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English Learning for Curious Minds, Episode 255: The Cobra Effect [1]

Episode 255: The Cobra Effect [1]

Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.

The show where you can listen to fascinating stories, and learn weird and

wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English.

I'm Alastair Budge, and today we are going to be talking about something called The Cobra Effect.

It's what happens when good intentions lead to unexpected, negative consequences.

It's a story of human psychology, of people outwitting, outsmarting, governments

and policymakers, a story of human ingenuity, and provides a lesson to us all of

what happens when we don't think through the possible consequences of our actions.

In today's episode we'll come across snakes, rats, cars, heroin, railways and rubbish.

We'll travel from Britain to India, Vietnam to the United States,

but there will be one unifying factor throughout: human beings.

From Bogota to Bangkok, Kabul to Calcutta, people are people, and as we'll

soon find out, people are excellent at finding opportunities when they arise.

So, let's get right into it.

In life, there are broadly two ways of getting anyone to do what you want.

Whether we are talking about persuading a 2-year-old child to brush his

teeth or getting the population of an entire country to pay their taxes, you

can either incentivise them to do it, or punish them if they don't do it.

You might give your 2-year-old child a star for brushing his teeth or tell

him he isn't allowed to play with his toys if he doesn't brush his teeth.

In our national “paying your taxes” scenario, a country might remind citizens of their

civic duty to pay their taxes, or offer some reward for paying them on time, or it

might send its citizens to jail, or fine them money, if they don't pay their taxes.

Of course, this is a gross simplification, but as someone trying to get someone else

to do something, you have two broad categories of options: the carrot, and the stick.

And so it was in British India, in Delhi to be precise,

that the British were presented with a problem.

In a story recalled by the German economist Horst Siebert, the British government was concerned

with the amount of cobras, poisonous deadly snakes, slithering around the streets of Delhi.

You couldn't exactly ask the snakes politely to leave, or punish them for being in the city.

The government could have surely hired people to go around either killing the

snakes or pushing them away from the city, but it tried to do something different.

It thought, well, if we offer a reward to local people for killing cobras, people will

have a reason to kill them, the population will reduce, and our problem will be solved.

So, it was widely published that the British would pay for any skin of a cobra.

Initially it was a great success.

People started hunting cobras, killing them and bringing in their skins for a reward.

The cobra population started to go down, but then there was a constant and

indeed ever-increasing number of cobra skins appearing at government offices, and there didn't seem

to be any real decrease, any real reduction, in the number of cobras roaming the streets.

How was it possible that there were so many dead cobras being

brought to government offices, yet so many still roaming the streets?

Well, it turns out that some enterprising people had seen

that this new law presented a money-making opportunity.

They had started cobra farms, they had started breeding cobras for

the specific purpose of being killed and collecting the rewards.

The cobra population swelled as people realised there was a quick buck, some quick

money, to be made, and cobra farms started to pop up throughout the city and nearby area.

When the British government cottoned on to this, when they

realised what was going on, the reward for cobra skins was stopped.

So what happened?

Well, this was pretty bad news if you were a cobra farmer.

There was only really one potential customer for cobras, the

government, and if it stopped paying you you were in real trouble.

According to Horst Siebert, the German economist who recalled the story, the cobra farmers

simply released their cobras into the wild, back into the city, and the government had

an even bigger problem on its hands than before it had tried to “solve” the problem.

This incident gave the name to the Cobra Effect, when a

well-intentioned law or regulation has unintended negative consequences.

It just so happens that some of the most famous examples of this are to do

with animals, and specifically encouraging the reduction of animal populations.

In 1902, in Vietnam, when it was under French rule, the French government

was concerned with the amount of rats running through the city.

So what did it do?

Like the British, it offered a cash reward, but not for the

skins of the rats, or the dead bodies, just for the tails.

The government was flooded with rat tails, and it no doubt thought itself very

clever for creating this incentive for the local population to solve the problem.

But before long government officials started to notice

that there were rats running around without tails.

What had been happening was that the enterprising local population

would cut off the tails of the rats, but then let them go, still alive.

The tail wouldn't grow back, but the rats would be able to breed, to have children,

meaning there would be more baby rats with tails to cut off and money to be made.

And of course, there were plenty of enterprising people who also set up rat farms.

And as you might imagine, the number of rats in the city swelled, it increased dramatically.

This was over 100 years ago, and you might have thought that people would have learned by now.

It turns out that we haven't.

In 2007, in an army base in Georgia, in the United States, there was a problem with wild pigs.

There were thousands of these pigs that roamed the army base and nearby area,

breeding rapidly, destroying local crops, and generally being a nuisance to farmers.

In order to incentivise hunters and local people to kill these

pigs, the US army stated it would pay up to $40 per pig killed.

The army didn't need the entire pig to be brought in as evidence, that

would be complicated, having to deal with thousands of bodies of dead pigs.

So, like French back in Vietnam over 100 years ago, to collect the reward you

just needed the tail, complete with a form stating where the pig had been killed.

You might be able to guess what happened.

It seemed to be an initial success, and thousands of pig tails

were brought in, and tens of thousands of dollars were paid out.

But people were bringing in so many pig tails, saying that

they had killed so many pigs, that it seemed hard to believe.

There weren't pigs wandering around with no tails, so, if these

tails hadn't come from the wild pigs, where had they come from?

After the army started calling around local

meat processing plants, they discovered something surprising.

They asked the owners of these meat processing plants whether they had ever sold pig tails before.

No, not really, came the response.

You can't do anything with a pig tail, they were simply thrown away.

But ever since the army started offering $40 per tail, meat processing plants had started

receiving calls from local people offering to buy as many tails as they could get their hands on.

