An Environmental Catastrophe
This is an article that I have
written for the December issue of Why Not?!, the school magazine which I
have founded and am the Chairman of currently.
As an Egyptian Citizen
belonging to the post-Revolution era, it is unmistakable that a discussion of
policies, tactics and everything related to politics has become a hobby for the
Egyptian commoner. Nevertheless, as a teenager from the same brood, it has come
to my notice that one of the most alarming concerns to trouble the world today
is treated with complete negligence around here- climate change.
Where I come from, the idea of
discarding waste or even recycling is a foreign notion associated only with
Hollywood movies. In fact, the government employs a company which is supposed
to clear waste on a daily basis, nation-wide. Surprisingly, you would be lucky
if you happen to pass by one of their employees once a month. This is just one
example of the corruption and embezzlement Egyptian citizens witness right
under their noses every day.
What people don’t understand
is how dangerous our waste disposal methods are! Landfills in which the whole
neighborhood throws its waste until the mountainous heap in the middle of the
neighborhood becomes a nauseating eye-sore is the trick. The cherry on top,
though, is when the said company finally notices the waste when it becomes
utterly unbearable and comes to dispose of it in the cheapest yet least
environmentally friendly way- INCINERATION, not only releasing poisonous fumes
into the atmosphere but greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. The
increasing usage of vehicles with no prevention technology such as Catalytic
Converters is even more alarming.
In rural areas, the government
seems to have not found a solution to the large number of farmers who have been
treated in a degraded manner and offered pitiful wage rates leading them to
abandon their occupation for industrial alternatives finally resulting in the
country having to depend on imports. Moreover, the few who still practice their
agriculture dispose of waste in a manner only worse than the government which
consequents in the release of hazardous gases in the atmosphere causing the
usually clear Egyptian skies to be fogged with 'Elsahaba El souda' which
translates to 'The Black Cloud'.
While my view that these
environmental concerns need to be given high priority and treated with the
utmost importance is respected and implemented by an intellectual minority,
when projected to a majority of people, it is only ridiculed and labeled
'irrelevant', 'sophisticated', or 'insensible'. Some are so ignorant so as to
claim that falls in industrial production due to proposed environment
revolution could be detrimental to the economy. My response to such a claim
would be credited to Marianna Grossman, Executive Director in Sustainable
Silicon Valley, since forthcoming paragraph is from an article written by her.
"Smart infrastructure for
water, energy and transportation can provide markets for new technology, new
jobs and better quality of life. It will take political will to change policies
that inhibit cradle-to-cradle management of resources. Humanity has defeated
slavery, fascism and second-hand smoke. We have championed democracy and the
internet. Are we up to the task of inventing a future that works for everyone?”
 |
Just Your Average Cairo Waste Heap!
|
I would also like to point out
that when Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was elected in 2003, he
declared his first order of business to be the establishment an efficient waste
management system, regardless of severe criticism. Statistics conducted later
prove that Turkey’s economic progress that year was largely due to the
motivating impact this efficient system had had on its citizens.
To conclude, while we’re all,
worldwide, fighting over natural resources, in a couple of short decades we
could find ourselves with no natural resources or money to fight for so we
should invest our current resources and money into something more useful!
Hit the comment review and discuss what you think is an adequate way to start improving the environmental issues in Egypt without governmental interference (we all know that around here, that takes us nowhere).
No comments:
Post a Comment