can't biodegrade, it slowly kills them.

Street food vendors, Shops and Convenience Stores

Marine Life (fish, turtles)

Fishermen

The fishermen may not like the plastic bags being in the river, it could make the fish harder to catch with the plastic bags covering everything. Plastic bags can be useful as they can transport with the plastic bags, not having to bring it back with them to reuse. They are disposable.

Tourist, People visiting

Tourist may not like how the river looks, they wont come back and this could affect the income. Though, these tourist probably know about pollution, they dont mind since they have no other option but to use a plastic bag when needed. They may just consider Thailand as an under developed country.because of all the rubbish and plastic bags floating around in the river.

WHY THIS IS THE IDEAL POINT TO MAKE A CHANGE As shown by my system map, many different things lead up to plastic bags being in the river. Different causes and effects make a domino effect causing these plastic bags to end up in the river. The major reasons are: People dont have an option, are too busy to sit and eat or dont have any access to other types of bags Limited trash bins along the Chao Phraya river, full bins that people dont empty regularly No education about effects from using that one plastic bag or buying the whole stock of plastic bags to distribute with purchases Plastic bags have become cheap and convenient Natural reasons like flood, rain or wind that cause plastic bags ending up in the river The place to make a change is food venders or other shop owners providing plastic bags with purchases. If they didnt provide it, How would people get it? It is the key, main part to make a change. Changing this would and could change everything else. You need to change the source of the plastic bags being there. This is the right place to change since there are many things to do, there are many spaces for change to take place.

INNOVATION
The innovation I have decided on is to arrange with the government a way to have each plastic bag used in any store after purchases to be charged. This will limit the use of plastic bags, instead people will use their own reusable bags. This innovation will be effective for the following reasons: NATURE

Plastic bags are bad for the environment, they do not break down. Marine life such as turtle eat these bags mistaking them for food. Seeing they are not biodegradable, they are toxic and do not break down in the consumer's stomach, this causes them to slowly die (about 100,000 marine life die in the US from mistaking plastic bags for food) (Larry West). It floats around and can block up natural waterways. Finally, producing plastic bags require millions of gallons of petroleum that could be used for transportation or heating. If shop owners have a limited supply of plastic bags, they wont end up in the river in the first place. If there is no supply of plastic bags they wont be in the river, all the different ways to get there wont be possible if people dont have access to them in the first place. this will stop the main use of plastic bags. If there are no plastic bags available, fish, turtles and marine life wont die. Plastic bags wont block up waterways if there arent any in the first place.

ECONOMY Plastic bags cost under .5 USD to produce and sell, That is about 2-3 THB. This is quite cheap if you think about it. Each bag can be used for any customer to carry his/her supplies around. Shop owners would gain profit from selling each plastic bag. Limiting the use of plastic bags will save the cost of plastic bags for the shop owners but also gain profit for each plastic bag being used. SOCIETY People can carry their things around in their own containers or bags. This is mostly suitable for shops, since people are mostly getting plastic bags from there. People can carry various things in their ownbags, they can also get different sizes to reuse. WELL- BEING
Plastic bags let out these toxic gasses that can be bad for health. Solid-colored plastic shopping bags contain high concentrations of lead and other bad metals such as cadmium, mercury and hexavalent chromium (Beth Buczynski). Having limited plastic bags may lessen the chances of people getting sick from plastic bags lead.

CONCLUSION
The Chao Phraya river has many indicators of the water quality, one of them being plastic bags polluting the water along with many other pollutants that indicate bad water quality in the Chao Phraya. Shops and convenience stores like the plastic bags, they are cheap and convenient for customers to carry their purchases in. Fishermen do not like the plastic bags killing marine life as they have a more limited supply of fish to catch. It

could also be hard for them seeing the plastic bags block up many fishing spots. People visiting may not like the look of so many pollutants throughout the water and may not return, this may affect some income. Having my innovation there could stop the source of all this pollution from getting there in the first place, having this take place could solve many of the other effects of having plastic bags in the river. When this innovation has taken place, it would have a positive effect on nature. Causing a better place for marine life to live. For economy, shops could earn money from people that dont have reuseable bags on them. People in the society like plastic bags, having their own bags mean they can use what ever size they want and how every many they want. Plastic bags are bad for health, therefore a negative to wellbeing containing a lot of lead and other bag metals used to make ink in printers. If the plastic bag use lessens, less people will get sick because of this. Using this new innovation will take us closer to improving the water quality in the Chao Phraya. If we work together we can all make a difference.

Works Cited
Buczynski, Beth. "Plastic Shopping Bags Laced with Dangerous Levels of Toxic Lead." Care2. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. <http://www.care2.com/causes/plastic-shopping-bags-laced-with-dangerouslevels-of-toxic-lead.html>. "The 'Chao Phraya' River of Kings." Ayutthaya and the River of Kings. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ayutthaya-boat.com/chao-phraya.php>. "How Much Does It Cost to Make a Plastic Bag?" - Ask.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Apr. 2014. <http://www.ask.com/question/how-much-does-it-cost-to-make-aplastic-bag>. Ratnabhas, Sutheep. "IDU Assessment, Creating an Innovation to Improve Chao Phraya Water Quality." Personal interview. 29 Mar. 2014. "Why Stop Using Plastic Bags?" About.com Environmental Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. <http://environment.about.com/od/reducingwaste/a/no_plastic_bags.htm>.