Indeed, it was common knowledge that the “market value” of a pig tail was now

not $0, it was $40, and a mini black market started to emerge for pig tails.

Pigs became more valuable, creating an even greater incentive to increase production.

And the Cobra Effect isn't just for snakes, rats or pigs.

We will talk a bit more about this in the next episode, on where our rubbish goes, but

in 1997 the UK introduced something called the “Packaging Recovery Note”, PRN for short.

A PRN is given to a recycling company by the UK government

for every one tonne of recycling that is recycled.

If a recycling company recycles 100 tonnes of recycled goods, it gets 100 PRNs.

These PRNs can then be sold to the companies that produce goods that use materials like

plastic, who are obliged to buy PRNs to offset the materials that go into their products.

This is what's called the “Polluter Pays” principle.

At first glance, this is good, right?

We should encourage people to recycle, and a government

should provide financial incentives to recycle.

But it turns out that this system might actually be reducing

the amount of waste that is recycled, not increasing it.

See, for one of these “Packaging Recovery Notes” to be

issued, a company must show it has done the recycling.

If it's in the UK, the recycling is weighed after it's processed and the PRN is issued.

If the recycling is exported, sent abroad to be processed,

it is weighed before it's exported and the PRN is issued.

And herein lies the problem.

With the example of plastic, only about 50% of plastic recycling is actually able to be recycled,

so one tonne of mixed plastic recycling results in about half a tonne of recycled plastic.

So if it is processed in the UK, 1 tonne of mixed plastic recycling leads to

half a Packaging Recovery Note, but if it is exported, because the entire batch

is weighed before it is separated, the company gets paid for the whole volume.

And there are very little checks on whether the

material is ever actually recycled after it is exported.

There was a documentary from 2018 that revealed that there were huge amounts of

UK “recycling” just sitting in fields in places like Turkey, Poland and Malaysia.

The entire incentive system that was created to encourage people to recycle resulted

in a reduction in recycling happening in the UK, no incentives for the UK to invest in

recycling facilities, an incentive for dishonest recycling companies to add waste to

their “recycling” that isn't actually recycling, and ultimately for waste that might

otherwise have been recycled to be sitting in a field or dump in a foreign country.

It might be criminal, but it wouldn't be the first time that people have been

pushed into illegal activities because of a law that had positive intentions.

Afghanistan, as you may know, is one of the world's biggest

producers of opium, the main ingredient required to make heroin.

After the US invasion of the country, the occupying forces tried to

figure out how to reduce opium production, and what to do with the

poppy farmers - the poppy is the flower from which opium is harvested.

It could burn poppy fields when they were discovered, and punish the farmers for growing the crop.

But Afghanistan is a large, mountainous country, which is very difficult to control.

And no matter how many poppy fields were burned, new ones would pop up.

Afghanistan was, and of course still is a very poor country, and the money that

could be made from growing opium offered a rare opportunity to earn a decent income.

So, the British and US officials started offering opium farmers

money, cash, to burn their poppy fields and switch to other crops.

Yes, these farmers would make less money if they grew other, legal, crops, but they would be

paid the difference, and in fact in many cases they would be paid a lot more for burning the

poppy fields, meaning that there shouldn't be any financial reason to continue growing opium.

Sounds good in practice, of course, but what it actually led to was a boom in new

opium farmers, because people rushed to grow opium in order to get paid to switch.

Many poppy farmers would even harvest the opium from the poppies before burning the fields,

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Episode 255: The Cobra Effect [1] Bölüm(1)||Kobra| Folge 255: Der Kobra-Effekt [1] Episodio 255: El Efecto Cobra [1] Épisode 255 : L'effet Cobra [1] Episodio 255: L'effetto Cobra [1] 第255話コブラ・エフェクト [1] Odcinek 255: Efekt Kobry [1] Episódio 255: O Efeito Cobra [1] Эпизод 255: Эффект Кобры [1] Bölüm 255: Kobra Etkisi [1] Епізод 255: Ефект кобри [1]. 第255集:眼镜蛇效应[1]

Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English. Hallo, hallo, hallo, und willkommen bei English Learning for Curious Minds, von Leonardo English. Hello, hello hello, and welcome to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English. Привет, привет, и добро пожаловать в книгу «Изучение английского для пытливых умов» Леонардо Инглиша.

The show where you can listen to fascinating stories, and learn weird and Die Show, in der Sie faszinierenden Geschichten lauschen und seltsame und seltsame Dinge lernen können Шоу, в котором можно послушать увлекательные истории и узнать странные и

wonderful things about the world at the same time as improving your English. wunderbare Dinge über die Welt zu lernen und gleichzeitig Ihr Englisch zu verbessern.

I'm Alastair Budge, and today we are going to be talking about something called The Cobra Effect. ||ბიჯი|||||||||||||| Ich bin Alastair Budge, und heute werden wir über etwas sprechen, das sich „Der Kobra-Effekt“ nennt.

It's what happens when good intentions lead to unexpected, negative consequences. |||||niyetler|ulaşmak||||sonuçlar Das passiert, wenn gute Absichten zu unerwarteten, negativen Folgen führen. İyi niyetler beklenmedik, olumsuz sonuçlara yol açtığında olan şey budur.

It's a story of human psychology, of people outwitting, outsmarting, governments ||||||||მატყუარობა|გადატყუება| ||||||||aşmak|| ||||||||enganando|enganando| Es ist eine Geschichte der menschlichen Psychologie, von Menschen, die Regierungen überlisten, überlisten Это история о человеческой психологии, о людях, перехитривших, перехитривших правительства.

and policymakers, a story of human ingenuity, and provides a lesson to us all of |მოსამართლეები|||||გამჭრიახობა|||||||| |politika yapıcıları|||||zekâsı||verir|||||| und politischen Entscheidungsträgern, eine Geschichte menschlichen Einfallsreichtums, die uns allen eine Lektion erteilt

what happens when we don't think through the possible consequences of our actions. ||||||გადავწვდით|||||| was passiert, wenn wir die möglichen Folgen unseres Handelns nicht durchdenken.

