Caring for the Environment in Georgetown County, SC: Using SDGs, environmental ethics, and attitudes to highlight triadic socioeconomic barriers

The behavior of littering is one that has prolificated deviance and social disorder theories throughout academia, particularly since why people litter remains an unresolved question. Taking a drive through Georgetown County, SC presents a range of illegal dumping sites and littering magnitudes, with certain communities noted as hotspots for roadside trash. Addressing this issue is one of the primary concerns at the Georgetown County Office of Environmental Services. But to accurately address littering in the County, we must first understand the environmental attitudes held by residents, since attitudes are rudimentary in solving environmental issues. Along with the utilization of specific criteria within the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and local litter index data, we implemented an art contest that would allow for us to conduct pre- and post- assessments to gauge the environmental attitudes and literacy of K-12 students in the Georgetown County School District, as well as allude to sustainability within their education system. This allowed us to highlight the connections between poverty, education, and the environment, as well as analyze effectiveness in approaches to litter awareness. This emphasized the cross-disciplinary foundation of the issue, in essence, the epitome of social ecology. To solve environmental issues, we must first solve social ones. The solution to roadside litter is therefore found in addressing socioeconomic barriers: poverty and quality education