Wasting, exploiting the environment, littering and materialism are the way of life in the Kingdom.
"The GCC has the world's highest levels of domestic waste, after the USA, generating more than 22 million tonnes of household waste in 2009. More than half of the waste, 58 per cent was generated in Saudi Arabia. Apart from domestic waste, additional refuse comes from littering parks, gardens and from the waste dumped in the seas and on beaches." http://recycle-saudi.com/home.htm
"Now, behold! Your Lord said to the angels: I am placing upon the earth a human successor to steward it" (Al Baqarah 2:30)
“Rampant corruption and disorder have appeared in the land and in the sea because of what people keep doing. He will let them taste some of their doings, so that they might return to the Right Path.”(30:41)
"The Prophet Mohammed told his companion, Saad, that he was using an excessive amount of water to make ablution, (wudu) saying do not waste (water). Saad then asked if there could ever be wastage if water was used for the purpose of wudu. The Prophet's reply was, Yes. Even if you are by a flowing river."
Have Saudis totally forgotten about this responsibility? Are people just ignorant of these teachings? Are Saudis too proud to clean up after themselves or to recycle? What causes this atrocious negligence and irresponsible behavior?
There have been numerous grass roots efforts to change public opinion on recycling. Most campaigns are met with resistance and even ridicule. People simply do not take it seriously.
This past week was "Saudi Green Revolution Week" a campaign to promote environmental awareness in the Kingdom launched by Naqa'a Environmental Enterprise http://naqaaenterprise.wordpress.com/
Naqa'a was founded by a group of bold women from Jeddah who stepped forward to introduce revolutionary environmental practices across organizations in the Kingdom. http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=20111011110345
"The Saudi Green Revolution Week is a social initiative by Naqa’a Environmental Enterprise. It is a revolutionary movement of young people united to elevate the public’s awareness about the much neglected issues of the environment in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Green Revolution Week is a campaign of awakenings, new beginnings and hope for a healthier and cleaner Saudi Arabia. The campaign maybe for a week, but the Green Revolution is an ongoing movement towards an eco-friendly society; and ultimately a Greener planet."
Jeddah is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Its beaches and parks are ruined with rotting litter. There are ongoing campaigns and efforts by locals to clean up the beaches and the Corniche, but it looks like a never ending battle against the trash masses. After the clean-up, more trash appears.
The attitude seems to be "The dude in the yellow overall will pick it up anyway" "I'm not a cleaner or a maid, I don't pick up trash" "Recycling is for freaks and weirdos, not cool people like me" or "I just don't give a damn".
Have Saudis totally forgotten about this responsibility? Are people just ignorant of these teachings? Are Saudis too proud to clean up after themselves or to recycle? What causes this atrocious negligence and irresponsible behavior?
And it's not just the Saudis who pollute this lovely country, but some expats participate in it too. Mostly from the third world countries, these uneducated poor people who have no concept of what it is to recycle or to conserve are often the ones engaging in the littering and remorseless wasting of resources.
There have been numerous grass roots efforts to change public opinion on recycling. Most campaigns are met with resistance and even ridicule. People simply do not take it seriously.
This past week was "Saudi Green Revolution Week" a campaign to promote environmental awareness in the Kingdom launched by Naqa'a Environmental Enterprise http://naqaaenterprise.wordpress.com/
Naqa'a was founded by a group of bold women from Jeddah who stepped forward to introduce revolutionary environmental practices across organizations in the Kingdom. http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=20111011110345
"The Saudi Green Revolution Week is a social initiative by Naqa’a Environmental Enterprise. It is a revolutionary movement of young people united to elevate the public’s awareness about the much neglected issues of the environment in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Green Revolution Week is a campaign of awakenings, new beginnings and hope for a healthier and cleaner Saudi Arabia. The campaign maybe for a week, but the Green Revolution is an ongoing movement towards an eco-friendly society; and ultimately a Greener planet."
Jeddah is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Its beaches and parks are ruined with rotting litter. There are ongoing campaigns and efforts by locals to clean up the beaches and the Corniche, but it looks like a never ending battle against the trash masses. After the clean-up, more trash appears.
The attitude seems to be "The dude in the yellow overall will pick it up anyway" "I'm not a cleaner or a maid, I don't pick up trash" "Recycling is for freaks and weirdos, not cool people like me" or "I just don't give a damn".
What can be done to change the attitudes and spread awareness in Saudi? How to instill these green values on the youth without them making a mockery of it?
Perhaps one way of waking people up is by making them realize that the plastic bag they have just tossed on the beach/street/park/desert will some day come back to them. What goes around, comes around. The plastic will dissolve and animals will eat it. The chemicals will go up the food chain, until it reaches their mouth..their stomach..their bloodstream..
Perhaps one way of waking people up is by making them realize that the plastic bag they have just tossed on the beach/street/park/desert will some day come back to them. What goes around, comes around. The plastic will dissolve and animals will eat it. The chemicals will go up the food chain, until it reaches their mouth..their stomach..their bloodstream..