In today's episode we'll come across snakes, rats, cars, heroin, railways and rubbish. In der heutigen Folge begegnen wir Schlangen, Ratten, Autos, Heroin, Eisenbahnen und Müll. Bugünkü bölümde yılanlar, fareler, arabalar, eroin, demiryolları ve çöplerle karşılaşacağız.

We'll travel from Britain to India, Vietnam to the United States, Wir reisen von Großbritannien nach Indien, von Vietnam in die Vereinigten Staaten,

but there will be one unifying factor throughout: human beings. |||||ერთიანი||მთელს განმავლობაში|| |||||birleştirici||boyunca|| |||||||ao longo|| aber es wird immer einen verbindenden Faktor geben: die Menschen. но везде будет один объединяющий фактор: люди.

From Bogota to Bangkok, Kabul to Calcutta, people are people, and as we'll ||||Kabil|||||||| Von Bogota bis Bangkok, von Kabul bis Kalkutta, Menschen sind Menschen, und das werden wir auch

soon find out, people are excellent at finding opportunities when they arise. |||||||||||ortaya çıkar schnell herausfinden, dass Menschen hervorragend darin sind, Gelegenheiten zu finden, wenn sie sich bieten.

So, let's get right into it. Also, lass uns gleich loslegen. O yüzden hemen konuya girelim.

In life, there are broadly two ways of getting anyone to do what you want. ||||ზოგადად|||||||||| ||||genel olarak|||||||||| ||||genericamente|||||||||| Im Leben gibt es im Großen und Ganzen zwei Möglichkeiten, jemanden dazu zu bringen, das zu tun, was Sie wollen. Na vida, existem basicamente duas maneiras de fazer alguém fazer o que você quer. В жизни есть два основных способа заставить кого-либо делать то, что вы хотите. Hayatta, birine istediğinizi yaptırmanın genel olarak iki yolu vardır.

Whether we are talking about persuading a 2-year-old child to brush his |||||დარწმუნება||||||| istersek|||||ikna etme||||||| Ob wir darüber sprechen, ein 2-jähriges Kind zu überreden, seine zu putzen

teeth or getting the population of an entire country to pay their taxes, you Zähne oder die Bevölkerung eines ganzen Landes dazu bringen, ihre Steuern zu zahlen, Sie зубы или заставить население целой страны платить налоги, вы

can either incentivise them to do it, or punish them if they don't do it. |მიუხედავად ამისა|მოტივირება|||||||||||| ||teşvik etmek|||||||||||| ||incentivar|||||||||||| kann sie entweder dazu anregen oder sie bestrafen, wenn sie es nicht tun.

You might give your 2-year-old child a star for brushing his teeth or tell Sie könnten Ihrem 2-jährigen Kind einen Stern für das Zähneputzen geben oder erzählen Вы можете дать своему 2-летнему ребенку звезду за чистку зубов или сказать

him he isn't allowed to play with his toys if he doesn't brush his teeth. Er darf nicht mit seinen Spielsachen spielen, wenn er sich nicht die Zähne putzt.

In our national “paying your taxes” scenario, a country might remind citizens of their In unserem nationalen „Zahlen Sie Ihre Steuern“-Szenario könnte ein Land die Bürger an ihre erinnern В нашем национальном сценарии «плати налоги» страна может напомнить гражданам об их

civic duty to pay their taxes, or offer some reward for paying them on time, or it საზოგადოებრივი|||||||||||||||| sivil|||||||||||||||| |dever||||||||||||||| Bürgerpflicht, ihre Steuern zu zahlen, oder eine Belohnung für die pünktliche Zahlung anzubieten, oder es гражданский долг платить налоги или предлагать какое-либо вознаграждение за их своевременную уплату, или это

might send its citizens to jail, or fine them money, if they don't pay their taxes. |||||||para cezası|||||||| könnte seine Bürger ins Gefängnis schicken oder sie mit einer Geldstrafe bestrafen, wenn sie ihre Steuern nicht zahlen. pode mandar seus cidadãos para a prisão, ou multá-los em dinheiro, se eles não pagarem seus impostos.

Of course, this is a gross simplification, but as someone trying to get someone else |||||საშინელი|მარტივება|||||||| |||||aşırı|basitlik|||||||| Natürlich ist dies eine grobe Vereinfachung, aber da jemand versucht, jemand anderen zu bekommen

to do something, you have two broad categories of options: the carrot, and the stick. |||||||||||საბოლოო||| ||||||geniş|||||havuç||| ||||||ampla|||||o incentivo|||punição Um etwas zu tun, haben Sie zwei große Kategorien von Optionen: das Zuckerbrot und die Peitsche.

And so it was in British India, in Delhi to be precise, |||||||||||სწორედ ||||||||||olmak|kesin olmak gerekirse Und so war es in Britisch-Indien, genauer gesagt in Delhi, Так было и в Британской Индии, точнее в Дели,

that the British were presented with a problem. dass die Briten vor ein Problem gestellt wurden. что британцы столкнулись с проблемой. 英国人面临一个问题。

In a story recalled by the German economist Horst Siebert, the British government was concerned ||||||||Horst|Siebert||||| In einer Geschichte, an die sich der deutsche Ökonom Horst Siebert erinnert, war die britische Regierung besorgt В истории, которую вспоминает немецкий экономист Хорст Зиберт, британское правительство было обеспокоено

with the amount of cobras, poisonous deadly snakes, slithering around the streets of Delhi. ||||||||სრიალებს||||| ||||yılanlar||||sürünerek||||| mit der Menge an Kobras, giftigen tödlichen Schlangen, die durch die Straßen von Delhi kriechen. с количеством кобр, ядовитых смертоносных змей, ползающих по улицам Дели.

You couldn't exactly ask the snakes politely to leave, or punish them for being in the city. Man konnte die Schlangen nicht gerade höflich bitten, zu gehen, oder sie dafür bestrafen, dass sie in der Stadt waren.

The government could have surely hired people to go around either killing the Die Regierung hätte sicherlich Leute anheuern können, um herumzugehen oder sie zu töten Правительство наверняка могло бы нанять людей, чтобы они либо убивали

snakes or pushing them away from the city, but it tried to do something different. Schlangen oder drängte sie von der Stadt weg, aber es versuchte, etwas anderes zu tun.

It thought, well, if we offer a reward to local people for killing cobras, people will |düşündü|||||||||||||| Es dachte, nun, wenn wir den Einheimischen eine Belohnung für das Töten von Kobras anbieten, werden die Leute es tun

have a reason to kill them, the population will reduce, and our problem will be solved. |||||||||azalacak|||||| einen Grund haben, sie zu töten, wird die Bevölkerung zurückgehen und unser Problem wird gelöst sein.

So, it was widely published that the British would pay for any skin of a cobra. |||yaygın bir şekilde|||||||||||| ||||||||||||pele||| So wurde weithin veröffentlicht, dass die Briten für jede Haut einer Kobra bezahlen würden. Так, широко публиковалось, что англичане заплатят за любую шкуру кобры.

Initially it was a great success. başlangıçta||||| Zunächst war es ein großer Erfolg.

People started hunting cobras, killing them and bringing in their skins for a reward. Die Menschen fingen an, Kobras zu jagen, sie zu töten und ihre Häute für eine Belohnung einzubringen. As pessoas começaram a caçar cobras, matando-as e trazendo suas peles como recompensa.

The cobra population started to go down, but then there was a constant and ||||||||||||sabitlik| Die Kobrapopulation begann zu sinken, aber dann gab es eine Konstante und tatsächlich Популяция кобры начала сокращаться, но затем наблюдалась постоянная и действительно

indeed ever-increasing number of cobra skins appearing at government offices, and there didn't seem Eine ständig wachsende Zahl von Kobra-Häuten tauchte in Regierungsbüros auf, und es schien nicht постоянно растущее количество шкур кобры, появляющихся в правительственных учреждениях, и, казалось,

to be any real decrease, any real reduction, in the number of cobras roaming the streets. |||||||||||||მოსიარულე|| |||||||azalma||||||dolaşan|| |||||||||||||vagando|| jede wirkliche Abnahme, jede wirkliche Verringerung der Zahl der Kobras, die durch die Straßen streifen. быть любое реальное сокращение, любое реальное сокращение количества кобр, бродящих по улицам.

How was it possible that there were so many dead cobras being ||||||||||cobras| Wie war es möglich, dass es so viele tote Kobras gab?

brought to government offices, yet so many still roaming the streets? in Regierungsbüros gebracht, und doch streifen immer noch so viele durch die Straßen?

Well, it turns out that some enterprising people had seen ||||||girişken||| Nun, es stellte sich heraus, dass einige unternehmungslustige Leute gesehen hatten

that this new law presented a money-making opportunity. dass dieses neue Gesetz eine Gelegenheit zum Geldverdienen darstellte.

They had started cobra farms, they had started breeding cobras for ||||||||üretme|| ||||||||criação|| Sie hatten Kobrafarmen gegründet, für die sie Kobras gezüchtet hatten Habían empezado granjas de cobras, habían empezado a criar cobras para

the specific purpose of being killed and collecting the rewards. der spezifische Zweck, getötet zu werden und die Belohnungen zu sammeln. el propósito específico de ser asesinados y recoger las recompensas.

The cobra population swelled as people realised there was a quick buck, some quick |||მოიმატა||||||||ფული|| |||şişti||||||||para|| |||aumentou|||||||||| Die Kobrapopulation schwoll an, als die Leute erkannten, dass es schnelles Geld gab, einige schnelle A população de cobras aumentou quando as pessoas perceberam que havia dinheiro rápido, alguns Популяция кобр увеличилась, когда люди поняли, что есть быстрые деньги, некоторые быстрые

money, to be made, and cobra farms started to pop up throughout the city and nearby area. |||||||||||şehrin her yerinde||||| Geld zu verdienen, und Cobra-Farmen tauchten in der ganzen Stadt und in der näheren Umgebung auf. денег, и фермы по выращиванию кобр начали появляться по всему городу и близлежащим районам.

When the British government cottoned on to this, when they ||||გააცნობიერა||||| ||||fark etti||||| ||||percebeu||||| Als die britische Regierung darauf einging, als sie Quando o governo britânico concordou com isso, quando eles Когда британское правительство ухватилось за это, когда они

realised what was going on, the reward for cobra skins was stopped. bemerkte, was los war, die Belohnung für Kobrafelle wurde gestoppt. percebeu o que estava acontecendo, a recompensa pelas peles de cobra foi interrompida.

So what happened? Also was ist passiert?

Well, this was pretty bad news if you were a cobra farmer. Nun, das waren ziemlich schlechte Nachrichten, wenn Sie ein Cobra-Farmer waren.