A list of ten tips on how to live a more environmentally friendly life in Saudi-Arabia:
14 comments:
Texas in the U.S. had a terrible problem with littering in the 1980s; they were spending over $25 million per year on clean up with the costs rising significantly each year. They hired a famous researcher to help solve the problem and he concluded that emotional appeals to self interest and preservation weren't going to make any difference. This expert came up with a brilliant solution: that the way to get the slobs who littered to change their behavior was to convince them that people like them didn't litter. It was an appeal to their sense of identity. The state launched a now famous advertising campaign "Don't mess with Texas", and it was an instant success. During the first 5 years of the campaign littering decreased 72 percent. (I first read about this in a great non fiction book called "Made to Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath- the Don't Mess with Texas portion starts on page 195- very interesting reading).
OMG! What a mess! I hope people over there start thinking and acting different.
In Norway, there isn't really a problem with littering, but what confuses me, is the way people consume and waste different things, eg. water, food, plastic bags (practically no-one uses clothbags when foodshopping). As far as I can see, it's much worse than in Finland.
It seems that sometimes people are so used to having plenty of everything and money to buy more, that they don't feel necessary to be more reasonable when consuming. Or even thinking that being reasonable would be a sign of being poor! That is, keeping up a totally unnecessary facade.
I'm from a third world country and I was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. I just wanted to clarify that your statement
"uneducated poor people who have no concept of what it is to recycle or to conserve are often the ones engaging in the littering and remorseless wasting of resources."
is a bit of a hasty generalization. Think about it. Third world, uneducated and poor usually means these people have few resources available to them and so are the ones more likely to reduce, recycle and reuse. They will try to make the most of their purchases. The educated believe that the uneducated need to be informed about recycling. Guess what, they're the ones who have been doing it all along. Not because of social reasons like the educated, but because they have less and have to deal with the effects of excess garbage, poor farmers are a good example.
It’s not the poor, uneducated that create the most litter but rather the more affluent and privileged that are more likely to have little remorse for wasting resources, regardless of where they come from. I'll even go so far as to admit that despite reducing, reusing and recycling, I probably create more trash than my less fortunate countrymen. I say this because I am able to afford the consumption of larger amounts of resources.
Jenny-thank you very much for this information! I watched the videos you sent me and they were great and some would definitely appeal to Saudi public as well!
They got amazing results with the campaign!
Heli-the Scandinavian countries are still the world's top recycling nations.But everyone can always do better and more!
Namnai-perhaps you misunderstood what I meant. I did not by any means say it's ONLY the poor uneducated folk that litter, on the contrary I stated the contribute to the problem as well.
I was talking about littering and wasting resources in Saudi. In other words, the third world workers here and how they also litter and waste resources (although its not theirs but the employers).
In a way they are less to blame like you said, because they do not know of any better. But the educated people that litter are the ones who consciously are doing harm. I don't think many from third world countries ever thought much of nature conservation!
It is our job to teach them the importance of recycling and green values don't you think!
I congratulate you for your constructive brain. I hope this article could be translated to arabic and I will try to do it if you don't mind.
Very nice article.Unless people start thinking than even one werson can make a difference this situation would never get better.You are right about uneducated but even educated ones are taking it for granted.It is about time government realise that recycling is mandatory.
Glad to have found you..Loved your blog title..
Following you now
http://wemakeupblog.blogspot.com/
Abdullah-Thank you! Would be awesome if you can translate it to Arabic to spread the word :)
Can you send it to me when you have finished? Thanks so much!!
Cheeky Chic-thank you for the comment and for following :)
Change begins from one person..
I had no idea Saudi was that polluted :( It's scary.
Great articles and thanks for rising the awareness. But much more initiative needs to be taken by the government, it should be made a priority, talking about it should be everywhere. Jenny gave a great idea. Maybe if some khaleeji pop and fashion idols talked about protecting the environment and their own share in it, maybe then it would appeal to fashion-conscious, consumption-oriented minds. Being Green should be promoted and made cool and fashionable, something for the VIP lol
I loved the post, I would also like to say that it is not enough to provide awareness to the people who contribute in messing up the beautiful golden dunes, its a responsibility for the "green" people to start talking about this issue. I remember when I was in Germany and upon leaving a public park, this women approached a couple with a plastic bag in her hand. She gave them the bag and told them that they forgot their trash behind. This moment inspired me forever.
I encounter the same situation back home in Dubai, and I did the same. Surely, it wasn't easily accepted by the other end, but it did get my message across.
Faisal-thank you and welcome to my blog :)
That was a very powerful way to intervene by the woman, I will have to try that sometime! But do you think it will work on Saudis ;) they might just take the plastic bag and toss it on the ground "for someone else to pick up"...
Thank you for your post! I just came to live here a month ago..already went throught a shocking experience. At my work..in supermarkets..at the beach (even in Sunset beach!)..:((( rubish everywhere. How sad is this?
I always was a person who wanted to protect the world, taking care of the environment, using environment friendly products, and reusable bags. Now I am truly disappointed. There is not any selective rubish container here!!!
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