There was only really one potential customer for cobras, the Es gab eigentlich nur einen potentiellen Kunden für Cobras, den

government, and if it stopped paying you you were in real trouble. Regierung, und wenn sie aufhörte, Sie zu bezahlen, steckten Sie in echten Schwierigkeiten.

According to Horst Siebert, the German economist who recalled the story, the cobra farmers Laut Horst Siebert, dem deutschen Wirtschaftswissenschaftler, der sich an die Geschichte erinnerte, waren die Cobra-Bauern

simply released their cobras into the wild, back into the city, and the government had |liberaram||||||||||||| einfach ihre Kobras in die Wildnis entlassen, zurück in die Stadt, und die Regierung hatte es getan

an even bigger problem on its hands than before it had tried to “solve” the problem. ein noch größeres Problem auf den Händen, als bevor es versucht hatte, das Problem zu „lösen“.

This incident gave the name to the Cobra Effect, when a Dieser Vorfall gab dem Cobra-Effekt den Namen, als a

well-intentioned law or regulation has unintended negative consequences. ||||||არასახარბიელო|| |niyetli|||||istenmeyen|| Gut gemeinte Gesetze oder Vorschriften haben unbeabsichtigte negative Folgen.

It just so happens that some of the most famous examples of this are to do Es ist einfach so, dass einige der berühmtesten Beispiele dafür zu tun sind Так уж получилось, что некоторые из самых известных примеров этого должны делать

with animals, and specifically encouraging the reduction of animal populations. |||özellikle|||||| mit Tieren und insbesondere die Förderung der Reduzierung von Tierbeständen. с животными и, в частности, поощрение сокращения популяций животных.

In 1902, in Vietnam, when it was under French rule, the French government 1902 in Vietnam, als es unter französischer Herrschaft stand, die französische Regierung

was concerned with the amount of rats running through the city. war besorgt über die Menge an Ratten, die durch die Stadt liefen.

So what did it do? Was hat es also bewirkt?

Like the British, it offered a cash reward, but not for the Wie die Briten bot es eine Geldprämie an, aber nicht für die

skins of the rats, or the dead bodies, just for the tails. Häute der Ratten oder die Leichen, nur für die Schwänze.

The government was flooded with rat tails, and it no doubt thought itself very |||მოაწვდეს|||||||||| Die Regierung wurde mit Rattenschwänzen überflutet, und sie hielt sich zweifellos für sehr

clever for creating this incentive for the local population to solve the problem. ||||მოტივაცია|||||||| clever, diesen Anreiz für die lokale Bevölkerung zu schaffen, das Problem zu lösen. Yerel halkın sorunu çözmesi için bu teşviki yarattığı için zekice.

But before long government officials started to notice Aber es dauerte nicht lange, bis Regierungsbeamte dies bemerkten

that there were rats running around without tails. dass Ratten ohne Schwänze herumliefen.

What had been happening was that the enterprising local population Was passiert war, war, dass die unternehmungslustige lokale Bevölkerung Дело в том, что предприимчивое местное население

would cut off the tails of the rats, but then let them go, still alive. würde den Ratten die Schwänze abschneiden, sie dann aber lebend gehen lassen.

The tail wouldn't grow back, but the rats would be able to breed, to have children, ||||||||||||გამრავლება||| ||||||||||||raça||| Der Schwanz würde nicht nachwachsen, aber die Ratten könnten sich fortpflanzen, Kinder bekommen,

meaning there would be more baby rats with tails to cut off and money to be made. was bedeutet, dass es mehr Babyratten mit Schwänzen zum Abschneiden und Geldverdienen geben würde.

And of course, there were plenty of enterprising people who also set up rat farms. Und natürlich gab es viele unternehmungslustige Leute, die auch Rattenfarmen errichteten.

And as you might imagine, the number of rats in the city swelled, it increased dramatically. ||||||||||||მოიმატა||| Und wie Sie sich vorstellen können, schwoll die Zahl der Ratten in der Stadt dramatisch an.

This was over 100 years ago, and you might have thought that people would have learned by now. Das war vor über 100 Jahren, und Sie hätten vielleicht gedacht, dass die Menschen es inzwischen gelernt hätten. Это было более 100 лет назад, и можно было бы подумать, что люди уже научились.

It turns out that we haven't. Es stellt sich heraus, dass wir das nicht getan haben. Resulta que no. Оказывается, у нас нет.

In 2007, in an army base in Georgia, in the United States, there was a problem with wild pigs. Im Jahr 2007 gab es auf einem Armeestützpunkt in Georgia in den Vereinigten Staaten ein Problem mit Wildschweinen.

There were thousands of these pigs that roamed the army base and nearby area, |||||||მოიარა|||||| Es gab Tausende dieser Schweine, die die Armeebasis und die nahe Umgebung durchstreiften,

breeding rapidly, destroying local crops, and generally being a nuisance to farmers. |||||||||პრობლემა|| |||||||||incômodo|| vermehren sich schnell, zerstören lokale Ernten und sind im Allgemeinen ein Ärgernis für die Landwirte. se reproducen rápidamente, destruyen los cultivos locales y, en general, son una molestia para los agricultores. быстро размножаются, уничтожают местные посевы и, как правило, доставляют неудобства фермерам.

In order to incentivise hunters and local people to kill these |||მოტივირება||||||| Um Jäger und Einheimische dazu zu bewegen, diese zu töten

pigs, the US army stated it would pay up to $40 per pig killed. Schweine, erklärte die US-Armee, sie würde bis zu 40 Dollar pro getötetem Schwein zahlen.

The army didn't need the entire pig to be brought in as evidence, that Die Armee brauchte nicht das ganze Schwein als Beweismittel, das

would be complicated, having to deal with thousands of bodies of dead pigs. wäre kompliziert, sich mit Tausenden von toten Schweinen auseinandersetzen zu müssen.

So, like French back in Vietnam over 100 years ago, to collect the reward you Also, wie die Franzosen vor über 100 Jahren in Vietnam, um die Belohnung zu sammeln

just needed the tail, complete with a form stating where the pig had been killed. ||||||||belirten|||||| Ich brauchte nur den Schwanz, komplett mit einem Formular, aus dem hervorgeht, wo das Schwein getötet wurde. нужен был только хвост с бланком, в котором указано, где была убита свинья.

You might be able to guess what happened. Was passiert ist, könnt ihr euch vielleicht denken.

It seemed to be an initial success, and thousands of pig tails Es schien ein anfänglicher Erfolg zu sein, und Tausende von Zöpfen

were brought in, and tens of thousands of dollars were paid out. wurden eingebracht, und Zehntausende von Dollar wurden ausgezahlt.

But people were bringing in so many pig tails, saying that Aber die Leute brachten so viele Zöpfe herein, als sie das sagten

they had killed so many pigs, that it seemed hard to believe. Sie hatten so viele Schweine getötet, dass es kaum zu glauben schien.

There weren't pigs wandering around with no tails, so, if these |||vagando||||||| Es gab keine Schweine, die ohne Schwänze herumliefen, also, wenn diese Свиньи не бродили без хвостов, так что, если эти

tails hadn't come from the wild pigs, where had they come from? Schwänze stammten nicht von den Wildschweinen, woher kamen sie? хвосты не от диких свиней, откуда они взялись?

After the army started calling around local Nachdem die Armee anfing, lokales Fleisch herumzurufen Depois que o exército começou a chamar a carne local После того, как армия начала обзванивать местное мясо

meat processing plants, they discovered something surprising. ხორცი|||||| plantas de processamento, eles descobriram algo surpreendente.

They asked the owners of these meat processing plants whether they had ever sold pig tails before. Sie fragten die Besitzer dieser Fleischverarbeitungsbetriebe, ob sie schon einmal Schweineschwänze verkauft hätten. Они спросили владельцев этих мясокомбинатов, продавали ли они когда-нибудь свиные хвосты раньше.

No, not really, came the response. Nein, nicht wirklich, kam die Antwort. Нет, не совсем, последовал ответ.

You can't do anything with a pig tail, they were simply thrown away. Mit einem Schweineschwanz kann man nichts anfangen, die wurden einfach weggeworfen. Со свиным хвостом ничего не сделаешь, их просто выбросили.

But ever since the army started offering $40 per tail, meat processing plants had started Aber seit die Armee anfing, 40 Dollar pro Schwanz anzubieten, hatten Fleischverarbeitungsbetriebe begonnen Mas desde que o exército começou a oferecer $ 40 por cauda, as fábricas de processamento de carne começaram

receiving calls from local people offering to buy as many tails as they could get their hands on. Anrufe von Einheimischen erhalten, die anbieten, so viele Schwänze zu kaufen, wie sie in die Finger bekommen können. recebendo ligações de pessoas locais oferecendo-se para comprar o máximo de caudas que pudessem. получая звонки от местных жителей, предлагающих купить столько хвостов, сколько они смогут достать. 接到当地人的电话,他们愿意购买尽可能多的尾巴。

Indeed, it was common knowledge that the “market value” of a pig tail was now Tatsächlich war es allgemein bekannt, dass der "Marktwert" eines Schweineschwanzes jetzt war

not $0, it was $40, and a mini black market started to emerge for pig tails. ||||||||||ჩამოყალიბება||| nicht 0 $, sondern 40 $, und ein Mini-Schwarzmarkt für Schweineschwänze entstand. не 0 долларов, а 40 долларов, и начал появляться мини-черный рынок свиных хвостов.

Pigs became more valuable, creating an even greater incentive to increase production. ||||||||მოტივაცია||| Schweine wurden wertvoller und schufen einen noch größeren Anreiz, die Produktion zu steigern. 猪的价值提高了,从而产生了更大的增加产量的动力。

And the Cobra Effect isn't just for snakes, rats or pigs. Und der Cobra-Effekt ist nicht nur etwas für Schlangen, Ratten oder Schweine.

We will talk a bit more about this in the next episode, on where our rubbish goes, but |||||||||||||||ნაგავი|| Wir werden in der nächsten Folge ein bisschen mehr darüber sprechen, wo unser Müll hingeht, aber Мы поговорим об этом подробнее в следующем выпуске, о том, куда девается наш мусор, но

in 1997 the UK introduced something called the “Packaging Recovery Note”, PRN for short. 1997 führte das Vereinigte Königreich eine sogenannte „Packaging Recovery Note“, kurz PRN, ein. в 1997 году в Великобритании было введено так называемое «Примечание о восстановлении упаковки», сокращенно PRN. 1997年,英国推出了“包装回收标签”,简称PRN。

A PRN is given to a recycling company by the UK government ||||||რეციკლინგის||||| Eine PRN wird von der britischen Regierung an ein Recyclingunternehmen vergeben PRN выдается перерабатывающей компании правительством Великобритании.

for every one tonne of recycling that is recycled. für jede Tonne Recyclingmaterial, die wiederverwertet wird. на каждую переработанную тонну вторсырья.

If a recycling company recycles 100 tonnes of recycled goods, it gets 100 PRNs. ||||geri dönüştürür||||||| Recycelt ein Recyclingunternehmen 100 Tonnen Recyclingware, erhält es 100 PRNs. Если компания по переработке перерабатывает 100 тонн переработанных товаров, она получает 100 PRN.

These PRNs can then be sold to the companies that produce goods that use materials like Diese PRNs können dann an Unternehmen verkauft werden, die Waren herstellen, die Materialien wie z Затем эти PRN можно продать компаниям, которые производят товары, в которых используются такие материалы, как

plastic, who are obliged to buy PRNs to offset the materials that go into their products. |||obrigados|||||||||||| Plastik, die verpflichtet sind, PRNs zu kaufen, um die Materialien auszugleichen, die in ihre Produkte einfließen. пластика, которые обязаны покупать PRN, чтобы компенсировать материалы, которые входят в их продукты.

This is what's called the “Polluter Pays” principle. |||||მომწამლავი|გადახდის| |||||Kirletici|| Das nennt man das Verursacherprinzip. Это так называемый принцип «загрязнитель платит».

At first glance, this is good, right? ||მხოლოდ ერთი შეხედვით|||| ||à primeira vista|||| Auf den ersten Blick ist das gut, oder? На первый взгляд, это хорошо, не так ли?

We should encourage people to recycle, and a government Wir sollten die Menschen zum Recycling ermutigen, und eine Regierung Мы должны поощрять людей перерабатывать, а правительство

should provide financial incentives to recycle. |||ინცენტივები|| sollten finanzielle Anreize zum Recycling bieten. должны обеспечивать финансовые стимулы для переработки.

But it turns out that this system might actually be reducing Aber es stellt sich heraus, dass dieses System tatsächlich reduzieren könnte Но оказывается, что эта система может на самом деле снижать

the amount of waste that is recycled, not increasing it. die Abfallmenge, die recycelt wird, anstatt sie zu erhöhen. количество отходов, которое перерабатывается, не увеличивая его. geri dönüştürülen atık miktarı, artırmak değil.

See, for one of these “Packaging Recovery Notes” to be Sehen Sie sich dazu eine dieser „Packaging Recovery Notes“ an См., чтобы одна из этих «Примечаний по восстановлению упаковки» была Görün, bu “Ambalaj Geri Kazanım Notları” ndan birinin verilmesi için

issued, a company must show it has done the recycling. გამოცხადებული||||||||| ausgestellt, muss ein Unternehmen nachweisen, dass es das Recycling durchgeführt hat. выпущено, компания должна показать, что она сделала переработку. bir şirketin geri dönüşüm yaptığını göstermesi gerekiyor.

If it's in the UK, the recycling is weighed after it's processed and the PRN is issued. ||||||||pesado||||||||emitida In Großbritannien wird das Recycling nach der Verarbeitung gewogen und die PRN ausgestellt. Если это в Великобритании, переработка взвешивается после ее обработки и выдается PRN.

If the recycling is exported, sent abroad to be processed, Wird das Recycling exportiert, zur Verarbeitung ins Ausland geschickt, Если переработка экспортируется, отправляется за границу для обработки,

it is weighed before it's exported and the PRN is issued. es wird vor dem Export gewogen und die PRN ausgestellt. он взвешивается перед экспортом и выдается PRN.

And herein lies the problem. |აქედან||| |burada||| |aqui||| Und hierin liegt das Problem. И в этом заключается проблема. 问题就在这里。

With the example of plastic, only about 50% of plastic recycling is actually able to be recycled, Am Beispiel Kunststoff sind nur etwa 50 % des Kunststoffrecyclings tatsächlich recycelbar, На примере пластика можно переработать только около 50% пластика.

so one tonne of mixed plastic recycling results in about half a tonne of recycled plastic. Aus einer Tonne gemischtem Kunststoffrecycling ergibt sich also etwa eine halbe Tonne recycelter Kunststoff. Таким образом, одна тонна смешанной переработки пластика дает примерно полтонны переработанного пластика.

So if it is processed in the UK, 1 tonne of mixed plastic recycling leads to ||||მომზადებული|||||||||მიყვანს| |||||||||||||resulta em| Wenn es also in Großbritannien verarbeitet wird, führt 1 Tonne gemischtes Kunststoffrecycling zu Таким образом, если он перерабатывается в Великобритании, переработка 1 тонны смешанного пластика приводит к

half a Packaging Recovery Note, but if it is exported, because the entire batch |||||||||||||ბოჭკო |||||||||||||parti ein halber Verpackungswiederverwertungsschein, aber wenn es exportiert wird, weil die gesamte Charge половина Упаковочной записи о восстановлении, но если она экспортируется, потому что вся партия

is weighed before it is separated, the company gets paid for the whole volume. gewogen wird, bevor es getrennt wird, wird das Unternehmen für die gesamte Menge bezahlt. взвешивается перед разделением, компания получает оплату за весь объем.

And there are very little checks on whether the Und es gibt nur sehr wenige Kontrollen, ob die И очень мало проверок того,

material is ever actually recycled after it is exported. |||მართლა||||| Material wird nach dem Export tatsächlich recycelt. материал когда-либо фактически перерабатывается после того, как он экспортируется.

There was a documentary from 2018 that revealed that there were huge amounts of Es gab einen Dokumentarfilm aus dem Jahr 2018, der enthüllte, dass es riesige Mengen davon gab Был документальный фильм от 2018 года, который показал, что было огромное количество

UK “recycling” just sitting in fields in places like Turkey, Poland and Malaysia. Das britische „Recycling“ sitzt einfach auf Feldern in Orten wie der Türkei, Polen und Malaysia. Британская «переработка» просто сидит на полях в таких местах, как Турция, Польша и Малайзия.

The entire incentive system that was created to encourage people to recycle resulted ||ინცენტივების|||||||||| Das gesamte Anreizsystem, das geschaffen wurde, um die Menschen zum Recycling zu ermutigen, resultierte daraus Вся система поощрений, созданная для поощрения людей к вторичной переработке, привела к

in a reduction in recycling happening in the UK, no incentives for the UK to invest in ||||||||||ინცენტივები|||||| bei einer Verringerung des Recyclings im Vereinigten Königreich, keine Anreize für das Vereinigte Königreich, in die es investiert в сокращении переработки, происходящем в Великобритании, у Великобритании нет стимулов инвестировать в

recycling facilities, an incentive for dishonest recycling companies to add waste to |||მოტივაცია|||||||| Recyclinganlagen, ein Anreiz für unehrliche Recyclingunternehmen, Abfälle hinzuzufügen перерабатывающие предприятия, стимул для недобросовестных перерабатывающих компаний добавлять отходы в

their “recycling” that isn't actually recycling, and ultimately for waste that might ihr „Recycling“, das eigentlich kein Recycling ist, und letztendlich für Abfall, der es sein könnte их «переработка», которая на самом деле не является переработкой, и, в конечном счете, для отходов, которые могут

otherwise have been recycled to be sitting in a field or dump in a foreign country. aksi takdirde|||||||||||çöplük|||| caso contrário||||||||||||||| andernfalls wurden sie recycelt, um auf einem Feld oder einer Deponie in einem fremden Land zu liegen. в противном случае они были бы переработаны, чтобы сидеть в поле или на свалке в чужой стране.

It might be criminal, but it wouldn't be the first time that people have been Es könnte kriminell sein, aber es wäre nicht das erste Mal, dass Menschen es tun Это может быть преступлением, но это будет не первый случай, когда люди

pushed into illegal activities because of a law that had positive intentions. wegen eines Gesetzes, das positive Absichten hatte, in illegale Aktivitäten gedrängt. подтолкнули к незаконной деятельности из-за закона, который имел позитивные намерения.

Afghanistan, as you may know, is one of the world's biggest |como||||||||| Wie Sie vielleicht wissen, ist Afghanistan eines der größten der Welt

producers of opium, the main ingredient required to make heroin. ||ოპიუმი||||||| Produzenten von Opium, der Hauptzutat für die Herstellung von Heroin.

After the US invasion of the country, the occupying forces tried to |||მოწვევა|||||||| ||||||||işgalci||| Nach der US-Invasion des Landes versuchten es die Besatzer

figure out how to reduce opium production, and what to do with the Finden Sie heraus, wie Sie die Opiumproduktion reduzieren und was damit zu tun ist

poppy farmers - the poppy is the flower from which opium is harvested. პოპი||||||||||| produtores de papoula - a papoula é a flor da qual o ópio é colhido.|||||||||||colhida Mohnbauern - der Mohn ist die Blume, aus der Opium geerntet wird.

It could burn poppy fields when they were discovered, and punish the farmers for growing the crop. Es könnte Mohnfelder verbrennen, wenn sie entdeckt werden, und die Bauern für den Anbau der Ernte bestrafen. Он мог сжечь маковые поля, когда они были обнаружены, и наказать фермеров за выращивание урожая.

But Afghanistan is a large, mountainous country, which is very difficult to control. Aber Afghanistan ist ein großes, gebirgiges Land, das sehr schwer zu kontrollieren ist.

And no matter how many poppy fields were burned, new ones would pop up. |||||papoila|||||||| Und egal, wie viele Mohnfelder verbrannt wurden, neue kamen zum Vorschein. И сколько бы ни было сожжено маковых полей, вырастали новые.

Afghanistan was, and of course still is a very poor country, and the money that Afghanistan war und ist natürlich immer noch ein sehr armes Land, und das Geld dafür

could be made from growing opium offered a rare opportunity to earn a decent income. aus dem Anbau von Opium hergestellt werden konnte, bot eine seltene Gelegenheit, ein anständiges Einkommen zu erzielen.

So, the British and US officials started offering opium farmers Also begannen die britischen und US-Beamten, Opiumbauern anzubieten Итак, британские и американские чиновники начали предлагать опиумным фермерам

money, cash, to burn their poppy fields and switch to other crops. |||||||||||culturas Geld, Bargeld, um ihre Mohnfelder abzubrennen und auf andere Feldfrüchte umzusteigen. деньги, наличные деньги, чтобы сжечь свои маковые поля и переключиться на другие культуры.

Yes, these farmers would make less money if they grew other, legal, crops, but they would be Ja, diese Bauern würden weniger Geld verdienen, wenn sie andere, legale Pflanzen anbauen würden, aber sie würden es tun

paid the difference, and in fact in many cases they would be paid a lot more for burning the bezahlten die Differenz, und tatsächlich würden sie in vielen Fällen viel mehr für das Verbrennen bezahlt werden

poppy fields, meaning that there shouldn't be any financial reason to continue growing opium. маковых полей, а это означает, что не должно быть никаких финансовых причин для продолжения выращивания опиума.

Sounds good in practice, of course, but what it actually led to was a boom in new Klingt in der Praxis natürlich gut, führte aber tatsächlich zu einem Boom von Neuem

opium farmers, because people rushed to grow opium in order to get paid to switch. ||||შეიჭრა|||||||||| Opiumbauern, weil die Leute sich beeilten, Opium anzubauen, um für den Wechsel bezahlt zu werden. фермеров, выращивающих опиум, потому что люди бросились выращивать опиум, чтобы получить деньги за переход.

Many poppy farmers would even harvest the opium from the poppies before burning the fields, ||||||||||gelincikler|||| Viele Mohnbauern würden sogar das Opium aus den Mohnblumen ernten, bevor sie die Felder abbrennen, Многие фермеры, выращивающие мак, даже собирали опиум с мака, прежде чем сжигать поля.